14 SKETCHES OP RURAL AFFAIRS. 



accomplish it. So anxious was he on this point, that 

 when he had reason to doubt the quality of an article 

 produced at his manufactory, he would break it to pieces 

 and suffer the loss, rather than send out a plough or 

 other implement which was not likely to give perfect 

 satisfaction. 



So great was the zeal of this ingenious man to pro- 

 mote improvements in agriculture, that he is said to 

 have sacrificed his ease, his health, and his worldly in- 

 terests, to the cause. He died in the year 1793, in the 

 fifty-third year of his age. The value of his improve- 

 ments will best appear as we consider the different parts 

 of the plough. 



Since Small's time a great number of valuable im- 

 provements have been made in the plough, and these 

 are constantly going on, so that we may expect a high 

 degree of excellence to be at last attained. 



The essential parts of a plough are as follows : 



The body of the plough consists of & frame, to which 

 all the parts of a plough must be attached. 



THE PLOUGH-FRAME. 



This part of the plough was formerly made of wood : 

 it was then covered in the parts subject to the greatest 

 friction, with iron ; and finally, the whole of it was made 

 of cast iron. The advantages of this were chiefly the 

 greater durability of the frame ; the ease with which the 



