General Notices. 



653 



of the furrow. The father of the present Mr. Wilkie constructed a plough 

 on the above prmciple in 1825,ancl they have since been highly approved of 

 both in clayey loams and free soils. The sock, or share, is of cast iron, which 

 is a great saving both'in first cost and repairs ; costing only Is., and ploughing 

 at an average upwards of 10 acres. The coulter alone requires to be taken 

 to the smithy, the share being renewed by the ploughman at pleasure. The 

 wheel, which is of cast iron, will last many years. The draught of this plough 

 has been proved, at a public ploughing match in 1829, to be fully 30 per cent 

 less than that of the common swing-plough of the most improved form. 

 The price is also lower than that of any iron plough now in use. A specimen 

 may be seen at Weir's, Oxford Street, London, and we would sti'ongly re- 

 commend a trial. — Cond. 



Improvements on Wilkie'' s Wheel Plough. — Sir, Since writing, I have re- 

 ceived the most satisfactory testimonials in favour of the wheel plough from 

 the different gentlemen who have used them; in particular, from Mr. Shed- 

 holm of Carlisle, Mr. Rothwell of Manchester, and Mr. Rooke of Leicester 

 who has got three of them. The latter gentleman writes me that his soil is 

 a strong deep loam, very difficult to plough : that his neighbours work with 

 ploughs having a wheel on each side of the beam to keep them steady, drawn 

 by four and five horses, a man holding and a boy driving; while he employs 

 only one man and a pair of horses to perform the same work. The only 

 improvements suggested are, to increase a little the breadth of the rim of the 

 wheel, so as to prevent it from sinking in loose or wet soils ; and to place a 

 cover over it, to protect it from any loose earth getting over the top of the 

 mould-board and obstructing its motion. I intend likewise to have the rim of 

 the wheel cast in an iron mould, by which means the casting will become ex- 

 tremely hard, and, when polished, little or no earth will adhere to its surfaces; 

 but the stickage from the present position of the wheel is nothing to what it 

 was when the wheel was placed vertically. I am at present making a plough 

 for a farmer in this immediate neighbourhood, embracing all these im- 

 provements: the beam is made almost wholly of steel; the plough is 

 intended, when completed, not to weigh more than half the common 

 plough, and the draught is expected to be diminished in the same propor- 

 tion. It is likewise proposed to have a piece of mechanism attached to 

 the wheel, by the revolution of which the quantity of ground passed over 

 by the plough may be indicated. 



You seem to think that the wheel plough will be more difficult to ma- 

 nage than the common plough. With respect to this point there is rather 

 a diversity of opinion among the ploughmen ; but, for my own part, although 

 I have had little experience in holding the plough, I was able to make 

 a straighter and evener furrow with the wheel plough than with the 

 other: from having fewer points in contact with the bottom of the fur- 

 row and land side, it keeps a firmer hold of the ground, and is not so apt 

 to deviate on encountering different resistances ; this is seen to great ad- 

 vantage in breaking or taking up the last furrow, in which its superiority 

 over the common plough is most conspicuous. — James Wilkie. Uddingston, 

 Oct. 17.1829. 



Wilkie^s Brake or Cidtivator, and its various Applications. — Another ex- 

 cellent invention for diminishing friction in labouring the soil is Wilkie's 

 parallel adjusting brake, f^g. 157) This implement is said to penetrate the 



