years past, and the injury it has done to the crops almost exceeds belief. In the year 1828, a wheat field on this farm, extending to fifteen imperial acres, and which a casual observer would have pronounced a splendid crop, being in all respects productive in straw, was so injured by the fly as to yield only 17 quarters 7 bushels of grain; and instances came under my notice, where nine-tenths of the crop were destroyed. Throughout the whole of East-Lothian I calculate, from personal observation, that, during the years 1827-28-29 and 30, the fly injured the wheat crop to the amount of upwards of thirty per cent. each year. The wheat-fly exists in all the wheat districts of Scotland. It was found by me in the sister island this season, in limited numbers, from Lough Neagh to the Lake of Killarney; and perhaps it inhabits every county in Britain. Should the fly abound in other districts to the extent it has done of late years in East-Lothian, the loss to the community would be incalculable. The value of wheat-growing soils would fall, bread would be enhanced in price, and the commercial policy of the nation deeply affected:-such may be the influence of this little insect.

MUNGOSWELLS, 29th September 1831.

ON HORSE-HOES.

HORSE-H

ORSE-HOES for tilling the intervals of drilled crops, form a very important class of agricultural implements. The crops, in general, which it is the province of the horse-hoe to pulverize and free of weeds, are those of drilled fallow-crops; and it is at this stage of the course of cropping that the land is to be cleaned of weeds, and the mould rendered friable. This, indeed, is highly expedient, both for the success of the drilled crop, and also for the subsequent crops in the rotation.

Though almost an endless variety in the form of horse-hoes is found to exist, they may be arranged under two divisions— those with, and those without, beams. Of the latter class of implements, three figures were given in the last number of the Transactions of the Highland Society, each of which implements was an efficient one of its kind. Of the class with beams,

we present the two following figures, as made by Mr Wilkie, the distinguished and well-known agricultural implement-maker at Uddingston, near Glasgow.

The horse-hoe, Fig. 1, consists of a beam and directing handles, carrying one double-feathered and two single-feathered

Fig. 1.

LLEE

shares. The top of the double-feathered share passes up through a hole in the beam, and admits of being raised or lowered, so as to adapt it to the degree of depression required in the centre of the drill. The single-feathered shares have their arms attached by a hinge at the back ends to the right and left handles; from thence extending forwards to the crossbar, on which they move, they are kneed downwards, forming a sweeping curve, which terminates at the point of the share.

The wheel at the point of the beam serves to regulate the depth, and acts as a fulcrum, when the implement is raised, to free the shares from weeds, as well as to facilitate the turning at the ends of the ridges. The double-feathered share cuts the weeds in the centre of the drill,-while the side-shares, acting horizontally, as well as vertically, pare the earth from the sides and bottom. The harrow attached to follow the hoe, forms a very useful auxiliary to the action of the shares, by displacing the weeds, and stirring and crumbling the earth, previous to its being laid to the roots of the plants by the subsequent operation of the plough.

The merit of constructing this species of horse-hoe is due to the late Mr Wilkie. In the year 1818, this gentleman first turned his attention to the improvement of drill-implements, and having brought them to a considerable degree of perfection, an account of two, with an engraving, was published in the Farmer's Magazine for May 1821. Though the demand for them became greatly increased, there was little further im

provement made on these implements till the year 1828. In the summer of that year, the present Mr Wilkie, in conjunction with his father, made a light horse-hoe with three shares, on nearly the same principle as that shown in the above figure; it was intended to hoe some turnips and potatoes of their own, and was drawn by a pony. The implement was found to answer exceedingly well, as it was at least one-third easier drawn than any other that had been tried. In March 1829, another was made on this plan, with three additional coulters, with small mould-boards for opening three drills at once; and this was the last instrument to which Mr Wilkie's father gave his assistance, as he died on the 24th of that month. Since that period, Mr Wilkie junior has made a very considerable number of hoes, according to the plan shown in the figure, both with and without harrows attached.

The hoe, Fig. 2, is somewhat different in construction from the one described above. The peculiarity consists in the man

Fig. 2.

ner by which the side shares are adjusted. The horizontal arms of the shares behind the knee are strongly jointed to the extremities of two cross-bars, which have their centres of motion in the beam. It will be evident, from an inspection of the drawing, that the arms of the shares and the two cross-bars complete a parallelogram, from the properties of which it follows, that at whatever width the shares may be set, they will constantly preserve a position equidistant from and parallel to each other, the one advancing in proportion as the other recedes, and vice versa. The advantage resulting from this arrangement is, that the shares being always at the greatest possible distance from each other, the danger of choking from weeds collecting between them when working in narrow intervals, is in a great measure prevented.

While many good instruments of the hoe kind are made in different parts of the country, there are others which seem only fitted for scratching and scraping the surface, without penetrating further, and are much too superficial in their operation to produce that deep degree of pulverization so indispensable to the successful practice of drill husbandry. The implement now described, from the length of the part to which the share is attached, its curvature forwards, the keenness and acuteness of the well-steeled blades of the share itself, and from the general simplicity and strength of construction of the different parts, is one of the most efficient of this class of implements yet constructed.

To Mr Wilkie himself is due the merit of inventing this hoe. The idea of placing the hoes alternately occurred to him about two years ago, while witnessing the horse-hoe at work in a very foul field of potatoes which were drilled pretty close; the annoyance from the hind hoes choking up was very great. In order to remedy this evil, he took off one of the side hoes, and tried to work with the centre and remaining side one. The improvement answered his expectation fully, and, in consequence, he was induced to make a hoe on this principle. Mr Wilkie had no proper trial of the one which he made till last summer, when its efficiency was at once apparent, possessing a decided superiority over the others which he had constructed in point of accuracy of adjustment and freedom from choking. He has since made many alterations and improvements on the original implement; but the one as represented in the figure, is the best and simplest in its construction. They have now become pretty extensively introduced, and appear to have given very general satisfaction.

This class of implements possesses this advantage over those in which the beam is wanting, that the person who directs the hoe has a greater command over the implement. Should it ever become choked, he can at once relieve it of weeds; and by setting the wheel in any required position, it can be readily made to go shallow or deep. Either of these hoes is also converted into a double-mould-board plough for laying the earth to turnips, potatoes, &c. This is done by removing the shares, and attaching a drill body with mould-boards.

DESCRIPTION OF A MACHINE FOR LIFTING UP AND FIXING HORSES FOR BEING SHOD.

THE mode of managing horses in shoeing is well known in this country. By the care and attention bestowed by blacksmiths in general, most horses can be easily shod even by one

man.

But in France, the mode of managing horses has not arrived at the same degree of perfection. For besides requiring two men for this purpose, it is very customary there to have machines for fixing the horse while it is being shod. Such machines, however, are only wanted for vicious horses; and although they are not to be recommended where they can be avoided, there are many cases in which both the safety of the blacksmith and the animal depend upon their being adopted. Lafosse and others, in their works on the horse, have given figures of machines for this purpose; but none of those which we have seen have much to recommend them either for their efficiency or simplicity.

In this country, too, cases occasionally do occur which baffle the ingenuity of the blacksmith; and the common resource in such cases is to cast the horse; but this operation is not unattended with danger, as the accidents which so frequently occur sufficiently testify. At some forges, indeed, machines are to be found for the purpose of securing the animal, but most of these are very rude and imperfect in their construction, serving only to bind the horse fast in the situation. Others of a more perfect kind lift the animal off its feet, by means of canvass passing below its belly; but, in doing this, the canvass is only lifted up at one side, by which the animal is twisted over in an awkward manner to its side in being lifted up. To remedy this defect, therefore, it is necessary to have the machine of such construction, that it shall lift the canvass up on both sides.

We are indebted to Mr James Catleugh, millwright in Haddington, a mechanic of very great genius, for the following figure of a simple machine which he has invented, and which completely accomplishes the object wanted.

This machine consists of a wooden frame, of such dimensions