10 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. I. 



varied according to the particular nature of the soil, the purposes, and the 

 local habits of different districts, and there is no one plough, whatever may 

 be its (general merits, which is equally suitable to every kind of land ; it 

 should therefore be the study of mechanics to adopt such forms of the 

 different parts, whether of wrought or cast iron, as may adapt the plough to 

 different sorts of ground when fixed to one frame. 



By the frame we mean that part of the plough forming the land-side 

 and nose-piece upon which every other part may be fitted and screw-bolted. 

 This would admit breasts or mould-boards of various shapes, to suit the land 

 on which they are intended to be employed; and these breasts might be set 

 out to different widths, so as to open a wider or a narrower furrow, and might 

 be removed and replaced by the ploughman when required. This improved 

 facility has indeed been successfully applied by those eminent makers, the 

 Messrs. Ransome, of Ipswich, to both wheel and swing-ploughs of every de- 

 scription ; the variation of the beams and wheels making the difference of 

 applying them to their work. They for some time made all their })loughs 

 with iron beams and handles ; but it was found, in practice, that tliey did 

 not answer so well as those of wood, for they twigged — that is, vibrated, in 

 their work — and occasionally bent, so that the ploughman did not feel them 

 so steady in the hand, and they were also more difficult to repair. The 

 fashion of iron ploughs has indeed gone so far out of use in this part of the 

 countrv, though still general in the North, tliat in a late ploughing match, 

 which we attended a sliort time since, in the county of Surrey, out of forty 

 ploughs of various kinds, which were brought to the ground, there was not 

 one formed wholly of iron. 



To this they have also added another very material improvement, which 

 has obtained the approbation of the Bath and West of England Agricultural 

 Society, and which consists in tempering cast-iron plough-shares to an 

 even hard surface, from 1-1 Gth to 1-Sth of an inch on the under side, 

 similar to a thin layer of steel. Ploughshares tempered in this way wear to 

 a thin cutting edge while at work ; for the upper surface, retaining its 

 original softness, wears away faster than the lower one, and thus leaves a 

 sharp bevelled edge of the hardened metal, thinner and sharper than can be 

 produced by any other method of tempering. On this subject we can speak 

 confidentlv, for we have compared shares of their composition with those 

 of other manufacturers, and have found them superior ; but their general 

 use by other ploughwrights is not thus prevented, as we understand they 

 are sokl by Messrs. Eansome independently of the ploughs. 



ransome's patent ploughs. 



One of their ploughs, which is now in very general use throughout the 

 midland counties, as one of the many improvements upon the principles 

 adopted by Wilkie, Veitch*, and other modern manufacturers, and can be 

 drawn either by a pair of horses abreast, or with three or more in line, is a 

 compact tool, of the following description — as representing both sides of 



* A description of Mr. Veitclvs ploup;h may be found in the Edinburgh Encyclopfe- 

 dia; and also., with an engraving, in the fourth vohrnne of the Transactions of the High- 

 land Society, in which it is favourably sy.oken of. It is longer than Small's plough, 

 and has, on that account, been preferred in some parts of England; but the priiicijilcs 

 upon which its supposed improvements are demonstrated, have been combated by JVIr. 

 Bailey, of Chillingham, who claims the merit of the invention as due to his own treatise. — 

 See Correspondence between the parties, in the Farmer's! Magazine, vol. xii. pp. 182, 

 504, and 511. ' . 



