THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



207 



in the stomach is a coiiinhiiut yoiiii^ lambs are very liable to, 

 and often proves fatal. 'J'be best and snrcst remedy he had 

 ever applied was a tea-spoonful of carbonate of soda, dis- 

 solved in a little water, and ^iven immediately it ia mixed. 



Mr. Long believed the subject under consideration to be a 

 very important one : he in the main agreed with the previons 

 speakers : no doubt the descriptions, quantity and quality of 

 food had a good deal to do witli the well-doing of the (lock. 

 He believed, however, a good shepherd to be a matter of great 

 requisite, a little neglect on his part sometimes proving very 

 disastrous. He had never before heard the remedy named by 

 Mr. Barber for curdling of the milk in lambs. He hoped 

 he should Cud it efficacious, as it was a general complaint, 



and if it was a means of cure, it should be made generally 

 known. 



Mr. Ford, Mr. Tauuer, Mr. Price, with other members aUo 



took part in the discussion. 



The CiiAiKMAN said he had listened with considerable 

 attention to the proceedings of the evening. He cer- 

 tainly was very much gratified by the manner in which the 

 subject had been brought forward and entered into : so much 

 had been said, and the time almost at hand for closing the 

 discussion, he thought it would be well to pass a resolution ; 

 which waa accordingly done. It approved of the management 

 as prescribed by Mr. Drew. 



A vote of thanks to Mr. Drew closed the proceedings. 



REPORT OF PLOUGHING EXPERIMENTS 



By John Lennie, Lauder Barns, Lauder. 

 irremium—TJie Gold Medal.] 



With the view of testing the draught and examining the 

 work of ploughs of different construction, working at various 

 depths, and thereafter ascertaining the result as to produce of 

 crop for comparison, several ploughs were collected on this 

 farm, on the 19th day of February, 185G, uuder the auspices 

 of Sir Anthony Maitlaud and the Lauderdale Agricultural 

 Society, the acting committee of which were present. 



The field upon which the trials were conducted is situated 

 in the northern part of Berwickshire, about twenty miles in- 

 land, and has an altitude of 540 feet. The ridges ploughed 

 lie due north and south, and have nearly a uniform fall to the 

 north of 1 foot in 16. The soil is clayey loam, 8 inches deep, 

 resting upon a retentive red sandy clay subsoil, traversed with 

 veins of moorband. In 1817 it was in summer-fallow, when it 

 was thoroughly drained, subsoil-ploughed, limed, and sown 

 with wheat and grass seeds for two years' depasturing. It has 

 since been farmed on the fifth rotation, and was, when ploughed, 

 iu two years' old lea, and in medium fertility. 



The following observations have reference to ten of the 

 ploughs which were brought forward. Three of these— viz., 

 Howard's prize wheel-plough, the Carrington Currie plough, 

 and the common or Small's plough — were each drawn by two 

 horses. The Marquess of Twceddale's Yester plough, and 

 Small's plough fitted with a large mould-board for deep work, 

 were drawn by three horses abreast, with compeusatiou-lever 

 swing-trees. The five remaining teams were an exact duplicate 

 of the above, and all of ihem were placed on ridges contiguous to 

 one another in the order tabulated. Three ridges were allotted 

 to each of the four ploughs with three horses, and a couple of 

 ridges to each of the two-horse ploughs. The ploughmen had 

 no further instructions before commencing work, than that they 

 were to plough as they did respectively at home. The dyna- 

 mometer employed was Slight's, and the observations given are 

 the average of several taken down. This also applies to the 

 depth and width of furrow-slice. 



It will be observed from table No. I. that the two Yester 

 ploughs, although the heaviest drawn, give the greatest sec- 

 tional area of soil turned over for the power employed, sa well 

 as for each horse used. Howard's wheel-plough comes next, 

 notwithstanding its great weight when empty, as much power 

 being required to overcome its own weight as is spent in the 

 turning over of a substantial farrow-slice in a soil of more 

 than medium tenacity as that given. It was the first of the 

 two-horse ploughs, was remarkably steady iu its motion, and 

 showed less oscillation on the index of dynamometer than with 

 any of the other ploughs when tested. Small's plough at all 



the depths showed favourably, and the Currie least so of any. 

 When the horses were pushed to their utmost walking pace, 

 for the purpose of testing the influence of the velocity of the 

 plough upon its draught, the dynamometer showed no varia- 

 tion either iu ascending or descending the slope from the power 

 given: it is therefore not tabulated. It is, however, of great 

 importance, as it shows the necessity of procuring horses which 

 naturally walk with a quick step, as they can overtake more 

 work in a given time, with the same effort, than sluggish 

 heavy-limbed animals. Although there is little variation in 

 the draught of the plough in ascending the hill from that iu 

 its descent, yet the exertion of the horses is in ascending 

 greatly increased from the mere carriage of their own weight ; 

 and this farther shows the value of active animals, of good 

 muscular energy, as they do not require to spend the same 

 annouat of effort as heavy ones. 



The frequent delays caused by affixing the dynamometer to 

 the implements, and noting the observations, prevented the 

 time taken to plo\igh each allotment being kept with any degree 

 of accuracy. All the work was, however, doue about the same 

 time, and at the usual rate, less the stoppages. The additional 

 breadth turned over by the three-horse ploughs more than 

 compensates for the third horse, besides the extra depth 

 attained. Tne twelve horses attached to four ploughs turned 

 over 1 1 poles 8^ yards more surface than the twelve attached 

 to the six ploughs, besides two men's work being saved. 



On the 12th day of March the whole of the allotments were 

 sown by the broadcast sowing-machine with 4^ bushels of 

 Sandwich oats p-^r acre. The ridges worked by the three- 

 horse ploughs got a single tine of the harrows to close the 

 interstices of the furrows before sowing, yet leaving sufficient 

 mould to cover the seed. 



All the portions brairded well and regularly. The braird 

 on the ridges of the two-horse plough was rowed along 

 the furrows, especially that on the ridges of Howard's and the 

 Currie ploughs ; while on the ridges of the three-horse ones 

 tlie braird was scaltered and irregular, and as the season ad- 

 vanced became blanky— the Yester plough most so. Howard's 

 at this time looked to be early, and the best of the whole, and 

 continue 1 to look so uutd cut. About the beginning of July 

 the Currie promified to he the earliest, but waa comparatively 

 thin and short on the ground. The whole wai reaped by the 

 sickle on t'.ie 17th day of September, although the Yester por- 

 tion would have required two days longer to have been equally 

 ripe as the others. 



The oats were cut on the 17th September, and put up in 



