24 Implements of Hufbandry—Harrows..

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reception, though they have yet undergone but little improvement; the chief circumftances in which they have been rendered more convenient are in the pofi- tion and mode of fixing in the teeth, the direction of the bulls, and the manner in which the horfes are attached to the implements. It muft be evident to every one the leaft converfant with the bufinefs of harrowing, that no one harrow, whatever its conftruction may be, can be fuitable for every fort of foil, or can act with equal effect on fuch grounds as are rough and{mcoth, or firm and loofe; they muft be adapted to the nature of the land and the particular purpofes the operator has in view*. In the lighter forts of ground, a light harrow with fhort tines or teeth may be fufficient; but in ftrong and tenacious foils, or fuch as have been newly broken up from the ftate of old leys, or from a ftate of nature, fuch as moors and waftes, a harrow which pofleffes much greater weight and has longer teeth is to be preferred; and even where the land is rough and not eafily reduced, as in fallowing ftrong clays, two harrows faftened together may frequently be neceflary, in order to fully reduce and break down the cloddy foil. For thefe pur- pofes, too, it is better, efpecially where the land is tenacious and abounds with the roots of weeds, that the harrow fhould not be too thickly fet with teeth; as in fuch circumitances, where it has a number of teeth, it is not only foon choaked up and prevented from working, but confined too much to the furface, by which the foil is very imperfeétly reduced and broken down.

In performing the bufinefs of harrowing, much time is often loft in turning at the ends of the ridges, where two or more common harrows chained together are employed, by their hitching on each other, or turning over, and requiring the driver to ftop in order to put them right again. To remedy this inconvenience, harrows have been contrived with running bulls, a mode of conftru@tion which has been found to anfwer well. This inconvenience may however be correéted in a much eafier and lefs expenfive way, as by faftening the inftruments to each other by means of proper hooks and eyes, or what are termed coupling irons in fome. places, by which contrivance the different harrows rife and fall at the fame time, and are kept from ever getting upon each other. The pofition of the teeth, fo that they do not move in the fame line of direétion, is likewife an object that has been attempted to be eflected in different methods; but the moft fimple and expeditious is probably that of having the harrow fo formed, as to be fome inches narrower before than behind, and at the fame time to be capable of being fet to different widths, fo that the diftance between the teeth may be regulated by increafing or

* Gentleman Farmer, p. 19.