THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



207 



adJition or removal of a wheel will make no material differ- 

 euce in the draught. There is a difficulty in determininS 

 this point accurately. Mr. Pusey, in his trials, took ofif the 

 wlieels from a wheel-plough, and made the comparison be- 

 tween that plough, thus used as a swing plough, and the 

 same plough used with the two wheels which belonged to 

 it. Now, it is obvious that a plough pi-operly constructed 

 for use with wheels, and, of course, to rest a portion of its 

 weight upon them, might be increased very much in its 

 draught by throwiog that weight upon the sole of the plough, 

 or otherwise gauging its furrow by the mode of holding, or 

 Of attaching the team to it to prevent its burrowing too 

 deep. On the whole, it is believed that the draught of the 

 plough can be very little affected by the use of wheels. 

 Most American sod-ploughs are used with a single small 

 wheel or truck to gauge the furrows. Sometimes thi* 

 is directly under the end of the beam, and sometimes by 

 its side; and so far as gauging the furrow is concerned, it 

 is almost indispensable; but it is not apparent why.the draught 

 of a plough should jbe diminished by throwing a weight 

 on tlie wheels, if the plough could be so constructed as to 

 run at the desired depth uniformly without such wheels. 

 It is manifest that with the wheels, or witliout, there is the 

 same cutting process to be performed, which, as has been 

 Seen, causes more than half the draught; there is the same 

 friction upon the mould-board, which must cause nearly, if 

 not quite the same pressure and friction on the sole ; there 

 is the same weight of the implement to be dragged, and 

 certainly it would move more easily on wheels, if the plougli 

 were so constructed as to rest part of its weight upon the 

 beam when not at work, which is not ordinarily the case. 

 AVhat gain there can be by so arranging the parts that the 

 draught of the team shall bring a weight down upon the 

 wlieels whiclr support the beam is not perceived : but it seems 

 that the force which thus bears dowji upon the beam were 

 better applied iuorercomiug the legitimate and unavoidable 

 resistance of the soil to the plough in its proper work. If 

 the wheels are useless, it is sufficient objection to them 

 that they increase the weight and cost of the implement. 

 If they are useful merely as a gauge of the depth of furrow, 

 the single wheel, as being aiore simply and easily adjusted, 

 and as being a lesser obstacle in handling the plough, es- 

 pecially ill short work, seems preferable." 



Sixthly, Mr. French proceeds to consider the " Effect of 

 the length of the various parts, as the beam, the mould- 

 board, and the handles, on the operation of the plough." 



" The English ploughs (he says) are on an average two- 

 fifths longer than American ploughs. There is an obvious 

 reason why short ploughs must be used on the new lands of 

 our country and in the stony and uneven lands of New 

 England. Where a stump is to be avoided in every 10 feel) 

 or a stone to be scaled at every rod ; where the share catches 

 a harder root, and the team is to be backed every five minutes 

 through the day, and the plough dragged backward by main 

 strength ; where it is to be set in again as often as it is thus 

 thrown out, with a precision of aim equal to that required 

 in rifle shooting — manifestly nothing but a short, strong, 

 stifi' implement can possibly be used. For such land th« 

 long English plough has no pretence of fitness; but upon 

 the old fields and bottom lands — upon the prairies after 

 they are once broken, there seems to be no reason why the 

 same ploughs which would really be most suitable on 

 English farms should not here be most serviceable. The 

 additional length of the English plough seems to be pretty 

 equally distributed between the handles, the mould-boardi 

 aud the beam, Great length of handles gives greater powe^' 



^n controlling the movement of the plough, and greater 

 length of beam gives greater steadiness to the draught ; yet 

 the increased length of both these parts necessarily in- 

 creases their weight, upon the principle of the lever — the 

 greater the length, the greater the strength to resist the 

 power applied. As to the kngth of the mould-board, it is 

 frequently contended that the longer the curve which turns 

 the furrow, the less the resistance, the mould-board being 

 regarded as operating as a wedge ; but this idea is open to 

 many objections. 



" This part of the subject involves, however, so many con- 

 siderations which belong rather to the plough-maker than 

 the farmer, that it is hardly appropriate for discussion here. 

 Whatever may be the true theory ^as to the length of the 

 mould-board, its increased length does not necessarily in. 

 volvethe increase of the length of the other parts. 



" To the practical working of the long English ploughs, 

 there is an obvious objection in the minds of all who have 

 seen them at work in small fields. Horses are almost ex- 

 clusively used there upon the plough, and are harnessed one 

 before the other, and with greater length of draught chains 

 than we are accustomed to use. As a consequence of this 

 long-drawn-out establishment a wide headland is left, utteily 

 beyond the reach of the plough, so that where in America 

 we back up and set in our short plough close to the fence, 

 the English farmer sends a man with a spade to work a 

 half-day in finishing up the land. Where labour is cheapi 

 as iu England, this is of much smaller importance than it 

 would be with us. 



" As a general summary of the matter as to the com- 

 parative merits of the English and American ploughs, it is 

 believed that we have greatly improved upon the models in 

 the li-^htness of our implement, in the less cost of it, and 

 by dispensing with their more complicated arrangement of 

 wheels. Whether, by shortening the whole implement 

 about two-fifths, we have not sacrificed to our peculiar 

 wants upon new fields something of the nice control which 

 the length of beam and handle gives to the English plough" 

 man, is at least questionable. Whether we have gained or 

 lost by our changes in the length and form of the mould 

 board, is still undetermined, and must remain so till both 

 implements are tested in the same field by the dyna- 

 mometer. There can be no doubt that generally their 

 ploughmen have more skill in their business than ours in 

 New England ; and he must be a careless observer, or 

 blinded by prejudice, who does not see that their labour in 

 this important department is better performed than in our 

 own country." 



In referring to Mr. French's views on English ploughing 

 we announced an intention of rettirning to notice what that 

 gentleman has to say about steam-ploughing on both sides 

 of the Atlantic. Mr. Fren ch, after describing the action of 

 Fowler's apparatus, with which our readers are for the 

 most part familiar, says:— "This machine could only be 

 of practical utility on level clear fields of large extent. It 

 could only be used upon level fields of uniform surface, 

 because the ploughs are set in an unyielding frame, and 

 must run at the same level, thus running deeper across 

 a hiUock, and more shoal in a small depression. They are 

 arranged not so as to be raised and depressed, each sepa- 

 rately, as the machine is moving, but the whole gang is 

 acted upon at once. Again the engine would be of no use 

 in a small enclosure, because of the broad headlands re- 

 quisite to accommodate the engine on one side, and the 

 anchor on the other. It could be of little use in a field ob- 

 structed by stones, because of the inequalities of surface 



