LIVING THE DREAM FOR A DOLLAR AN ACRE
(Page 8 of 9)
In light soil, or by taking shallow passes, you can keep
going forward fairly steadily. You'll resort only
occasionally to short back and forth agitation. A wheel hoe
is ideal for light weeding with sweeps; it has rectangular
or right-angled, knife-like blades that are set to run just
under the soil surface. Some years back, we were blessed
with a reasonably flat two-acre field of rich organic loam
that had lain fallow for twenty-five years. Once it was
plowed, disked, and well-rototilled, I used an original
Planet Junior low-wheeler and sweeps to hand-cultivate
— three to five times, till weeds were shaded out
— a three-year rotation of corn, field peas, and
beans, and rye or buckwheat. I planted the larger seed with
an old Planet Junior seed drill. And even farther in the
past, I inherited an even older high-wheel hoe with three
curved, fishhook crook-tines rusted for all eternity into a
triangular formation on the tool bar. It squeaked and
wobbled on its worn iron axle, but managed to scratch out a
decent foot-wide path between rows in the field corn. It
was faster and better than hand-hoeing but not by much. The
tall wheel tended to lever up off the ground and defeat its
purpose by burying the tools if I had to push hard on the
handles, whereas a low-wheeler helps support the tools and
move them along in the row if a hard push is required. I
hear that this has something to do with the fulcrum of
leverage, angle of moment, and point of effort of the
high-wheeler being well out in front of the tools, while
the low-wheeler's is down low where it belongs. I didn't do
well enough in physics to explain it any better than that.
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You'll find one or another wheel hoe, as well as new,
original-design Planet junior seed drills, listed in the
homesteading and garden tools catalogs. There is also a
superior quality low-wheel design made of stainless steel
by the Swiss firm REAL (Ray'AL), which also makes a line of
premium-grade hand tools that are cited in the second part
of this article. Sold in several seed and tools catalogs,
it features one or two wheels and oscillating stirrup hoes,
as well as the usual assortment of cultivators. The Real is
a lovely machine offering a high-tech interpretation of an
old-fashioned concept. It runs on ball bearings and costs
well over $200.
However, out of a preference for older technology, we opted
for the Planet Junior. It has solid-iron wheels with no
bearings at all; the axle turns inside a nylon sleeve. Its
tool bar and implements of cast iron and tool steel are
painted garish red and yellow; the handles are made of
American ash or hickory. It costs even more than the Real.
It is made by Denman & Company of Placentia,
California. It can be purchased through Lehman's.
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