> LET on z a atk 77 ee £0 Implements of Hufbandry.—LfLoes.

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ftrument fhould, however, be made folid, as the open wheel is Hable to clog and fill up when the ground is foft and wet.

But in mellow foils, and where hand-hoeing is practifed, the implements of this kind which have been invented by Mr. Ducket are probably more ufeful; as from their being heavier in the iron work, and having fhorter handles than thofe in common ufe, they would feem to be more effective. Hoes in fome refpects fimilar to thefe have long been in ufe for hoeing the{trong land of the vineyards in Portugal*.

But notwithf{tanding thefe inftruments, the bufinefs of hoeing may frequently be well performed on{tiff foils, and where the diftances of the crops are pretty wide, with any common{mall plough that has a broad fharp fhare. With thofe inftru- ments the workman can go to what depth and as near the rows as he pleafes. It has been obferved, and probably with truth, by a late writer, that he can find no- thing equal to a‘* plough for the purpofe of cleaning land and earthing the crops. He has tried,”’ he fays,‘* double-moulded or double-breafted ploughs to earth up the rows, but that they will not at all do in drill hufbandry, as you cannot humour them to the width of the rows, which are fometimes a little wider or narrower; and if they vary but an inch or two, it deftroys the effet intended, as the mould cannot be regularly raifed, and the corn will be in fome places high, in fome low. A common plough will perform this work to perfection; the expence amounts to not more that one fhilling per acre, and‘the fervice rendered the crop is worth a pound at leaft, exclufive of the advantage of cleaning the land better than by any other means; for when you fee a weed you may,” he fays,“ with a common. plough go fufficiently deep, or give it what direCtion you pleafe.”?

And in{peaking of this kind of tools he further remarks, that as fuch weeds. as. {trike with a tap-root are not eafily cut by the fcarifier when it happens to be blunt, but are often dragged down and left growing, he has invented an inftrument fuperior to the plough or fearifier for the purpofe.‘It is made,’ he fays,,“* of a triangular form, witha beam, and two fmall wheels under the beam to run before it, in the fame manner as in the Norfolk plough. There are three coulters, with a fhare riveited under each of them, made fharp at the point like a fleam, and about fourteen inches wide. The coulters penetrate under the mould as deep as the plough, and, without moving the earth much, cut up thiftle, brackens,&c. better than any in- ftrument he has yet met with. Where fuch weeds are very numerous, he ules a heam. with one wheel, into which he puts one of the coulters, to cut between

* Communications. to the Board of Agriculture, vol. I]. and Somerville’s Syftem of the Board of Agriculture.