Drag Harrow

Drag Harrow 

(in Russian, volokusha). (1) A farm implement: (a) for working the soil before planting in spring; (b) for gathering hay from windrows and moving hay from shocks to places where it is to be stacked. Cultivation of the soil involves the use of beam drags, which consist of three wooden beams hitched together by chains; nail plankers, which consist of wooden beams connected by chains, the front beams being equipped with short teeth; and smoothing harrows or band sweeps.

A drag harrow cuts off ridges and other uneven spots, breaks up clods of earth, levels the ground, and forms a layer of finely broken, porous soil that prevents the evaporation of moisture. Hay is picked up from windrows by rakes that can lift as much as 300 kg. Such rakes consist of a rake assembly, a mounting, and mechanisms for hoisting and suspension. Shocks of hay or straw are moved by frameless or frame-type rope sweeps. The ropes are attached to two tractors, which are driven along both sides of a row of shocks. After ten to 15 shocks have been gathered, they are hauled off for stacking.

(2) A primitive wheelless drag (travois) consisting of two poles whose front ends are hitched to a horse, ox, or dog, and the rear ends drag along the ground (hence the Russian name volokusha, from volochit’, “to drag”). The travois was wide-spread among the Indians of North America, as well as in northern provinces of Russia (Vologda and Arkhangel’sk provinces) and in Siberia.

(3) A wooden box on runners for moving coal and ore at mine faces. Such a drag was pulled by a workman who hitched himself to it by a strap around his waist.

(4) A type of fishing net (seine).