14 On the Draught of Ploughs. 



Journal arose from a neighbour begging to have his wooden 

 pk)ugh, of which he had a very good opinion, compared with my 

 D P ; when I took tlie opportunity of collecting a few more, and 

 inviting my neighbours to the inspection ; and with their assist- 

 ance I was enabled to bring forward in this experiment a few of 

 the ploughs that have engaged the attention of the Society : for 

 example — Ransome's N L 7, the hghtest in Mr. Handley's ex- 

 periments, and a prize-plough at Liverpool ; Hart's improved 

 Berkshire; the Scotch iron swing-plough; Barrett's D P, before 

 described, and the old Oxfordshire — which, like the old Berks, 

 and the original plough in many districts, forms a useful addition 

 to an experiment to show the advance new ploughs have made. 

 But I will describe the whole in the order in which they took up 

 a position by the draught gauge. 

 They consisted of : — 



1. The before- mentioned wooden plough from Cuddesdeu, which 

 proved to be the old one-wheel of the county. 



2. The old Burcott plough, which was tried in a former experiment. 

 Both these were exactly of the same description, entirely of wood, and 

 are of the same family as the Berkshire. 



3. An iron Scotch (Roxburghshire) plough from the late Mr. Jona- 

 than Peel's farm near Abingdon. 



4. Barrett's No. 8 two-wheel on gallows, having on a Ransome mould- 

 board marked 132, with a ground-wrest attached, and of general propor- 

 tions stout enough for any work. 



5. Barrett's No. 8 one-W'heel, fitted with a Brightwell (village in the 

 neighboiu'hood) mould-board, with ground-wrest — a plough somewhat 

 like, but much stouter than my L 2. 



6. A Watlington one-wheel plough, which I have before described, 

 and which has very strongly the common characteristics of tlie improved 

 ploughs of these counties— a full-breasted mould-board, and a detached 

 under mould-board called a ground-wrest, wliich sweeps out the furrow 

 and forms a support for the plough at the heel. 



7. Hart's one-wheel. I had rny doubts whether this was precisely the 

 plough described in your "Inquiry" in vol. i. part iii. of the Journal, 

 fancying it was a larger size, and adapted for heavy work, but I have 

 since ascertained it to be the same. 



8. Ransome N L 7, called in your paper the Rutland, and know^n as 

 the lightest in Mr. Handley's experiments, and which is an excellent 

 plough I should imagine in every kind of soil. Its heavy proportions 

 and appearance are counteracted by its perfectly-formed mould- board, 

 which enables it, where the soil is not in too adhesive a state, to take up 

 a position among the lightest ploughs. 



9. Barretfs J^ 2. 



10. Barrett's D P, which is formed, as are all the others (except the 

 Scotch and the old Oxon), of a cast-iron body and wooden beam and 

 handles, and which possesses a whole mould-board, while the rest, with 

 the exception of N L 7 and the Scotch, had a ground-wrest attached. 



