CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



at the Exhibition in 1851. For several soils we 

 prefer his plough to others ; although Mr Ran- 

 somes, with his last improvement, has again taken 

 the lead. None of these very beautiful imple- 

 ments please the Scotch farmer in ploughing lea, 

 as they turn the furrow rather flat over ; but they 



unite in a high degree those contrivances which 

 go far to make up for the guiding-hand of man. 

 They have long finely shaped mould-boards, rather 

 short broad shares, straight coulters, and with the 

 two wheels on level land, can almost move un- 

 attended. It is difficult to lay off land into ridges 



Fig. 2. Ransomes' Wheel-plough. 



with them, and drilling cannot be done, neither 

 do they answer for the mode of ploughing which 

 is called gathering in Scotland, as the space 

 which is left when the last furrows are taken out 

 is very broad ; and they do not make the neat close 

 finish that the swing-plough, when well handled, 

 does. It may almost be said that, with the wheel- 

 plough, it is the plough that does the work ; with 

 the swing, it is the man. It is not necessary here 

 to enter upon any full examination of the prin- 

 ciples upon which the various ploughs are con- 

 structed. In Scotland, they may be divided into 

 two classes the first follow Small's model, and 

 are what are called plain cutting implements ; the 

 other, Wilkie's, which are capable of both plain 

 and high-shouldered work. In England, all the 

 ploughs we have seen cut plain that is, raise 

 and lay the furrow at an angle of about 45. After 

 the land became drained, considerable difficulty 

 was felt with the concave moulds, from their not 

 throwing the soil cleanly off; and to amend this, 

 a longer and more convex form was adopted. 

 These are now coming into general use. 



Double-furrow Ploughs. These ploughs were 

 first exhibited at the Highland Society's Show in 

 Edinburgh in 1869, as patented by the Messrs 

 Pirie. Since then, their adoption by practical 

 farmers has been remarkably rapid, and they are 

 now largely manufactured by all the leading firms 

 of agricultural implement-makers, and are said to 

 be in practical use on the larger half of the tillage- 

 farms in Great Britain. They are certainly highly 

 useful for obtaining seed-furrows, after turnips or 

 potatoes. Some contend that, from the use of 

 wheels and the abolition of side-plates, the friction 

 is so diminished, that a pair of horses can turn 

 over two furrows as easily as one with an ordinary 

 plough. Three horses, however, are generally 

 used in ploughing stubble, and even lea, but it is 

 even then severe work. Without denying their 

 utility under certain circumstances, the advocates 

 for deep tillage maintain it to be more profitable 

 to employ three horses in taking only one furrow, 

 even on the majority of soils, and entirely to 

 restrict the use of double-furrow ploughs to seed- 

 furrows. 



Trench Ploughs are either worked with three or 

 four horses, and are constructed on the same 



520 



principle as the plain cutting common ploughs, 

 but with all the parts larger and stronger. The 

 ploughs constructed by the Marquis of Tweeddale 

 for this purpose unite to a certain extent the pro- 

 perties of the subsoil and trench plough. Although 

 they have been before the public for a good 

 many years, and have succeeded well at Yester, 

 as yet their adoption has not become general. 



The Subsoil Plough is now less heard of than 

 it once was. Although the theoretical principle 

 on which the operation of subsoiling is founded 

 is undoubtedly correct, and although the imple- 

 ment, as improved, effects the breaking up of the 

 subsoil thoroughly, yet the effects visible from its 

 use are frequently not so great as to induce those 

 who most hopefully commenced with it, to con- 

 tinue further operations. Read's, as improved by 

 Slight, Edinburgh, is the steadiest and best imple- 

 ment. Some subsoil ploughs of very light con- 

 struction can be drawn by two horses ; but in 

 ordinary subsoils, the stronger implement cannot 

 be effectually wrought without four horses, besides 

 the pair in the common plough which throws off 

 the surface-furrow. 



Steam-ploughing and Cultivation has within 

 the last ten years become a great established fact, 

 and, though still in its infancy, its progress, if not 

 rapid, is at least steady. At this moment (1873), 

 there are nine private individuals in East Lothian 

 who possess steam-ploughs, besides the Scottish 

 Steam-plough Co., who have implements on hire 

 not only in that county, but throughout Scotland. 

 The depth and perfection of cultivation by steam- 

 power, leave all work performed by horses far 

 behind. The great drawback against their pur- 

 chase by individuals is the large prime cost of 

 engines and implements. The double -en 

 system of Fowler & Co. costs from .1500 

 1600. The fixed single engine of James and F. 

 Howard & Co. can be obtained for about .700 or 

 ;8oo. Each apparatus has its admirers, and the 

 choice depends on the greater or lesser quantity 

 of ground requiring to be annually operated on. 

 A system on a new principle has lately been intro- 

 duced by the Messrs Fiskin, where the engine is 

 stationary, and may be some distance from the 

 field to be cultivated. The power is communicated 

 from the engine to the plough or cultivator by 



