Ch. I.] TURNWREST PLOUGH. 5 



Such is the description given of this plough by Mr. Boys, in liis Survey 

 of Kent, and it differs but little except in being more ponderous and more; 

 clumsily formed by country ploughwrights than the implement depicted in 

 the preceding page. 



Altogether it is certainly very heavy, and from its construction must be 

 made very stout, as otherwise either the beam or chep will break with the 

 force of four strong horses, when it comes suddenly against a rock, the 

 root of a tree, or any unusually stiff part of the land. It is, however, 

 remarkable for going well among flints, which abound in some parts of 

 Kent; the soil may also be turned up with it to a very great depth, and 

 laid quite flat without any kind of inter-furrows being left open ; for it is 

 worked with moveable mould-boards, which can be shifted to the left or 

 right side, and can, consequently, turn a furrow to either. By removing 

 its share and coulter, and substituting a broad share — perhaps 20 inches 

 wide — it can also be made to act as a scufller, or as a paring-plough. These 

 certainly are no small advantages in a dry soil; and it is, indeed, so general 

 a favourite throughout Kent, that many of the improved ploughs which have 

 been recently introduced have been laid aside. Mr. Boys says decidedly, 

 " that it is, for all sorts of soils, and all required depths of ploughing, the 

 best he has ever seen tried :" an opinion which we have known to be con- 

 firmed by many very extensive and intelligent farmers. 



On light soils three horses are found to be sufficient, and an acre and a- 

 half is not uncommonly ploughed by it in the day's work ; but in that part 

 of the county called the Weakl, it is necessary, in consequence of the tena- 

 city of the soil, to make the ploughs much stouter, and to use, in some 

 instances, six horses, the plough being there drawn by a large iron link, 

 which conies from the axle of the carriage round the heel. We recollect, 

 indeed, when visiting that district some years ago, to have seen as many as 

 six very powerful Sussex oxen, yoked in ])airs, brought to a dead stand 

 still in breaking up a clover ley, and not able to move until the plough was 

 set in a more shallow furrow : very little more than half an acre is there 

 the common work of the day. 



The great Hertfordshire whcel-ploi/gh is also an implement of nearly 

 similar form, except that it is furnished with a deep mould-board, and is a 

 great favourite among the farmers of that county for the operation ol 

 breaking up strong flinty fallows in a dry season, for which difficult work 

 it is well calculated. " Here, however," as has been observed by Arthur 

 Young, "its merit ends ; for all other work it is a heavy, ill-fovmcd, and 

 ill-going plough. The faults are numerous : heavier than necessary for 

 every other work, they are all so pitched that the ploughman universally 

 walks on the unploughed land, restnig nearly all his weight on the handle.-^, 

 his body moving in an angle of forty-five degrees with the horizon. The 

 share, joint, and fin (which latter is placed on very backward, to enable the 

 point to work among the stones) are at unequal levels ; three or four 

 inches of the furrow next the unploughed land are cut three inches deeper 

 than the rest of it ; so that when the stirred moulds are turned away, in 

 order to examine the unploughed land beneath, it is found all in grooves 

 and ridges : worse work can scarcely be imagined, while the surface is left 

 apparently very well and neatly ploughed *." It is easy, indeed, to imagine 

 what unnecessary toil must be occasioned to both men and horses by such 



sort that could be procured for several miles round was tried .igainst the tuvnwrest 

 without the least chance of success, but the greater jiart of Ihem were broken by the-, 

 exertion, and not one of them did the work so well.'' — vol. i. p. 194. 



* Survey of Hertfordshire, p. 36. See also Batihelor's 5"ll''^i''lshi'e, r- 1C'3> 



