THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 331 



much greater force to draw the plow than if the wheel were, 

 much larger. 



461. In plowing deep with a double team, where the soil waa 

 variable and very uneven, we have found two gauge- wheels to 

 operate very advantageously ; one under the beam, and one over 

 the heel of the plow, fastened to the side of the beam. The 

 plow is adjusted to run about the desired depth, and then the 

 hindermost gauge-wheel is attached to the side of the plow in 

 such a manner as to allow the plow to enter only a given depth. 

 In plowing over knolls, it is many times very difficult to turn the 

 furrow-slice well without this wheel, because the plow will run 

 so very deep. The plow should not be adjusted to run deep, and 

 then the wheel lowered under the beam, to make it run more 

 shallow ; because that would increase the draft of the plow and 

 make it hold harder ; and if the wheel is nearer the standard of 

 the plow than it is the end of the beam, the plow will be very 

 much inclined to fall over to the right. In plowing a field where 

 the soil is so light and mellow in some places, that a plow would 

 run in up to the beam if it were adjusted to run of the desired 

 depth through the hard portions of the field, two gauge-wheels 

 are very necessary. Although very many farmers denounce a 

 gauge-wheel as a useless appendage, I must be allowed to say 

 that / know a plowman can plow better, as a general rule, with 

 one, and sometimes two gauge-wheels, than he can without them. 

 Every good plowman will coincide with me in this assertion. 



THE COKRECT ADJUSTMENT OF THE COULTER 



462. Of a plow is something which not one plowman in fifty 

 understands. My manner of adjusting the coulter is, to have 

 the lower end of it from two to three inches above and forward 

 of the plow point, and standing as far to the left as the left side 

 of the end of the plow point. The coulter works best when it 

 cuts just as wide as the plow will cut. When it is adjusted to 

 cut a half-inch wider or narrower than the plow would cut, the 

 plow will not run well, and will hold hard. Most plowmen 

 adjust the coulter as shown at Fig. 140, Par. 464, with the end of 



