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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FUTURE CONDUCT OF PLOUGHING MATCHES. 



We have been quite right hitherto in awarding prizes 

 for good ploughing to the men. To encourage skill in 

 the men was -a very wise proceeding. For without 

 good ploughing we cannot expect good crops, since 

 our produce depends upon the fertile character of our 

 seed beds, and these again depend upon the mechanical 

 care we take to prepare them, turning an equal furrow 

 of a regular angle, so that the arrow tooth may work 

 perfectly; and when stetches arc necessary, giving 

 such an exact curvature to them as to shoot off the 

 surface-water into the lurrows. 



To secure pei-feet work with the old swing-pioiigh 

 an exceedingly skilful hand and quick eye are needed. 

 These qualities ac(iuired for the ploughman possessing 

 them quite an enviable reputation in the village, and 

 even the district where he resided. Many a master 

 was proud to share in the reflected glory of his servant; 

 and with the ploughman's success the village would 

 rise and fall in the estimation of the villages sur- 

 rounding. 



The introduction of the wheel-plough, however, has 

 very much changed the character of these trials, and 

 the ground upon which prizes should be awarded. 

 As the introduction of mechanical contrivance econo- 

 mises human labour and supplants human skill in 

 those many manufactures for which Birmingham, 

 Leeds, and Manchester arc celebrated, so we find that 

 as the mechanical perfection of the plough is increased, 

 the necessity for skill in the ploughman is lessened. 



This fact lias been forcibly illustrated in most of those 

 ploughing matches which occurred Ipst autumn, where 

 the prizes were almost invariably carried off by the 

 ploughs, not by the men. When, as in former years, 

 the iron wheel-ploughs were the exception, in those 

 trials to which we refer the order was completely re- 

 versed — so mucli so, that we are speaking within 

 bounds when we say that two-thirds of the ploughs 

 employed were iron wheel-ploughs. 



At not a few of these meetings it was suggested that 

 there should in future be two classes — one for wheel- 

 ploughs, and one for swing-ploughs ; one, in fact, to 

 tost the merit of the men, another to test the merit of 

 the ploughs. It was gravely argued that it was not 

 fair to introduce at these meetings, which wei'e esta- 

 blished to reward skill in the men, ploughs which re- 

 quired no skill in the men, but merely the guidance of 

 a child ; and several incidents were mentioned in proof 

 of this position. One case related was that of a boy, 

 perched upon the middle team, driving three ploughs, 

 jumping down to set them in at the ends only, while 

 the men were quietly making a long breakfast under 

 the hedge. At one of the matches we very well re- 

 member the complaints made against the manner in 

 which the first prizeman won. While the plough was 

 going, he would occasionally advance to adjust some- 

 thing wrong in the harness of the horses, or he would 



fall yards behind to measure the depth of the furrow, 

 just overtaking his charge in time to turn out at the 

 headland. This, certainly, was not fair competition ! 

 The poor fellows who were sweating and toiling to pre- 

 serve an equal and unbroken furrow under the singular 

 disadvantage of an illconstructed mould-board and an 

 unsteady beam, were fain to exclaim indignantly when 

 they saw beside them better work accomplished with 

 little or no effort. 



The inference from all this is unavoidable. Ma- 

 chinery here, as well as elsewhere, economises and 

 displaces human labour. And as we should not now 

 offer prizes for mowing wheat when the machine is 

 used, so we must cease to offer awards for skill in 

 ploughing where skill is no longer requisite. Those 

 persons who aim to solve the difficulty by instituting 

 separate trials for the swing and wheel-ploughs, do not 

 seem to have opened their eyes to the fact that the case 

 Stving V. Wheel-plough is already settled quite another 

 way by the very complaints out of which their difficulty 

 springs. The argument that induces us to use thrash- 

 ing, dressing, reaping machines, and horse-hoes, will 

 also compel us, for very consistency's sake, to use the 

 iron wheel-plough. The wooden swing-plough of a 

 former day required more physical power to hold it 

 than a stout lad could boast; but the wheel-plough of 

 the present day is easily managed by a boy. And if we 

 can employ boys, where is the logic in employing men ? 

 " But," say the advocates of the wooden plough, *•' we 

 want a light plough, and the iron ploughs are so heavy." 

 " Well," the advocates of the iron plough may reply, 

 "they are heavy — heavier than yours in substance; 

 but owing to their superior mechanical formation, nine- 

 teen out of tw'enty of yours will show by the dyna- 

 mometer a greater strain, and a more various and try- 

 ing strain upon the horses, than ours will. It is a curious 

 fact that the draught of some of the iron wheel-ploughs, 

 especially Howard's, is but one-third greater when the 

 plough is in work than when it is empty, which, as we 

 said before, is referable to the perfect curve of its mould- 

 board, the greatest weight being lifted with the least 

 possible expenditure of power. And this very sub- 

 stance, which is thus neutralized, admits of a plough, 

 which is easy draught to two horses, being subjected 

 to the stress of four or §ix, without any perceptible 

 panting. 



We may, by the way, refer to one of the greatest 

 difficulties to the introduction of wheel-ploughs, 

 which seems to lie in the prejudices of the men. We 

 hear it said on every hand, " It's of no use my taking 

 these ploughs home, because I'm sure my men won't 

 use them." Nor is this a singular, but a very general 

 exclamation. The superiority of the implement is re- 

 cognized ; but farmers cannot profit by it, because the 

 men are adverse to its use. This confession is made, 

 too, by good practical men— men of whom might be 



