22 MAINE STATE SOCIETY. 



plows of this State. Here, nearly all the heavy plowing is per- 

 formed by oxen, which are usually of large size and considerable 

 strength, two yokes being commonly used for each plow, and not 

 unfrequently three or four in very heavy breaking up. The large 

 and broad furrows thus turned, compensate in some measure for the 

 slowness of motion. The soil being mostly more or less gravelly, 

 farmers do not favor the practice of lapping furrows (which is ef- 

 fected by narrow and deep slices) but prefer to lay the sod flat, by 

 cutting a width at least twice the depth. When Cottam & Hallen's 

 dynamometer was attached to Kendall & Whitney's "Lion Plow" 

 No. 10, cutting a furrow through a dry and tough sod, seven and a 

 half inches deep and fifteen and a half inches wide, the instrument 

 was found incapable of indicating the amount of draught, which 

 exceeded the highest mark on the graduated scale, and of course it 

 was still less capable of measuring the force required to move larger 

 implements, such, for example, as Kendall & Whitney's "Lion" 

 No. 61, which in the hands of the committee cut a slice 18 inches 

 wide and 91 inches deep. In both these instances two yokes of oxen 

 were attached to the plow. Emery's dynamometer, which indicated 

 the draught approximately when used on the smaller plows, proved 

 of no value on these larger ones, for the reason already assigned. 

 The committee are however, satisfied that carefully constructed, the 

 cylinder bored with great accuracy, and the thickness such that no 

 pressure ever applied will cause it to spring or yield, Emery's would 

 prove a valuable force measurer for the heaviest plows. 



These imperfections, and the impossibility, after great exertions 

 on the part of the Trustees, to find any dynamometer now manufac- 

 tured that would obviate these difficulties, have compelled the Com- 

 mittee with much regret to forego the use of this important and 

 essential test of the relative value of plows — ease of draught, other 

 things being equal, being a quality of high value. For the farmer 

 who can with a good and easy-running plow, invert ten acres of sod, 

 with the same amount of labor or force that with another plow he 

 could invert eight acres, would in a short time save the entire cost 

 of the implement, to say nothing of other considerations. 



By a comparison of the dimensions of the plows tried at Albany 

 in 1850, with those which were subjected to the trial here, a striking 



