184 THE OLIVER PLOW BOOK 



The walking plow is a very good example of the fact 

 that an implement does not require a pole to make neck- 

 weight. 



The reason why sore shoulders, back, and hips are 

 prevalent when using a plow with or without a pole is 

 because the traces are not in a straight line from the 

 point where the tugs fasten to the hames on the shoulders 

 through to the center of draft on the plow. When a 

 horse has a sore neck on top one raises the tugs at the 

 back band. This is evidence enough that plowmen 

 practice this principle whether they know it or not. 

 The further fact that raising a tug at the back band 

 often makes the back sore is positive proof that we are 

 playing around the straight line of draft. How much 

 better it would be after the plow has been adjusted to 

 the depth one desires to plow to see that the hip straps 

 are loose and that there is no downward pull on the 

 back band, no upward pull on the belly band, no chok- 

 ing at the collar and no bearing down on top the neck. 



It is necessary in walking plows more than wheel 

 plows to have the shares absolutely correct before any 

 kind of adjustments can be made. Where the weight 

 of the bottoms is carried on wheels, the work of 

 an incorrectly shaped share does not show up in a wheel 

 plow so quickly as in a walking plow. For this reason 

 if the operator makes all the adjustments in the clevis 

 that can be made and the plow does not respond to the 

 adjustments it is plainly evident that something is wrong 

 with the share or some part of the plow is sprung out of 

 shape. It is reasonable to assume that by far the 

 greatest number of times this trouble will be in the share. 

 It is necessary to have a thorough understanding of the 

 setting of a share on a walking plow before one knows 



