470 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Pari 11. 



Sect. II. Labors with Cattle on the Soil. 



2998. Ploughing is justly considered the most important of agricultural operations, as 

 on the manner in which this is performed, depends the facility of executing all succeeding 

 operations on the same piece of land. The plough acts as a wedge, separating a portion 

 of the soil and turning it over at the same time. If this wedge is properly constructed, 

 and if the soil presented everywhere the same resistance to it, it would require no holding, 

 but would maintain its position when drawn along by the cattle ; but as the least ine- 

 quality of surface, or tenacity, or the additional resistance of a root or stone destroys the 

 equilibrium of the forces acting against the wedge, the presence of the holder or ploughman 

 becomes necessary to adjust its position. In two-wheeled ploughs, however, this is 

 done in a great measure by the wheels, but not so rapidly as by the instantaneous move- 

 ment of the holder on the ends of the handles acting as levers. The manual operation 

 of holding the plough in a proper position, and directing the horses or cattle which draw- 

 it at the same time, is only to be acquired by experience ; when once attained it is perhaps 

 the most agreeable and healthy of agricultural exercises, the body being kept upright, the 

 arms and legs brought into action, and also the eye and the mind, to keep the furrow 

 straight and of regular width and depth, and the voice to speak to the horses. It is 

 almost needless to mention that the art of drawing a straight furrow with a plough in 

 which the horses are yoked in pairs, consists in keeping each of the horses a small distance 

 apart, so as to see forward between them ; and next to fix the eye on two or more objects 

 beyond the land to be ploughed, and keep these objects and the coulter or muzzle of the 

 plough always in one line. By far the best practical directions for ploughing have been 

 given by the author of the article Agriculture in the supplement to the Encyclopcedia 

 JBrit., which we shall quote at length. 



2999. Three different points require particular attention in ploughing : 1. The breadth of the slice to be 

 cut ; 2. its depth ; and 3. the degree in which it is to be turned over ; which last circumstance depends 

 both upon the construction of the plough, particularly the mould-board, and the care of the ploughman. 



> 3000. The breadth and depth of the furrow-slice are regulated by judiciously placing the draught on the 

 nozzle or bridle of the plough ; setting it so as to go more or less deep, and to take more or less land or 

 breadth of slice, according as may be desired. In general, the plough is so regulated that, if left to itself, 

 and merely kept from falling over, it would cut a little broader and a little deeper than is required. The 

 coulter is also placed with some inclination towards the left or land side, and the point of the sock or share 

 has a slight tendency downwards. 



3001. The degree to which the fur row-slice turns over, is in a great measure determined by the proportion 

 between its breadth and depth, which for general purposes is usually as three is to two ; or when the 

 furrow is nine inches broad, it ought to be six inches in depth. When the slice is cut in this proportion, 

 it will be nearly half turned over, or recline at an angle of forty or forty-tive degrees ; and a field so 



Eloughed will have its ridges longitudinally ribbed into angular drills or ridgelets. But if the slice is much 

 roader in proportion to its depth, it will be almost completely overturned, or left nearly flat with its 

 original surface downwards ; and each successive slice will be somewhat overlapped by that which was 

 turned over immediately before it. And finally, when the depth materially exceeds the width, each 

 furrow-slice will fall over on its side, leaving all the original surface bare, and only laid somewhat obliquely 

 to the horizon. 



3002. Ploughing with the breadth and depth nearly in the proportion of three to tivo, is best adapted for 

 laying up stubble land after harvest, when it is to remain during winter exposed to the mellowing influence 

 of frost, preparatory to fallow or turnips. 



5003. The shallow furrow of considerable width, as five inches in depth by eight or nine wide, is under- 

 stood to artswer best for breaking up old leys ; because it covers up the grass turf, and does not bury the 

 manured soil. 



3004. Ploughing with the depth of the furrow considerably exceeding the width, is a most unprofitable and 

 " uselessly slow operation, which ought seldom or never to be adopted. 



3005. The most generally useful breadth of a furrow-slice is from eight to ten inches, and the depth, which 

 ought to be seldom less than four inches, cannot often exceed six or eight inches, except in soils uncora- 

 monly thick and fertile. When it is necessary to go deeper, as for carrots and some other deep-rooted 

 plants, a trench ploughing may be given by means of a second plough following in the same furrow. 



3006. Shallow ploughing ought always to be adopted after turnips are eaten on the ground, that the 

 manare may not be buried too deep ; and also in covering lime, especially if the ground has been pulve- 

 rized by fallowing, because it naturally tends to sink in the soil. In ploughing down farm-yard dung, it is 

 commonly necessary to go rather deep, that no part of the manure may be left exposed to the atmosphere. 

 In the first ploughing for fallows or green crops, it is advisable to work as deep as possible, and no great 

 danger is to be apprehended, though a small portion of the subsoil be at that time brought to the 

 surface. 



3007 The furrow-slices are generally distributed into beds varying in breadth according to circumstances ; 

 these are called ridges or lands, and are divided from one another by gutters or open furrows. These last 

 serve as guides to the hand and eye of the sower to the reapers, and also for the application of manures in 

 a regular manner. In soils of a strong or retentive nature, or which have wet close subsoils, these furrows 

 serve likewise as drains for carrying off the surface water, and being cleared out, after the land is sown 

 and harrowed, have the name of water furrows. 



3008. Ridges are not only difTerent in breadth, but are raised more or less in the middle, on different 

 soils On clayey retentive soils, the great point to be attended to is the discharge of superfluous water. 

 But narrow ridges or stitches of from three to five feet, are not approved of in some of the best cultivated 

 counties. In these a breadth of fifteen or eighteen feet, the land raised by two gatherings of the plough, 

 is most commonly adopted for such soils ; such ridges being thought more convenient for manuring, 

 sowing, harrowing, and reaping, than narrower ones ; and the water is drained off quite as effectually. 



3009. Ridges on dry porous turnip soils, may be formed much broader ; and were it not for their use 

 in directing the laborers, may be, and sometimes are, dispensed with altogether. They are often thirty, 

 or thirty-six feet broad,5which in Scotland are called band-win ridges, because reaped by a band of shearers, 

 commonly six, served by one binder. If it be wished to obliterate the intermediate furrows, this may be 

 done by casting up a narrow ridgelet or single bout-drill between the broad ridges, which is afterwards 

 levelled by the harrows. 



3010. The mode of forming ridges, straight and of uniform breadth, is as follows ; let us suppose a field 

 perfectly level that is intended to be laid off into ridjjcs of any determinable breadth. The best plough- 

 man belonging to the farm conducts the operation, with the aid of three or more poles shod with iron, in 



