Ch. I.J 



RANSOME'S PATENT PLOUGHS. 



ii 



the implement — wliicli wc have lately had frequent occasion "of seeino- at 

 work with great advantage, on both heavy land and ligiit soils. ° 



In stating this, however, as our opinion, it is only candid to say, tliat in 

 two county ploughing matches which we liave recently witnessed, in whicli 

 there were employed a great variety of ploughs by ditlerent makers, some 

 drawn by horses in pairs, or three in a line, and others by oxen double-yoked 

 and in harness, the work v/as in general so equally performed, that it was 

 very difficult for the judges to assign any peculiar merit to the construc- 

 tion of the implement. On trials of this kind it should, however, be re- 

 marked, that the machine which is commonly used for measuring the 

 draught is made on the principle of the graduated spring steel-yard, with 

 an index, the vibrations of which are taken upon an average, as the inequa- 

 lities of hardness in the ground, and the irregular pulls of the horses, seldom 

 allow it to remain stationar\^ The relative pace of the teams must also not 

 be disregarded ; for if one pair of horses walk after the rate of two, and the 

 other three miles in an hour, the conclusions, which refer only to the index 

 of the steel-yard, may be directly contrary to the truth. Another source of 

 error may be found in the different degrees of skill in the ploughmen, 

 which, in the opinion of many, is more conspicuous than the different 

 merits of the ploughs; and, indeed, so much of the utility of the instrument 

 depends upon the strength of the team and the dexterity of the ploughman, 

 that it cannot have escaped observation that the same individual ploughs have 

 in numberless instances repeatedly won, and as repeatedly lost, the prizes 

 at the agricultural meetings. The relative resistance of the various depths 

 and widths of soil, both at the bottom of the furrow and at the surface, is also 

 a necessary, and, indeed, should be a primary object of investigation. It 

 need scarcely be observed that the soil should also be in a medium state of 

 dryness, and as free from stones and irregularities as possible. The experi- 

 ments should also be made on different sorts of land, in order to ascertain 

 the powers of the various forms of construction as working tools ; whereas, 

 in general a piece of tender ley is marked out for the ground of compe- 

 tition. Perhaps, also, in trials of this kind, a one-furrow wheel-plough would 

 be the most eligible, as it might be set at various depths and widths, and 

 depend but little on the exertion of the ploughman*. 



We have been partly called to make these remarks by the observations 



* See remarks on some trials in Bedfordshire. — Batchelor's Survey, p. 168. 



