108 



On Agricultural Mechanics. 



did northwards. Its use in England is confined to the border 

 counties. The old Scotch plough was as clumsy as any of the 

 clumsiest of the English swing-ploughs now used. It was not, 

 however, the original of the present swing-plough. The original 

 of Small's ploughs came from Holland or Flanders into York- 

 shire, and was thence introduced into Scotland, where it acquired 

 the name of the Rotherham plough. At this time Small, an 

 ingenious mechanic of Berwickshire, became known to J. Ren- 

 ton, Esq., of Launceston in that county, who, perceiving his 

 talents, erected the necessary buildings for an extensive plough 

 factory, and placed him over it. Here Small devoted his ener- 

 gies to the improvement of the Rotherham plough ; and the 

 alterations he made on it soon deservedly gave it the name of 

 Small's plough. Small's plough soon drove all the cumbrous 

 implements then made in Scotland out of it, and now it is in 

 universal use. Slight alterations have been made in it, and every 

 ploughwright of eminence has his own form of the mould-board, 

 but they differ but slightly, and Small's is the basis of them all. 



Wilkie, one of the best of these makers, obtained and continues 

 to possess, a high degree of celebrity for the excellence of his 

 implements. He has lately constructed a plough to which se- 

 veral different mould-boards are attachable, and this, it will be 

 seen, is the only variety which is required in the form of the 

 plough. The Scotch mould-board is most gradual in the twist 

 it gives to the furrow. 



[Clarke's Plough. Scale ^.] 



The annexed are two views of the Scotch plough of Clarke, a 

 Stirlingshire ploughwright ; they are drawn on a scale of jV^^^- 

 It is generally made wholly of iron. Small's first improvement 

 was to substitute iron for wood in the construction of the plough. 



The immense variety of wheel-ploughs, as they are used in the 

 midland counties, can better be illustrated by a series of figures 



