The midland journal., August 21, 1885, Image 1

About The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947

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||jjf 11 jjIDLAND 1 ||j OUBNAL.I
E. E. Ewing, Proprietor.
VOL. VII.
About Harrows.
m
What they Were, What they
Are, and What they
Should Be.
By HENRY STEWART.
{continued from, lad week.)
Inventors and manufacturers of
new implements were liberally pat
ronized and as harrows were confess
edly very unsatisfactory, many new
devices were brought out. But by a
strange oversight, the w< ak point of
the harrow was still missed. Ihe
shape was changed ; frames that
were triangular, square, oblong and
romboidal, and that were made to be
drawn by various points of them ;
(tig .'■)
Mding harrows, (See Fig- 8.) harrows
with guiding handles, all ot these
were brought out, but the great ob
jectiou, the teeth, stdl reroa ned ; and
no device of changing the form was
able to get over this fundamental
difficulty. The English farmers had
chain harrows made and some were
imported, and tried here, but these
were not satisfactory; they dressed
the soi in a fine smooth surlaee, but
under this the ground was even worse
than before. All the hard clods were
left undisturbed and unbroken; all
the roughness of the plowing, the
open spaces, everything that was
Wrong and unfit lor me seed and the
young plants, all were left as the
plow left them, only the outward sur
face was made smooth and fine, just
as a rough uncultivated dirty tramp
dressed in a velvet cloak would ap
pear ; outwardly all right, but
all wrong under the sur
face. .80 that the chain har
rows were even worse than the spike
tooth harrows. More recently we
have had what are known as Spring
tooth harrows, brought out as
a substitute for the spike toot it har
rows (See Fig. 7.) but these have stid
all the objectionable points of the
tooth harrows made much worsp by
the elastic curved teeth. For these
points are precisely the same in prin
ciple as the spike teeth; they scratch
the surface, bring up all the stones,
draw over again the sods which have
fbeen turned down.
tear up the rub
bish which the far
mer wants 10 keep
under the surface
where it will rot
and make fertiliz
ing matter, pull up
the manure and
drag it in bunches
where it must be
left here and there,
tormenting and
disappointing the
farmer still more
than the old fash
ioned tooth harrow.
For just as with
RISING SUN, CECIL COUNTY, JVID., FRIDAY, AUGUST SI, 1885.
“A law was made by the Irish parliament only a little over two hundred years ago, to prohibit the drawing
of harrows by the “tayles” of h jrses ; a practice which wl3 thought to.imp lir the breo iof these animals.
these straight toothed harrows, so
the spring toothed ones, oblige the
farmer to lift them frequently to dis
engage the gathered weeds and man
ure, which are left in bunches, with a
good deal of the seed raked up with
them and wasted, and not only do
the work very badly but make it very
much more laborious. And if the
old toothed harrows jerked and dash
ed about as they struck hard pi ices
and tore up sods and large clods,
these spring harrows did all this
and much more, because of their
springiness, and in their uneven
working necessarily they leave much
of the work undone ; and what they
do is done imperfectly.
In tho effort to make a harrow that,
wou'd do its work as it should be
done, the Shares Coulter Harrow was
invented, in 1857. (See Fig. 9 ) The
writer procured one of these, being
convinced that it was an improve'
ment upon the old kind of harrow.
(rig. 9.)
And really it was a great advance, for
it got rid of the teeth, which had been
a great obstacle for the two thousand
years in which the toothed harrows
had been in use, practically without
any improvement. This coulter har
row pressed down and cut into the
soil, and the wings of the coulters
turned and scraped the surface to j
some extent. It was an approach to j
what a harrow should, be but its im-!
perfections soon caused it to be cast
aside. The coulters were feast iron ,
a material wholly unfit for a tool sub
jected to as much wear as a harrow
is; and as the edges of the coulters
necessarily made thin to enable them
to cut into the soil they wore out
very rapidly-, and became too blunt
to do good service; and yet in this
imperfect condition they did much
better work than any other harrow
previously used. Still there were
insuperable objections to it. The
form of the coulters, as may be seen,
caused the soil to be pushed towards
the center of the harrow track, and
formed ridges, which were very ob
jectionable, any way, but especially
when this harrow was used for cover
ing grain; and when it was attempt
ed to make the coulters of steel it
[Entered at the Post Office in Rising Sun, Md., as Second-Class Matter.]
was found that the cost was wholly
too gret.t, and finally- this implement
was east on one side. After this, or
about the same time, Mr. Nishwitz*
who has succeeded by his scientific
skill and mechanical genius, in mak
ing harrows what they should be.
brought out his revolving disc harrow
(See Fig- 10.) This had steel spind
les furnished with revolving sharp
edged steel discs, which were not on
ly placed at an angle with the line of
draft, but at an angle vertically-, thus
exerting a turning pressure np on
the soil, and throwing it up in ridges.;
stirring it and pulverizing it without
(Fig. 10.)
sinong inventors, to acknowledge
that he had not reached his intended
point. This disc harrow was the
original from which several others
were copied, but none of these have
proved even equal to the original in
vention. The objections, which can
not be avoided, are a ridging up o!
the centre, from the action of the
the discs working the surface soil from
each side of the harrow inwaidq when
discs are placed in gangs on each side;
and an imperfect working of the sur
face because of the impossibility of
covering it all between discs; and
moreover, to make a disc harrow
which would do the work perfectly
would bring the cost beyond the
reach of the farmers.
Led by a knowledge of what he, as
a farmer working four hundred acres
of land, needed, and taught by his
large experience in inventing and
manufactoring harrows, Mr. Nishwitz
again set his brain and hand to work,
and merely for his own use got up
the Acme Harrow ; an implement
which well deserves its name, derived’
from alatin word meaning the very
• top and highest point, because it is
realy what it claims to be. a harrow
• that serves the purpose for which hnr
i rows are used in the very best possi
: ble manner. It was, as we see, the
growth of years of study of the scien.
tific principles upon which a perfect
harrow should be constructed, the
mechanical knowledge of the right
form for doing particular work, and
of the right material for combining
1 Witness and strength. The success
of the Acme Harrow thus designed
and made by Mr. Nishwitz was such
that instead of making only two or
three for his own use, his invention
was the basis of a manufacture which
has spread this harrow over the whole
continent of North America, and has
been of inestimable benefit to farmers
in easing this labor and making it
greatiy more productive. This har
row is really all that a harrow should
be. It pulverizes the soil as deeply
ns the seed and the growing crop re
qu re it; it turns and mixes itso that
the plowed ground is made of even
quality in every part, not a particle
of the surface is left unworked; it
rides over plowed sod, presses it
down and compacts it firpaly, and
covers it with fine mellow soil; for if
the farmer will only turn the stones
into the furrows as lie plows, it will
leave a smooth mellow surface over
them without disturbing any of them.
It works over manure that has been
plowed in and mixes the soil with it
without tearing it out and leaving it
upon the surface; weedy stubble
plowed in is left covered where it
quickly rots and makes plant food.
It does excellent work upon corn
stubble loosening the surface and
leveling the ridges and thus fits it
for fall grain without plowing ; and
upon light soils this is a great advan
tage. A large farmer who yearly
spread hundreds of loads of manure
upon grass lands, uses the Acme to
break the manure up fine and work
it into the grass and down to the
roots. It works equally well upon
light sandy soils and upon heavy
hard clay which it breaks up and
mellows; crushing the clods and lev
( ding the surface and leaving it in
■ the very best condition,
From an examinationoftheengrav
ings it will be seen that the coulters
are in double rows; and that the im
plement thus cuts every inch of the
, surface without clogging; a work
which could not be done with a sing-
One Dollar per Annum in Advance.
le row or coulters, because if these
were placed close enough to cut the
whole surface, they would be so close
as to clog. The coulters can be re
moved and sharpened and drawn out,
and can be replaced when worn out
at small cost.
It is also seen that it is a most ef
fectual clod crusher and a leveler ;
and potato or corn ground that has
been hided or ridged can be leveled
and smoothed perfectly, The prog
ress made in perfecting this imple
ment may be seen by comparing the
illustrations. No. l.(Fig. II) being
the first made, ha\ing the
crushing and leveling bar provided
with cutting spurs which break and
loosen the ground and the coulter
bar, or rear bar, provided with coul
ters which turn and mix the soil and
when used alter seeding cover the
seed perfectly to an even depth; No.
3, being the second improvement was
provided with the same bars but hav
ing double rows of coulters, which
are placed so as to w-ork in opposite
directions and mix and mellow the
soil still more thoroughly; and No.
6, (See adv ) being the latest improv
ed “ACME”, having tne bars made
of wrought iron, and indeed the
whole implement is almost completely
made of wrought iron and steel, and
also having the double rows of curvy
ed coulters which work the fresh
soil in opposite directions and in the
most thoroughly effective manner.
The implement is now a perfect har
row, clod crusher, leveler, and pulv
erizer, as the inventor, aided by the
best and most thoroughly appointed
manufactory, can make it after hav
ing spent several years In almost
constant work upon it. Having used
it constantly since the first form of
it was made, and having'experienced
then the usefulness of it in varied
farm work, for preparing the soil for
crops, tor improving meadows with
out plowing; for pulverizingjmanure,
and spreading it evenly upon grass
lands; and having watched its suc
cessive improvements and tested
these in the field, I can confidently
say this harrow is precisely what a
harrow should be; and the acme or
top point of all the efforts which have
been made during the whole history
of the harrow, to reach a perfect im
plement.
Unhappy Man.
Why persist in ruining your digestion by
eating wunholesome food; and keeping it
ruined by doing nothirg to restore it to use
fulness and right action ? Some think that
dyspepsia is incurable. They are the ones
who have never taken Brown’s Iron Bitters.
This valuable family medicine makes short
work of the tormentor and soon enables the
digestive apparatus to do its work. Mr. H.
E. Collins, of Keokuk, lowa, says, “I used
Brown’s Iron Bitters for dyspepsia and am
greatly improved.”
NO. 45,