4. TJie tempering of ploughs. 13 



a point to know, that it is harde to make a man to vnder- 

 28 stande it by wiytynge, without he were at the operation 



therof, to teache the practyue : for it muste leane moche [^oi. 4.] 

 in-to the forowe, and the poynt may not stande to moch 

 vp nor downe, nor to moche in-to the lande, nor into 

 32 the forowe. Howe-be-it, the settynge of the culture Setting of 



the coulter. 



helpeth moche. Somme plowes haue a bende of yron 

 tryanglewise, sette there as the plough-eare shulde be, 

 that hath thre nyckes on the farther syde. And yf he 

 36 wyll haue his plough to go a narowe forowe, as a sede- Seed- 

 forowe shulde be, than he setteth his fote-teame in the 

 nycke nexte to the ploughe-beame ; and yf he wyll go Mean 



fuiTOW. 



a meane bredth, he setteth it in the myddell nycke, 

 40 that is beste for sturrynge ; and if he wolde go a brode Broad 

 forowe, he setteth it in the vttermoste nycke, that is beste 

 for falowynge : The whyche is a good waye to kepe the 

 bredthe, and soone tempered, but it serueth not the 

 44 depenesse. And some men haue in stede of the plough- 

 fote, a piece of yron set vpryghte in the farther ende 

 of the ploughe-beame, and they calle it a coke, made ' a coke.' 

 with ii. or thre nyckes, and that serueth for depenes. 

 48 The plowes that goo with wheles, haue a strevghte Wheei- 



ploughs. 



beame, and maye be tempred in the yron, as the other be, 

 for the bredth ; but their most speciall temper is at the 

 bolster, where-as the plough-beame lyeth, and that 



52 serueth both for depnes and for bredth. And they be 



good on euen grounde that lyeth lyghte, but me semeth [Foi. 4*.] 

 they be farre more costly than the other plowes. And 

 thoughe these plowes be well tempred for one maner 



56 grounde, that tempre wyll not serue in an other maner 

 of grounde ; but it muste reste in the dyscretion of the 

 housbande, to knowe whanne it gothe well. 



