THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



527 



things : indeed a school of agriculturists fast rising 

 into importance do not hesitate to declare that they are 

 really so, and that good cultivation cannot be effected 

 through the medium of the plough, inasiBueh as its 

 very action leaves an important part of the soil in a 

 state unfitted for the reception and nourishment of the 

 plants. 



Referring to the last-given of our illustrations, and 

 to our description of the plough in our last article, the 

 reader will perceive that the passage of the sole of the 

 plough tends to form a crust, or hardened surface, in 

 the bottom of the furrow; that however well pulverized 

 the parts of the slices above this may be, this line f cj 

 (in last diagram) forms the line of demarkation be- 

 tween the parts operated upon and those never coming 

 under the disturbing influence of the plough ; for the 

 oftener the land is ploughed — the depth being generally 

 uniform— the harder does this surface become. Three 

 evils may thus be brought into action : increase of 

 draught of the plough in succeeding v/orkings; the 

 formation of chambei's, as h ai (last diagram), in 

 which surface-water may collect, and of a hard crust, 

 /(/, through which the roots of plants cannot easily 

 enter, confining their growth to the comparatively 

 small depth of the furrow-slice, d b (first diagram). 

 Now these three evils are inherent in tlie action of every 

 plough; and of these three the opponents of the imj^le- 

 ment give the last as that productive of the greatest 

 loss to the agriculturist. The operation of the 

 plough in this way, it is argued, is practically a 

 limitation of the seed-bed and of the consequent pro- 

 ductiveness of the plough. You may increase the depth 

 to which the plough may work ; but with increase of 

 depth you bring about an immense increase in diffi- 

 culty of working, and the consequent increase of cost. 

 So that each succeeding advocate of ilcej)-ploughin.(j 

 finds at last the limit of his operations, and produces, 

 equally with his shallow-ploughing neighbour, the 

 hardened crust or sole, beyond which little growth of 

 the root of the plant may be hoped for. And while 

 some say that a depth of furrow of six inches is suffi- 

 cient, others as dogmatically assert the virtues of a ten- 

 inch one ; while experience and theory would seem to show 

 that the deeper we have our pulverized soil the better, 

 and that it is difficult to know where to place the line 

 beyond which we should not stir our soil. In view of 

 this acknowledged defect of the plough, a graphic and 

 well-known writer on agricultural subjects has the fol- 

 lowing remarks : " I say that the plough has sen- 

 tence of death written upon it, because it is essentially 

 imperfect ; what it does is little towards the work of 

 cultivation, but that little is limited by a radical im- 

 perfection — damage to the subsoil, which is pressed 

 and hardened by the share in an exact ratio with the 

 weight of the soil lifted, plus that of the force required 

 to efliect the damage, and the weight of the instrument 

 Itself. Were there no other reason for saying it than 

 this, this alone would entitle the philosophic mechanist 

 to say and see that the plough was never meant to bo 

 iminortal." Indeed, should opinions respecting the 

 utility of deepening the ,seed-bed spread widely, and 



result in demonstrating beyond gainsay that larger re- 

 turns are obtainable from deep than from shallow cul- 

 ture, it is difficult to see how the plough, in its present 

 form, can long maintain its high position. Certain it 

 is that the stirring or raising up of the soil to a dcj)th 

 of four to six inches only, as is so generally practised, 

 cannot long be maintained as giving good work. It 

 is neither good ploughing nor good cultivation : it is 

 a simple scratching or scoring of the surface; a 

 stage little advanced beyond the mere elemen- 

 tary idea of ploughing, and altogether unworthy 

 of modern cultivation; when, however diverse our 

 opinions may be as to the benefits derivable from 

 the very deep culture advocated by some, there 

 is, nevertheless, demonstration enough that deeper 

 culture than was practised universally not many 

 years ago is really desiderated, if wo wish for 

 good cultural results. Indeed it is just in view of the 

 importance of a deep seed bed that the discussion about 

 the fitness of the plough has arisen; for, however fitly 

 the work is done and essential to good cultivation its 

 peculiar characteristics may be deemed to be, there is 

 a limit beyond which it cannot be worked with profit; 

 for the difiiculty of working it increases in a much 

 higher ratio than the increase of depth. Hence it is 

 that even with those who accept the plough as the in- 

 strument best calculated to secure good cultivation^ 

 the necessity has made itself apparent that, to enable 

 it to stir the soil to a greater depth, much must be 

 done in the modification of its form and details ; the 

 improvements desiderated pointing to the lessening of 

 the draught and the prevention of the hard crust or 

 Sole in the bottom of the furrows. 



This lessening of the draught has been proposed to 

 be effected in a variety of ways. Attention, however, 

 has been chiefly paid to the form of the mould-board, 

 so that it will transmit the slice to its final i)Osition 

 with the least expenditure of force. Some ploughs 

 effect this with wonderful precision and accuracy; 

 the furrow-slice being turned over in one unbroken 

 mass. In view however of the advantages of disinte- 

 grating the soil, it has been questioned whether this 

 result is what is requii-ed ; for we can easily conceive 

 how that certain soils may be laid over in such slices that 

 these will, in place of being pulverized, become hardened 

 like sun-dried bricks, and yield under the action 

 of succeeding implements harder clods or lumps than 

 is at all desirable. So that a plough which turns over 

 and in turning disintegrates the soil, although display- 

 ing a heavier draught, may, in the end, be cheaper — 

 because giving the best work — than a plough which 

 has a lighter draught. For we can easily conceive of a 

 machine doing its work easily, with a small expendi- 

 ture of power, being dearer than another which re- 

 quires greater power ; for it is not merely the fact of 

 doing a certain amount of work that is to be considered, 

 the quality of the work, and whether it is fitted for the 

 end we have in view, are points that must have weight, 

 if we wish good results. A gardener might plough 

 his land more quickly and cheaper than be could dig it 

 with the spade; but the saving he could thus effect 



