42 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. IV. 



It follows, therefore, that the more the beam is raised in height, the 

 longer it must be made, and consequently the traces of horses must be 

 lengthened: tliis however, lessens their power; for it is sulhciently well 

 known, without entering into any mathematical proof upon the subject, that 

 the farther the animal is placed from his work, the less effectual will be his 

 exertions*. 



It has, indeed, been calculated that when two horses of equal strength 

 are attached to a plough, drawing both from the same point, but one before 

 the other — if the one next to the plough draws by a line perpendicular to 

 the line of his shoulders, and the foremost draws by a line which forms an 

 angle of 30° with the inclination of his shoulders, the effect of the foremost 

 horse is but one-half of the eilect of that behind ; and if another be added, 

 and the angle already mentioned be about 15°, the power of that horse 

 upon the plough will only equal one-fourth of the first : " so that the prin- 

 cipal part of the draught lies upon that horse which is nearest to the 

 plough ; but that is sometimes transferred from one to another through the 

 team, whilst the driver, walking by their side, now and tlien alarms a slug- 

 gish one or two with his whip, and then the plough runs along with the 

 ploughman almost crazed at the tail to keep it in the groundt." 



The foregoing calculation, although perhaps correct in point of theory, 

 is however not true to the same extent in practice ; yet there can be no man- 

 ner of doubt that ploughing with a pair of any cattle abreast, instead of in 

 line, is a great saving of power, and the work is thus generally better per- 

 formed : for, when placed in line, the beam must be turned somewhat to 

 the furrow in order to give the plough land ; the cattle, therefore, draw in 

 a different direction from the share and coulter, which occasions an increase 

 of resistance, and of unsteadiness in the implement. Ploughing, either 

 with a pair, or, if great strength be required, v/ith three abreast, ought 

 therefore to be adopted on all soils and under all circumstances that admit 

 of it ; but, in saying this, we by no means agree in the sweeping assertion 

 made by some writers, " that plough-work may be executed upon every 

 kind of land by two good horses, if they are properly maintained^," for our 

 own experience and observation in many parts of this country have proved 

 to us that it is unfounded. We have already stated so much on the subject 

 in different parts of this work, that it may be almost superfluous to add any- 

 thing in corroboration of our opinion ; but we beg leave to mention one 

 instance, out of numberless others which could be adduced, of a neighbour 

 of ours — a gentleman lately retired from the army — who has settled upon a 

 farm of that heavy species of clay which is usually ploughed with four. 



Being convinced by all he had read that the farmers around him were 



* In confirmation of this, an experiment is related by the Rev. St. John Priest in the 

 Bnckinjjhamshire Report, as made upon his own farm, on ploughing a wheat stu'dble with 

 a Norfolk plough and two horses. " The furrow was 9^ inches wide, and o-j deep. 

 When the length of the horses' traces was 10 feet 4 inches from the point of the share to 

 the point upon their shoulders from whence they were drawing, the force exerted upon 

 the point ot draught of the plough, or the power of their draught, was only 2^ cwt. ; but 

 when the traces were lengthened to 13 feet 6 inches, the force exerted to draw the plough 

 was 3i cwt."' — p. 105, 



It is almost uunecessary to add that, when oxen are worked in yokes, a similar calcu- 

 lation should be made from the share of the plough to the bearing point of the yoke 

 chain. 



\ Bucks. Rep., pp. 105 and 110. See also the Treatise on Draught, in the History of the 

 Horse, iiublished in the Farmer's Series by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Know- 

 ledge, pp. 418 and 424, 



I Brown of Markle, on Rural Affairs, vol. i., p. 231. 



