Book rV. 



WHEEL PLOUGHS. 



379 



(6 and rf) it is clear that, by substituting a wheel at the one point (d), the one half of the friction of the 

 sole will be thrown on the wheel. , ^ . 



2511 The drauahtis reduced />y the wheel from forty to sixty-six pounds, or from one-seventh to one- 

 fifth (two hundred and eighty pounds being the power of one horse). The same application of a wheel 

 has been made by Plenty in some of his ploughs ; but as the friction of the wheel is but a small part of 

 the whole friction of the plough, and as in some soils the wheels are very apt to clog without an attached 

 6craj)er the improvement has never been much in use either in one or two horse ploughs. Liston, a 

 clergyman, took out a patent for a wheel so applied to a two horse plough (F. Mag. vol. xiv.), but it never 

 came into use. 



2512. The Severston plough {fig. 290.) was one considered a good wheel plough. 

 It has its principle of draught given 

 it in a very effective manner by an 

 ingenious contrivance of iron work, 

 in which, according to Lord Somer- 

 ville, *' the point of draught is per- 

 pendicularly above the point of trac- 

 tion, or the throat or breast where 

 the share fits on." 



2513. The Hampshire patent tvx) wheel plough is nearly the same as the Beverston 

 plough. It is made of iron, and is considered a good implement of the kind. In this 

 manner one or two wheels may be added to any swing plough, and taken away when 

 not wanted without lessening the value of the implement. Iliere is a variety with one 

 wheel and another without any. 



2514. The Kentish and Herefordshire wheel ploughs are extraordinary clumsy implements 

 of very heavy draught, and making, especially the former, very indifferent work. They 

 were figured by Blythe in the beginning of the seventeenth century, and seem to have 

 received no improvement since. The Kentish plough is generally made with a turn- 

 wrest, in order always to turn land downwards in ploughing a hill ; but this, as Lord 

 Somerville remarks, soon renders the summit of the hill or the upper side of the field, 

 where such a practice is persisted in, destitute of soil. A much better mode is to plough 

 up and down the steep, or diagonally across it. In either case the double mould- 

 board plough invented by his lordship, is of singular use, as one furrow only need be 

 taken in going up and two in coming down. 



2515. What is called the 2)ressing plough is more properly a roller, being a cast-iron 

 wheel or narrow roller fitted to a frame and shafts, and drawn like a common roller by 

 one horse. Sometimes two such wheels are applied on one axle, which is preferable. 

 This implement is used to roll clover leys broken up for wheat : two ploughs follow 

 each other, and after them, one horse with the two pressing wheels, which press down 

 the two furrows turned by the plough. The advantages of the operation are said to be, 

 that a finer bed is thus prepared for the seed, which is covered by a verj' slight harrow- 

 ing, and also the wire- worm is said to be kept under by the consolidation of the surface. 

 Its use is chiefly confined to the west of England. 



291 _^ ^.-^ 2516. The Norfolk wheel jilough 



(Jig. 291.) has a clumsy appearance 

 from the great bulk of its wheels, 

 and their carriage, but in light friable 

 soils it does its wofk with neatness, 

 and requires only a small power of 

 draught. 



2517. The jmring plough h of va- 

 rious forms, though it is an implement seldom required. It is used for paring tlie sur- 

 face of old grass lands, or leys on clay soil, where the turf is to be burned. A variety 

 in use in the fen districts (fig. 292. j, q 292 



has a wheel (a) which cuts the turf 

 instead of a coulter, a broad flat share 

 which raises it, with a sharp fin or turned- 

 up part at the extremity, which cuts the 

 turf on that side, thus turning it over 

 in slices about a foot broad, and two 

 inches deep. There is a foot (b) from 

 the forepart of the beam, which serves 

 as a wheel, to prevent the share from going too deep. 



2518. Draining ploughs are of various kinds, but none of them are of much use ; the 

 work can always be done better, and generally cheaper, by manual labor. 



2519. Clarke's draining plough (fig. 

 293.) was found to answer well in 

 meadow ground near Belford in North- 

 umberland, but could not be drawn 

 in stiff clay with the force of eight 

 horses. 



