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Agricultural Sweeps Make Scalping Easy

An agricultural tool widely used in the renovation of old pastures for improved forage production is the sweep. It might be described as a modified duck-foot shovel, with shearing spans ranging up to 30 inches in width. It functions principally by severing the roots of grasses and weeds at predetermined depths of up to 6 inches below the surface. In some places hand scalping or its equivalent is required for tree planting. Furrowing, although practical, may be definitely objectionable, either because of the continuous trench which results, or because of the clearly defined rows, especially when landscape effects which suggest natural stands are desired. Regardless of the tool used, the severing of the roots of shrubs and sod represent the most severe part of the labor involved in hand scalping.


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Author(s): Gordon Barrington

Publication: Tree Planters' Notes - Issue 14 (1953)