)3fi 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



more widely apart. A very rough 

 diagram will clearly elucidate the 

 action. The pieces being hung on 

 fixed hinges or centres at A and b, 

 the rope entering at c tends to 

 urge the two pieces toward the 

 right, and bring their direction into 

 a straight line, instead of its form- 

 ing an obtuse angle. The effect is, 

 that, as the rope, by the natural 

 pressure of the strain upon it, forces the pair of " clip- 

 ping pieces" inward, bringing their ends nearer to- 

 gether, it pinches itself between them ; the amount of 



J 



n 

 I 



this nip or side-pressure being proportionate to the pres- 

 sure of the rope in an inward or centripetal direction. 

 It will be at once perceived that any less or greater 

 amount of hold may be obtained by setting the centres, 

 or fulcra, a and b, nearer or further apart. The prin- 

 ciple is precisely that seen in many copying, printing, 

 and other presses ; and is the same which will cause a 

 very flat arch to thrust out its piers and fall down with 

 only a very slight excess of weight upon its keystone. 



The reader will perhaps suspect that this ingenious 

 drum may be rather too complex, and liable to wear, 

 but concernuig this point we must speak in another 

 article. 



THE BOWHILL PLOUGHING MATCH.— THE BEDFORD VERSUS 



THE KENT PLOUGH. 



"Whatever the leading implement-makers may think, 

 there would seem to be little liiielihood of the prize 

 system really going out of fashion. If people cannot 

 command such trials through the agency of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society, they will have them still by some 

 other means. At the late >Show at Canterbury, for in- 

 stance, the ploughs were not in turn ; and so the men 

 of Kent straightway got up a ploughing-match on their 

 own account. It is not necessary to dwell here on the 

 lamentable failure that followed, or to seek any further 

 to lind with whom the fault lay. But the whole of the 

 county would not be implicated ; for the contest was, in 

 actual fact, not open to the whole county. Only such 

 farmers as adhered to, or such workmen as were con- 

 versant with, the old Kentish plough, were qualified to 

 compete, and anything like a comparison was as a 

 consequence carefully avoided. The same thing occurs 

 annually at the local meetings, where the turn-rise 

 implement has a class to itself, and the iron plough 

 another for its own order only. However, the 

 iron plough was at Canterbury altogether ex- 

 cluded, and the " native " left to illustrate 

 what, under certain difiSculiies, it could or 

 could not do. The result went more to prove a 

 negative than anything else, and the men of Kent and 

 the Kent ploughs were more laughed at than ever. In 

 this dilemma one of their own neighbours offered his 

 friends another chance. Mr. Robert Russell, of Farn- 

 ingham, having long since given in his adhesion to the 

 iron ploughs, publicly challenged the wooden one ; and 

 Mr. Elvy, whose man is the recognized champion of 

 the ancient order of merit, took up the glove. It would 

 have been impossible to name two better men to re- 

 present the interests involved in the issue. Mr. Elvy 

 has long been looked up to, as one of the best agricul- 

 turists of his county ; and strangers who wish to see 

 what hop cultivation is, are at once directed to Bow- 

 hill. The Russells are quite as well known as a fine 

 six-foot family, who ride famously to hounds, are the 

 best of shots, and most spirited of agriculturists. They 

 in turn are equally respected ; and if the adherents of 

 the two principles had been called upon to choose their 

 men, they cou.ld scarcely have made any other selection 



than that determined on* for the match of Thursday. 

 The premises, moreover, were on either side alike 

 fair and encouraging. It is a favourite argument in 

 Kent, when any one takes to trying the iron plough, 

 that either the man or the implement will be missing 

 in the course of a year or two. But the experience of 

 the Messrs. Russell furnishes a strong case to the con- 

 trary. As the challenger, Mr. Robert Russell, said, 

 when we came back to dinner at Maidstone, " How- 

 ard's iron plough was the greatest improvement that 

 had been introduced amongst agricultural implements 

 of late years. He himself and his three brothei's had 

 now used them for more than twenty years, and a 

 practical proof of the advantage of the system was 

 afforded by the fact that they had grown more corn 

 and turnips and mutton at a less expense than they had 

 ever done before. His farm was always open to in- 

 spection, and he should be happy to see any one who 

 liked to pay him a visit." Both sides, then, had some- 

 thing to go on ; while they joined issue in this wise : — 

 Mr. Russell was to send three teams to Bowhill with 

 Howard's plough, and Mr. Elvey was to have out three 

 of his own with the Kent turnrise. They were to do 

 half an acre of land eachj and then four judges, two 

 appointed by each of the competitors, were to pro- 

 nounce which was the better work. The ordeal was 

 strictly confined to this. There was to be no test as to 

 draught, nor time, nor cost, nor wear and tear, of man 

 or horseflesh ; the arbitrators were simply to walk over 

 the land, and pronounce upon what they saw. With 

 this understanding then we rose the hill from Warter- 

 ingbury, a walk that, despite the deep going, was 

 well repaid by the glorious view over what must be 

 the garden of Kent, and that tempted one to dwell, and 

 turn again and again in the ascent. This once achieved, 

 and we are in the heart of the contest. Here the long- 

 ing eyes of sworn friends and followers are going step 

 for step with the four fine fat horses that take the 

 wooden plough upon its well accustomed route ; and 

 tliere the critical gaze fastens on the three more 

 " lisome" looking nags that have brought the iron to 

 enter the soul of this consecrated ground. They strike 

 deeper, too, than ever. Mr. Elvey goes to eight inches 



