190 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



weight of the ploughs on the furrow bottom is entirely 

 avoided, the ploughs at one end of the frame balancing 

 those at the other, so that the entire weight is carried 

 upon the large patent-axled travelling wheels. I have 

 tested the draught of the four-furrow plough running 

 empty upon the surface of the land, and found it to be 

 only 3 cwt. ; the draught of 472 yards of wire rope 

 dragging along the surface of a clover lea was 3 cwt. ; 

 the total draught of implement and rope being no more 

 than that of four common ploughs drawn empty on the 

 same surface. Of course, with the rope supported upon 

 friction rollers, the actual draught is much less. 



I would suggest as an improvement, that |^is plough 

 should be constructed say with two beams of T iron 

 shorter than the present wood beams, and with two 

 diagonally placed beams at each end, made of tubular 

 or angle iron, on which the plough skifes or the scarify- 

 ing tines may be adjusted by clasps or bolts and screws, 

 for different widths of furrow. 



This implement, which, by ready alterations can 

 plough ordinary furrows, trench two furrows deep with 

 effect equal, in dry weather, to that of the spade, break 

 up either whole or ploughed ground by cultivator tines, 

 or pare with broadshare, seems to me just the converti- 

 ble valuable implement we need in connection with 

 steam-hauling machinery, as this versatility so mate- 

 rially reduces our first outlay. 



I now pass on to a consideration of ploughing in lands, 

 ridges, or stetches. 



Steam-tillage ought to prove of greatest assistance to 

 the heavy lands, and not only to light lands, which may 

 claim the reaping machine as their gift from the me- 

 chanic, it being specially adapted to their upstanding 

 crops ; and from the restricted area of permanent 

 subsoil-drainage yet in existence, as well as other cir- 

 cumstances, the great majority of farms on our slrong 

 wheat-soils are undoubtedly ploughed, and I fear 

 must for many years be ploughed, in ridge-and-furrow 

 " lands." 



It would be possible to form a land with Mr. Fowler's 

 plough, first going two courses (that is, once up and 

 down the field) on one side of the ridge, and then, with 

 considerable loss of time, turning the plough end for 

 end, and going two courses to complete the other side ; 

 but, still better, the ploughs at one end of the frame 

 might be left-hand, and the other light-hand ploughs, 

 the implement then not being turned round. The slack 

 or return ply of the rope following the plough would 

 have to be laid out sometimes half a land's breadth aside 

 from the track, and a guide wheel running along the 

 last open furrow would be necessary to regulate the 

 parallel distance of the next ridge. The anchorage, I 

 think, would simply need to be shifted half a land's 

 breadth at a time. But there is one objection. When 

 we consider that one of the chief points of good plough- 

 ing is to form the sectional contour of the land in a pro- 

 per curve, so that every furrow-slice shall be lower in 

 regular gradation as we recede from the ridge (in order 

 that the harrow edges of all may be equally prominent) ; 

 and when we remember that a skilful ploughman secures 

 this form by adjusting the width, depth, &c., of each 

 furrow according to its distance from and relation to the 

 ridge or water furrow, and according to the previous 

 shape of the ground, we perceive that no implement 

 ploughing all its furrows one unvarying depth and 

 breadth can be well calculated for this description of 

 work. Perhaps Mr. Fowler may improve his ploughing- 

 machine for stetch work, by giving the workman power 

 to alter the depth of either side of the frame without 

 stopping for the purpose. 



Mr. Williams suspends his single set of ploughs upon 

 levers capable of working vertically in a carriage. frame, 

 e&ch plough being independently raised or lowered, but 



the machine has to be turned round at each end of the 

 work at every course, and taken across to the other side 

 of the land — a difficulty which I believe Mr. Williams 

 has not yet overcome without the use of horses — and 

 the alterations of depth, &c., necessary for different 

 courses, must occasion considerable delay. But it is un- 

 necessary for each plough to have a " swimming " motion 

 independent of the rest. There appears to be no practical 

 obstacle to the employment of a considerable number of 

 ploughs rigidly fixed in a frame, but, on the contrary, 

 the lightness of framing and adjustments in proportion 

 to the breadth of ground operated upon (so important in 

 lessening the load to be drawn) is in favour of such an 

 arrangement. We might take half a " land " at a ifme, 

 if the machine would not be too cumbrous, so that when 

 the ploughs are once " set" (with regulating screws, &c.) 

 to their proper depth and position, according to the form 

 of the surface to be ploughed, no alteration whatever 

 would be necessary. But a frame of six or seven ploughs 

 following each other would be too long and unwieldly ; 

 therefore, let us turn half the furrows one way and half 

 the other, the ploughs being in two sets, placed abreast, 

 instead of following one another. The six ploughs will 

 thus occupy only the same length of frame as three ; 

 the macUine, indeed, with wheels in front and behind, 

 will be of much the same dimensions as a scarifer. Mr. 

 Coleman exhibited at Chelmsford a ploughing machine 

 of this desoription, in which the ploughs were arranged 

 in a V form, like a flock of wild-fowl. Suppose we 

 attach the ploughs to the bars or beams of the framework 

 by a fastening somewhat similar to that of Bentall's 

 broadsharer, so thnt they can be adjusted to different 

 depths and widths, according as the ground may be 

 level or in ridge and furrow. By raising the fore-end of 

 the frame upon its carriage wheels (with a wheel-and- 

 screw <ir lever movement), the ploughs are run out of 

 work of their own accord, and by depressing the front 

 they are pointed in. Let there be two implements, 

 ploughing only up to the windlass — in accordance 

 with the method of hauling, described in a previous 

 part of this paper. One is to "gather," of turn 

 its furrows inwards, forming a ridge in the middle ; 

 the other is to " split," throwing its furrows outwards, 

 leaving an open water-furrow in the middle ; that is, the 

 first implement makes " ridges," or " feerings," of a 

 certain distance apart, and the other " makes up " the 

 intervals, forming complete lands or stetches. Carriage 

 wheels follow in the last furrows to sustain the weight 

 of the implements, and for them to travel upon as they 

 run backwards out of work. The manner in which the 

 two implements would be worked, with a minimum of 

 time lost at the ends, and a saving of power in several 

 respects, has been already sufficiently described. I need 

 merely refer now to the advantages of making the ploughs 

 in each frame turn half their work opposite ways, and 

 to the possibility of lightening the draught by avoiding 

 sledging and sliding action as much as possible. 



From numerous dynamometric experiments, it appears 

 that in a heavy soil, if the whole draught of a plough in 

 work be taken as 100, then, with the mould-board re- 

 moved, it will be 90, drawn along an empty furrow it 

 will be no less than 35, leaving 55 to represent the 

 power required for cutting the slice. Much of the 35 

 per cent, may be saved by supporting the implement 

 upon three or else four carriage-wheels, and shortening 

 the sole as far as it can be done without causing the 

 share to make a ragged uneven furrow-bottom. The 10 

 per cent, due to the action of the mould-board may also 

 be reduced; for though the weight and friction of the 

 soil upon the upper surface of the mould will remain, 

 the weight lifted (several stones) mav be mainly sus- 

 tained by the travelling-wheels, instead of borne bv the 

 sledge formed of the sole and the heel of the mould- 



