92 INSTALLATION OF TKENCHING 



from ordinary field work. Dufaure has favoured us with 

 details of his practical field work, from which we extract the 

 following: 



With the object of planting a vineyard, Dufaure trenched 

 land during 1889-90 to a depth of 16 inches, the nature of 

 the subsoil not allowing it to be trenched deeper ; he used 

 Beauquesne's plant, consisting of a fixed winding drum, a 

 steel wire cable 274 yards in length, and a pulley hooked to 

 the link of a chain anchored on the opposite headland by 

 two anchors. 



The winding drum worked by four horses could haul a 

 very strong plough, but as the soil would not allow trench- 

 ing to a very great depth, Dufaure, in order to make full use 

 of the plant, fastened two ploughs to the cable, working to 

 a depth of 15J to 17^ inches, with a width of furrow of 19 

 inches The extremity of the cable was made fast to a very 

 strong swingle-bar 20 inches in length, one .extremity of 

 which was fastened direct on the whipple-tree of one of the 

 ploughs, and to the other plough by a chain 10 feet in 

 length. 



When the two furrows were completed, the two ploughs 

 were placed on their sledges and hauled back, this took 

 from five to seven minutes, and was also indispensable to 

 rest the horses working the drum. 



The staff was 



3 men: 1 at the capstan, 2 accompanying the 



ploughs. 



1 boy. 



4 horses (in preference old buggy horses with long 



and steady stride). 



2 bullocks, used to harrow behind the two ploughs, 



.and to haul them back. 



In a soil of medium stiffness the work per day of eight 

 hours actual work, was 100 poles. It is to be noticed that 

 except in the case of very bad weather, neither rain nor snow 

 interrupted the work, as the horses had a hard tramped 

 track to walk on. 



The shifting of the winding drum was laborious, and 

 required four skilful men working the whole day, to shift it 

 from one block to another. It is advisable to reduce these 

 shiftings by a little care in the choice of the different spots. 



