12 PLANTING. 



on trial fell back into the furrow when the plough 

 passed on. In order to obviate this difficulty, an 

 additional coulter was fixed on the opposite side of 

 the beam, the point of which descended to the wing- 

 side of the share in a parallel direction to, and 9 

 inches apart from, the other coulter. By this con- 

 trivance the furrow-slice, which is 9 inches wide and 

 2 inches deep, is completely cut, and falls on the 

 unploughed land. The furrows are 4 feet distant 

 from each other. Two men (one to manage the 

 horses and the other the plough) are required to work 

 the plough effectually. The quantity of land ploughed 

 in one day of seven and a half hours, with one plough, 

 was 4 acres. The ground, rendered hard by the dry 

 season, filled with the heather roots, which are bad to 

 cut, and in many parts abounding in fast stones, thus 

 necessitating a very slow rate of speed and steadiness, 

 is very difficult to plough, and is very hard work. 



"The 9 -inch furrows being made, the subsoil 

 plough was then used for breaking the moorland pan 

 and loosening the soil under it. By means of this 

 powerful plough the pan is broken up, not only along 

 the whole length of each furrow, but actually over 

 the whole area between the furrows. This was found 

 to be the case both by examining the pan after the 

 plough had passed, and by the fact of the intermediate 

 ground being tilted up and cracked under the feet of 

 the workmen who walked at the side of the plough. 

 Four men and six powerful horses worked this plough, 

 which in a day of seven and a half hours ploughed on 

 an average 3 acres and 2 roods. When this opera- 

 tion was completed, its good effect was at once appa- 

 rent. A heavy fall of rain took place, and the land 

 so treated remained perfectly dry, while the adjoining 



