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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



The Flemish swing plough shown in the illustration, 

 fig. 1, has been called the " model of the Rotherham, 

 and the parent plough of all our most improved swing- 

 ploughs for light soils." This plough works very easily ; 

 with it a single horse can plough in the usually light 

 lands of Flanders an acre a day to a depth of six or 

 seven inches. The furrow is laid over with great regu- 

 larity, the land-side is cut square and clean, while the 

 sole is level, showing little irregularity in its progressive 

 motion — unlike some work we have seen done with 

 swing-ploughs in Scotland, where the sole has been hilly 

 and irregular. So easily, however, is the Flemish plough 

 worked, that two handles are not necessitated, one only, 

 as in «, fig. 1, being used. This is curved upwards and 

 forwards, and terminated by a small horn or handle, b. 

 By this the plough is easily held, and lifted out at the 

 end of the bout, to turn the plough round to commence 

 another. This facility of regulation is, however, to be 

 attributed greatly to the lightness as well as uniformity 



of consistence of the soil in which it works, which pre- 

 sents none — at least, very few — of those obstacles met 

 with in many of the soils of England and Scotland, and 

 which necessitate a continual vigilance on the part of 

 the ploughman. The end of the beam carries a curved 

 shoe, c, the stem of which is provided in front with a 

 rack d, the teeth of which take into an iron plate, the 

 two being kept in contact, and the shoe suspended at 

 i any height desired by the wedge e, secured to the beam 

 by the small guard chain, as shown. The construction 

 of the " bridle,"/, is obvious enough, from an inspec- 

 tion of the sketch. The mould-board, j7, is made so as 

 to lift the slice well up before it turns it over ; being 

 little inclined latei'ally, the furrow-slice is laid on at the 

 usual angle of 45 degrees. The share is broad, and the 

 sole formed of a straight ^iece of wood like a sledge. 

 The coulter, /(, is variously made of the hatchet form in 

 fig. 1, or the curved one shown in fig. 2. The imple- 

 ment is constructed altogether of wood, the mould- 



FiG. 2. 



board in many instances being merely covered with sheet- 

 iron. It is altogether a rude-looking implement, and 

 gives, at first sight, anything but the idea of a capability 

 to do good work. It is, however, thought to do this so 

 well, or, at all events, the Flemish are so prejudiced in 

 its favour, that ploughs are now being constructed after 



Fig. 3. 

 its model, but in which the whole of the parts are made 

 of iron. Clumsy an implement as the Flemish swing- 



plough appears to be at a first examination of it, it is a 

 " handy-looking" implemeni compared to the wheeled 

 plough, a sketch of which in two of its principal parts 

 is shown in iigs. 2 and 3. The acting parts of the 

 plough are somewhat different from those of the swing, 

 plough in fig. 1. Two handles, a and b, are used, and 

 the coulter, b c, is more closely resembling that of our 

 own ploughs ; the chain, d, is used to connect the beam, 

 e, with the " avant-train," as it is called, or the wheel 

 part, c, the arrangement of which is shown ia fig. 3. 

 As will be seen, the diameter of the wheels is equal, no 

 furrow or land-wheel being adopted, as in our wheel" 

 ploughs. The necessary adjustment of the wheels, so 

 that while one is running in the furrow the other is 

 on the land, is simply made by the part of the wheel- 

 carriage, a, being made with a curved slot on its upper 

 side, in which the end of the beam, b, rests. Any diff'er- 

 ence of level of the two wheels does not, from this ar- 

 rangement, interfere with the position of the beam, b. 

 The wheels and wheel-carriage can be brought nearer 

 to, or farther from, the working parts, c /(fig. 2), of 

 the plough by shortening or lengthening the chains, e 

 (fig. 2). The rude arrangement of the " bridle," c c, 

 is shown in the illustration (fig. 2). The block, a, in 

 which the beam, b, rests, is made so as to have a lateral 

 or side movement on the under-block, b d, so as to 

 shift the position of the beam, b. 



The harrow generally used is entirely of wood, both 

 tines and frame. The frame, a a a (fig. 1), is trian- 

 gular, and provided with cross-bars, b b. The tines, 

 c c, are curved in their outline, and project forward. 

 For bringing up weeds and cleaning the land, the har* 

 row is drawn forward from the angle c in the direction 



