socket for the introduction of the handle, in the following manner, and is a very powerful instrument,

It is excessive hard labour, and when the soil is thickly covered with furze, root-weeds, and other coarse herbage, it requires an athletic man to perform it; but a good hand, upon land that is not too stiff, or cut to a great depth, will pare an acre in four days, and it may be done thinner, and more uniformly, than by a plough drawn by horses, though the latter practice is prevalent in many counties. When a set of men take a job of this kind in hand, they follow each other in the same order as when mowing; proceeding about twenty rods in length, when they return to the end from whence they started, without paring as they go back. The sods, when turned over, should be laid with the best possible exposure to the sun and air, in order that they may dry, which requires two, and sometimes three weeks, according to the state of the weather and the nature of the turf; but, if the latter be light and thoroughly dried, it has been known to be effectually burned in the state in which it lies, without removal from the field.

The operation of the breast-plough is generally aided throughout the west of England by a broad axe, provincially called in some parts a 'beating-axe,' a kaib-batt,' or paring-mattock, and in others a 'cobbing-hoe,'

fig 1

fig 2

which is used for cutting up the stems of furze, which offer too great resistance to the blade of the former, and in particular situations is found indispensably necessary, as the nature of the ground sometimes renders the action of the plough, or paring-spade, impracticable. It is so fashioned upon the shaft as to be inclined inwards little short of an angle of 45° with the line of its handle, as represented in the figure No. 1.

When used for the latter purpose, the sods are always turned in the form of a cone, very small at top and broad at bottom, and, in a tolerably fair season, are therefore sure to dry; but when cut in this manner they are placed with grass upwards, instead of being turned over, as with the breast-plough. The operation is called 'spading the ground,' in contradistinction to that of grubbing the roots of shrubs, which is called 'hand-beating, and is usually performed with the two bill, or double-bitled mattock, as figured at No. 2*

Although the paring of land is thus generally performed by manual labour, yet, such is the toughness of the sward in marshy ground, that horses are often employed; and in the fens of Cambridgeshire and the neighbouring counties, there is a plough much in use, that was formerly brought from Holland. This Dutch paring-plough, of which the following is a representation, is worked by a pair, and sometimes even

by four horses: it was originally constructed with only one handle, from the hinder part of which projects a kind of crutch, horizontally disposed, and upon this the holder bears with his left hand, walking upright. From the same handle another crutch projects at right angles with the former, but much lower down; and this the holder uses occasionally with his right hand, for the purpose either of assisting to keep the plough steady, or to turn it at the land's end: latterly, however, it has been commonly made with stilts, in the common form. Instead of a foot, or wheel, to support the beam of the plough, they use what they call a scaife,' which is a circular plate of iron turning constantly round, the edges of which are steeled, and, together with the edge of the share, are kept very sharp by means of a file, which the ploughman carries with him for that purpose, for the share goes so near the surface, that it meets with many strong roots and much coarse grass, which require keen instruments to cut them. The wheel coulter is found better adapted for ploughing among the rough sedge of those marshes than the sword one, and an appendage, called a boy,' is likewise sometimes added to lap in the rushes, which it does effectually. There are also some varieties of this plough known as the three-quarter' and the half-Dutch,' differing in the breadth and strength of the share; which latter are used for that ploughing

6

* Survey of Devonshire, p. 127.

in which cole-seed, which forms a common crop in the fens, is brushed in, and upon which white crops are harrowed; but are more usually employed among the hills than in the fen country, and, except in their dimensions, they all nearly resemble the original plough, namely, 8 feet in length of the beam; length of the head 21 inches; and 1 foot in height from the ground*. In some of the moss-lands of Lancashire it has also been found advantageous to keep the horses from treading in the soft spongy bottoms of the furrows, notwithstanding their being shod with pattens: they are therefore harnessed in a line; and the beam of the plough does not, in such case, point in a direct line along the furrow, but is made, by the adjustment of the copse, to incline about four inches to the land †.

The Berkshire shim, which is here represented,

has the wheel of 14 inches in diameter, and the share of various sizes, but generally 14 inches long at the bottom, by 10 at the top, and the blade 4 inches wide, standing 2 feet from the top of the block to the ground, and from the top of the beam 20 inches. The share is made to rise or sink at pleasure through the block, as the wheel does through the beam; which affords considerable facility in the regulation of the depth to which the turf is to be pared, and it can be drawn by one horse.

In some parts of Berkshire they also have a broad share,-though now seldom used, the frame-work of which rests upon a pair of large wheels, commonly the old fore-wheels of a waggon, one man driving, and lifting the share at the headlands, while another rides upon the frame, between the stilts. It is drawn by four horses, and being four feet long in the share, though it pares or hoes the ground commonly to the depth of full three inches, it yet goes over a large extent of land ‡.

An implement somewhat resembling the foregoing, though on a different scale, and which is thus formed,—

जे

*Surveys of Huntingdon, p. 82; Cambridge, p. 47; and Lincolnshire, p. 75. + Stevenson's Survey of Lancashire, p. 159.

Young's Farmer's Eastern Tour, vol. iii. p. 108.

is in very general use throughout Essex, and in some parts of Suffolk and Norfolk, and the adjoining districts, where it is employed as a shim, or hoe-plough, chiefly for the purpose of cutting up the weeds upon the narrow ridges, into which the generality of the lands, especially when intended for wheat, are there formed; and, as an implement for the destruction of tap-rooted plants, nothing can be more effectual. It is, however, very frequently used for the purpose of paring the turf off waste land intended for improvement by burning; and on arable land, the blade, which cuts a ridge at once, is slightly curved to meet its convexity.

No. 2 is the plan of its construction. AA is the axle, and the wheels, B B, may be about four feet in diameter. The triangular frame, CDE, has a central rib, DF, in the fore-part of which are a series of holes, wherein a stout pintle, fixed to the centre of the axle, shifts, as more or less work is required; the hindermost holes giving the least hold of the soil. In this way the blade, which has its stems passing through mortices, at C and D, is subject to change its level; which has induced some makers to furnish the fore-part of the triangle with a permanent pivot, and to raise or depress the blade according as the occasion may require. To prevent the implement from being swayed to either side, two chains, at e e, are carried from the cheeks of the frame to the back of the axle; but not drawn perfectly tight, as, in such case, they would create some difficulty in turning at the head of a land. The driver has a seat upon a board, raised on four light posts, above the blade.

This plough now rarely requires more than two horses, except when the soil is very stiff, when one, and even two more have been found needful: the ordinary allowance of work being from three to five acres. They work in the furrows of the ridge, and are yoked to a swingle-tree, which attaches to two iron bars, furnished with a stout hook, standing nearly upright.

An improvement on this instrument has been recommended by Captain Williamson, of the Bath and West of England Society, the author of some ingenious inventions in agricultural mechanism: which, as we think it deserves to be better known, we shall here take the liberty to describe, under the name of the paring-plough.

It may be constructed with a very short beam, A, in front of which a foot-wheel, B, may be set according to the usual method, and the blade, C, may be set into a cross-bar, D, either morticed through, or bolted under

the beam, horizontally at right angles. The cross-piece must be very stout, full 6 inches wide, and 4 deep; its length 28 inches; so as to leave good room for iron collars. One stilt, E, is sufficient. If a bar were placed in the centre of the beam, at G, as marked in the elevation at Fig. 1, and at e in the plan at Fig. 2, to serve as a coulter, the turf would be divided in the centre, from end to end; and if the sides or stems supporting the blade were made broad, with a turn inwards, they would, like a mould-board, give the two sides thus made a cant, and occasion their turning over in the centre.

There is also another paring-plough, of a different but more complex construction, designated in the same work, but for the description of which we must refer to its pages*; for we have already gone farther than some persons will think necessary in our account of the various instruments used for this purpose.

The last implement to mention, and, perhaps, in many situations the best for the purpose, is the common plough; for, by using it, the business proceeds with greater despatch, and is attended with less expense for the cutting part, though more for burning but then there is the great advantage of having much of the soil, which is not burned, pulverized and prepared for the ensuing crops, which is an advantage not attainable in the other method.

The operation of paring with the common plough is however much facilitated by the addition of a share, of two feet in width, stripped of its mould-board. It is fixed by two standard irons to the beam of any plough, before the coulter; in light soils it saves much labour in the cutting of pea, tare, bean, and other stubbles, at about two inches below the surface; and not turning any furrow, it leaves the weeds and roots all cut through, fit for being immediately harrowed out, raked into heaps, and burnt. The shim, or skim, has also been affixed as an additional coulter, in a peculiar form, to a plough much in use in Oxfordshire, where it is found to answer the double purpose of both paring and ploughing. The tool, of which a front view is separately given, is placed as a fore-coulter, and acts upon the sod, which it turns up from either side without effort t.

* See Williamson's Agricultural Mechanism, pp. 254 and 257, and plate 14. + Survey of Oxfordshire, pp. 78 and 248.