PLOUGH 



243 



removed), are for the purpose of guiding the im- 

 plement. The front part of the beam is formed 

 with an upward curve ; at its extremity is placed 

 the bridle, N, to which the horses are attached by 

 means of swing-trees and chains or traces, and the 

 object of which is to enable the workman to elevate 

 or depress the line of draught, or move it to the 

 right hand or the left, as may be found necessary. 

 The left sides of the coulter, share, and framework 

 A DEB should evidently be in the same vertical 

 plane. The form of the mould-board is of the 

 .utmost importance, and has chiefly attracted the 

 attention of agricultural machinists since the time 

 when improvements on the plough were first pro- 

 jected. Its office being to raise and turn the sod, 

 it is necessary that the surface should slope up- 

 wards and outwards from the front, so as to apply 

 a pressure in both directions, and, accordingly, the 

 surface is so shaped that from the point of the 

 share, where it is horizontal, it gradually curves 

 upwards, till, at the extremity, P, it inclines over 

 away from the body of the plough. The gradual 

 change produced on the position of the furrow-slice 

 is seen in tig. 3, where ABCD on the left-hand side 



represents the slice untouched by the plough, AD 

 being the line of section by the coulter, DC by 

 the (share, BC the open side from which the 

 previous furrow (E) to the right hand side has been 

 separated, and the four successive rectangles, 

 ABCD to the right, illustrate the successive 

 changes of position of the furrow as the mould- 

 board U pustied forward under and on its left side, 

 till it is finally left, as represented in ABCD, on 

 the right hand ; E, F, G are furrows which have 

 previously been laid in their proper position. The 

 modern plough in wholly formed of iron, and in 

 nearly all the English and several of the Scotch 

 and Irish made plough! wheels are attached at or 

 near the front end of the beam, a contrivance which 

 renders the implement more steady in its motion, 

 more easily managed, and capable of doing better 

 work in the hands of an inferior workman. The 

 usual dimensions of the furrow-slice in lea or hay- 

 stubble are 8 or 9 inches in breadth by 6 in depth, 

 and in land for green crop 10 or 11 inches in 

 breadth, and 7 to 9 in depth. Shallower plough- 

 ing is not unfrenuently adopted, especially on thin 

 soil*, and in various parts of England. Nor is it 

 uncommon to plough stubble-land 10 inches or more 

 in depth. 



Other kinds of ploughs are used for special pur- 

 poses, such as trench-ploughs, which are made on 

 the same principle as the common plough, but 

 larger and stronger, so as to bring up a portion of 

 the subsoil to the surface ; subsoil ploughs, some 

 patterns of which have no mould-board, and merely 

 stir and break up the subsoil, thus facilitating 

 drainage ; double mould-board ploughs, which are 

 merely common ploughs with a mould-board on 

 each side, and are employed for drilling turnip or 

 potato land, for water-furrowing, and for earthing 

 np potatoes ; tnrn-iirre.it ploughn, which have the 

 mould-board so arranged that in going in both 

 directions the furrow is turned to the side; Amer- 

 ican Chill )il a iirf/is, which are exceptionally light in 

 draught, go over the ground rapidly, anil break up 

 the surface soil more finely than the ordinary 

 plough ; the double-farrow plough, which turns 



two furrows at one operation, and which, although 

 used on many farms, has not become so popular 

 as was at one time expected. Of each of these 

 ploughs there are many varieties, each maker 

 having generally some peculiar views regarding the 

 form and proportion of some parts of the instru- 

 ment. For those who wish to study minutely the 

 best form of plough it will be necessary to consult 

 works on agriculture and agricultural implements. 



The operation of ploughing can only be briefly 

 referred to. Wherever the soil has been efficiently 

 drained the ridges can be made wider and ploughed 

 on the flat, high ridges being no longer necessary 

 for carrying off the water. It is found in practice 

 that the fewer the open furrows the better, par- 

 ticularly when the land is intended for a grain 

 crop which is to be sown by drill or broadcast with . 

 machinery, and when the crop is to be cut with a 

 reaping-machine, as is now almost universally the 

 case. It is curious to notice how one improvement 

 in farm practice leads on to another. The most 

 common mode of ploughing with horses is now 

 simply by casting the soil two ridges in and the 

 next two out, beginning always with the two 

 ridges where last time was left the open furrow. 



The process of feering or commencing a ridge 

 differs according to the state of the land to be 

 turned over. If there exists an old furrow or 

 hollow, as is generally the case in lea, two 

 shallow furrows are turned, (he one against the 

 other, and so on ; along each side of this com- 

 mencement the plough moves, adding furrow after 

 furrow, and increasing in depth until the third 

 or fourth round is reached. This constitutes 

 what is technically called the gathering system. 

 In newly-cleaned land, or where a hollow does 

 not appear to turn the first furrows into, two 

 furrows are thrown out and then turned lightly in. 

 The most common system, however, is what is 

 known as casting or cleaving. That is, after one 

 feering is accomplished, another is made at the 

 other side of the ridge, and furrow after furrow is 

 turned towards the inside of each of these feerings 

 until the whole ridge is ploughed, and then in the 

 centre is formed the finish or mids a furrow or 

 trench into which the feering is turned the next 

 time the land is ploughed. 



The plough is one of the most ancient of imple- 

 ments, and is mentioned in the Old Testament at 

 a very early period, iron shares being also incident- 

 ally noticed more than seven centuries B.C. Dr 

 E. B. Tylor has in his Anthropology clearly shown 

 how the plough arose by gradual development out 

 of the hoe, and that out of the pick or hatchet. 



Fig. 4. 



1, Plough still used in Asia Minor; 2, its pole, where the oxen 

 are attached ; 8, shares of various forms ; 4, the tail or handle ; 

 6, the yoke ; a, early Greek plough. 



The fields of Sweden were formerly tilled with the 

 ' hack, 1 of which specimens were still seen in the 

 19th century. The hack was simply a 'stake of 

 spruce-fir with a bough sticking out at the lower 

 end cut short and pointed. ' This implement was 

 gradually made heavier, and dragged by men 

 through the ground, so as to make a simple 

 furrow. Next it ' was made in two pieces, with 



