A MECHANICAL WEED ERADICATOR.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 74, 9 December 1875, Page 7

A MECHANICAL WEED ERADICATOR.

Weeds in growing crops have always ! been the bugbear' of the agriculturist. ► ;Go_od farmers in the old country haver their crops weeded by hand, but theprocess is a slow and expensive one? A \ Danish gentleman- who farms the 1 Koldmoos Estate, hss -invented a machine which he calls "The -6-oldraoos Patent Weed Eradicator," for doing the work more cheaply. The implement! 'will weed any crop that has been drilled! in- and so. highly are its merits appreciated on the Continent that during the ; first season of its existence 500 were put to work in G ermany alone. This year "The " Eradicator " has been introduced into England, and a few months ago, it was publicly tried pn a piece of indifferent ground at Spring-; field. The , Northern Echo' thus de-! scribes the implement and the test to which it was subjected ; — " The machine, so far as its framework goes, is not unlike the reaping, or mowing machine — a taa'n being mounted on a seat, and the horse drawing the implement at the side. In place of knives, however, there is an iron drum of about two feet in diameter, which is furnished, with three lines of steel combs, which "work in and out as the drum rotates, projecting to their full length when they are at the point nearest the ground, and being drawn back through a narrow interstice as they attain the reverse position, thereby cleaning themselves as they go, depositing the weeds they have picked up before they again reach the lowest position. The machine is only applicable for the work for which it is designed when the corn is young, when those weeds which are anuals, . like the mustard, are caught by the head between; the. steel combs and broken off, thus preventing seeding, and in a! season or.two largely, if not altogether, destroying the plant. The machine would probably be equally adapted to the destruction of thistles at certain stages of their growth. As an explanation of the practical working of the machine, we cannot do better than state what came p^ider our notice at the trial. The field in which the trial took place is situated to the north of the Springfield Works on the Springfield Farm. It contained a somewhat thin crop of wheat, which was almost obscured — in the distance it was quite obscured — by the wild mustard, or, as the weed is termed, "yellows" or "rimch," by local agriculturists. The machine — or rather the machines, for there were two — had already been at work before our arrival, and as we approached the field the effects were plainly visible by the stripes of green which interspersed the general-yellow aspect of the field. The machines were several times driven through the corn after \we arrived, and the effect was watched narrowly by those who were present. The drum's being lowered by an archimedean screw on either side to what was deemed the "proper level, the drivers urged on their horses, in one instance at a rather fast pace. The combs were observed to grasp the head of the weed, which was generally above the corn, break it off, and deposit it on the ground. Occasionally a blade of the wheat plant was broken off or pulled up, but this was the exception, and it was stated by those who had charge of the machine, that this would not have occurred if the "weeding" had been taken a fortnight earlier. It may be safely said that about two-thirds of the wild mustard was destroyed; but under favorable circumstances, with good, even, and well cultivated land, instead of that which had previously been a brickfield, it was asserted that nine-tenths would have been taken out, and we think it probable that this estimate is not highly placed. The rain fell at the time of the trial, and the moist state ot the ground also told against the most favorable possible results being obtained at this trial. Notwithstanding these drawbacks we must pronounce this new implement a decided success, and believe it will be likely before long, to take a prominent place in the general agricultural repertory. So rank was the wild mustard in this particular field, that it would have been impossible for it to be extracted or cut up by hand labor, unless at a most serious experise and damage to the crop by treading it 'down ; whilst the machine, as we saw it worked, would probably be calculated to '• comb " six or seven acres a day. The weed eradicator, by an adaptation of a sack or some vessel at the back, can be made available for seed-gather-ing. In Holland or the South of England, where clover is grown largely, the seed of the plant could be secured by this plan, it is said effectually, Messrs Ord and Maddison, who have the sole manufacture for England, have already made about ten of these machines, which they have furnished with sets of fine and coarse steel combs, so as to meet the exigencies of different localities and different conditions of crops.