126 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



OCT. 21, 19*9. 



Tli.it the importance of the decision to be ma.lB by | rows, tbere was entire unanimity. Should our opinion 

 the wh..le co„,mittee vva. a subject ol frequent conver- be asked as to which of the plougl>8 we should prefer 

 salioMs in which all .igrccd ih •.( the interests of the for use on a farm, wr, inijjht perhaps say to the inqui- 

 ,»ricnl't.,.,sls of our community misht be as senously i rer, if your land is mostly li?ht and easy to work, try 

 .ffected by their award, as by the action of any agricnl- Messrs Prouiy & Mears's first; but if your land - 



tural committee that hna ever reporled in our < iimmon- 

 weallh. Good ploughing is absolutely essential to good 

 and successful husbandry ; and good ploughing is with 

 great difliculty perlorcned with any other than a good 

 plough. Our decision, it was thought, might possibly 

 influence numbers in their purchase of this important 

 implement ; and with this thought in our minds, we 

 could not fail to recognize the duty of piving to the se- 

 veral ploughs entered for premium, as fiir and full a 

 trial as lime and opportunity would permit. 



Some of the committee having been detained an hour 

 or two by a slight accident on the railroad, we were 

 obliged to defer the commencement of our examination 

 until about 11 o'clock. The first operation was to run 

 furrows so that we might have narrow lands of about 

 five rods in length. Then fifteen ploughs were brought 

 on and used successively. Each competitor was allow- 

 ed to furnish his own ploughman ; to make his furrow 

 of whatever depth and width he chose ; and thus to give 

 us his own specimen of the work of his own instrunu-nt. 

 Each was allowed to turn several contiguous furrows 

 The Dynamometer, or measurer of the power required 

 to draw the plough, was applied to each, through two 

 or more furrows. This power was noted down; the 

 depth and width of these furrows were measured ; and 

 our eyes scanned the work of eaih. About five hours 

 were consumed in the trial thus f.ir. 



After having taken some refreshments, several mem- 

 bers of the coinmittee, whose hands were not entire 

 • tranuers to the plough-handle, went to the fi'eld and 

 severally tried such of the ploughs as eitherof them 

 was disposed to follow. On the following day, also, they 

 held several of the ploughs; and they all agreed in the 

 opinion that the ploughs of Mr Howard and those of 

 Messrs Prouty & Meara, are inanaffed with great ease 

 and comfort by the pleughman, and that each when left 

 to itself holds on in its proper position and course, where 

 the sod is uniform and free from stones. They agreed, 

 also, that the form and position of the beam-handle of 

 Messrs Ruggles, Nourse k Mason's plough is such that 

 the ploughman cannot walk in the furrow erect and 

 comfiirtably when the plough is in a position to make 

 good work. They think, too, that this plough when 

 left to itself tends to narrow the furrow slice and run 

 out ; and therefore that a constant, though slight, effort 

 on the part of the ploughman, is required to keep it in 

 its place. It IS true, hewever, that in lh<i liands of a 

 •kilful holder, this instrument, in shnllow and flat plough- 

 in", makes as luinttsame work as niiy that we have seen. 

 But where all make work handsome enougli, those must 

 be considered best whirJi make the smallest draft upon 

 the strength of the team ;ind the skill and comfort of 

 the ploughman. 



In relation to the ploughs of Messrs Prouty & Mears 

 and those of Mr Howard, w-e mean not to say or do any 

 tbiniT which shrill be construed as a recommendation of 

 the one above ilie other. U is b. lieved that if we weie 

 intending to purchase soon for mir own use, (and two 

 of us at least are intending this,) that we should not all 

 prefer the plough of the same nianufaeturrr. The pre- 

 miums arc not first and .second, liiil eirch is first for its 

 kind of work. We may stale that the whole commit- 

 tee with little previous conference of opinion, when 

 pri>ceeiling to give in by biilluf, the UBUie o( the m.iker 

 who should receive the premium for flat furrows, mani- 

 fested the greatest agreeiiu-nt possible short of perfect 

 unanimity ; and that in designating, by the same pro- 

 cess, who should receive the pniniuni for lapping fur- 



heavy, haril or roi ky, begin with Mr Howard's. Mr 

 Howard's is the heavier and probably the stronger of 

 the two. liolh are of good workmanship, and will 

 doubtless do good service We would say this, also, of 

 the ploughs of Messrs Ruggles, Nourse & Mason, which 

 are in no respect inferior to the others, excepting the 

 particulars previously specified. We believe that the 

 makers of best ploughs will find this company pow- 

 erful competitors, for ihey are now close upon the heels 

 of those whom (he committee consider decidedly far 

 ahead of all others whose implements they have s.^en. 

 In this place we will thank them for exhibiting a 

 specimen of the work of a subsoil plough— an instru- 

 ment which will doubtless be as useful on many of our 

 soils as it is known to be in England. 



The power required to turn over a given quantity of 

 earth by a plough, is a very important consideration. 

 This power can be measured with great accuracy ; great- 

 er than many of the committee had supposed before they 

 witnessed the oporatiim. The Dynamometer, inserted 

 between the plough-beam and the chain, measures with 

 great accuracy the strength e.^erted by the team. Suppose 

 the strength applied be the same that would be required 

 to raise 336 lbs. over a single pulley ; suppose also that 

 the depth of the furrow is 6 1-2 inches and the width 13 

 inches. Multiply 13 by G 1-2 and you have S4 with a 

 fraction. Now if 336 lbs. of power will take up and turn 

 over 84 inches of earth, then 112 lbs. will turn 28 inch- 

 es. Tried in this way, the ploughs exhibited showed the 

 following results. The power in each case is 119 lbs. 



First Ploughs for lapping furrows. 

 By Charles Howard, llingham, 29 1-2 inches. 



' Ruggles, Nourse & Mason, Worcester, 24 ' 



John Wilson, Deerfield, 211-2 



Stevens's plough, Barnet, Vt. 20 

 James Stewart, W.. Newbury, 



(Scotch Plough,) 19 1-2 



Cornelius Bergen, Brooklyn, N. Y. 18 



Barnaby & Moores, Ithica, N. Y. 17 2-3 



E. G. Whiting, Rochester, N. Y. 18 



The committee cannot forbear to ciill the particular 

 attention of lariiicrs to the vast difference in the power 

 required to move ploughs which are all doubtless con- 

 sidered excellent in those sections of the country from 

 which they were brought. Ploughs were exhibiied from 

 places hunrlreds of miles distant from each other, and 

 all subjected to the same test — a test as accurate as 

 scales and figures make ; and it is apparent that the 

 work which one yoke of oxen can perlorin easily at one 

 plough will require two yoke at another. Farmers usu- 

 ally and properly judge by comparison, and when hold- 

 ing the best plough they have ever seen, suppose it ih* 

 best in the world. We request them to weigh well 

 su.;h facts as aredetailed in this report, and to estimate 

 the profit of saving one half, one fourth, or even one 

 eiirlilh of their team labor. A saving of even more than 

 one half is possible by tlie farmers of some sections of 

 the country. 



^^ B learn that three at least of those manufacturers 

 who have been most successful at tliis exhibition, have 

 been prnnipteil by the offer of these premuuns to revise 

 their models of ploughs. The result cannot be other 

 than highly beneficial to the interests of agriculture, 

 and we have no reason to doubt that still farther im- 

 provements may be made. 



In conclusion, we of the sub-committee, members of 

 county societies, but not of the state society, hope that 

 we may be allowed to express to the Trustees of the 

 Massachusetts Society for the promotion of Agriculture, 

 our thanks, both as individuals, and as members of coun- 

 ty societies, for the benefits that will obviously result 

 both to the ploughman and to the reaper, from the offer- 

 ing of their premiums. Were it in our power to call 

 time and experience out of the future and assemble 

 around us now, those who will be farmers in our country 

 a few years hence, we doubt not we could obtain for you 

 an unanimous vote of thanks — and could we call " the 

 cattle from a thousand"— /urroMS— their thanks/or a 

 less galling yoke, would be no less sincere. 



WILLIAM CLAKK.Jr. 

 ALLEN PUTNAM, 



For the Sub -Committee ■ 

 October 16, 1840. 



For flat furrows. 

 By Prouiy & .Mears, Boston, 27 1-2 inches. 



' Charles Howard, Hingham, 25 ' 



' Ruggles, Nourse & Mason, Worcester, 24 ' 



' Barnabv & Moores, Ithica, N. Y. 18 1-3 ' 



' E. G, Whiting, Rochester, N. Y. 14 ' 



Another plough by Prouty & .Mears, 26 ' 



' ' ("liarles Howard, 25 ' 



The above table, containing results arrived at, not by 

 estimation, but by measurement, is given to the piiidic, 

 in the full belief that it will be acceptable to all firmers 

 who inay read it, and that It will be useful to many 

 manufacturers of ploughs; for hero are exhibited some 

 remarkable and highlv important faits. Taking llic ex- 

 tremes, we find 112 lbs. power applied to one of How- 

 ard's ploughs turning over 29 1-2 inches of e.irtb, while 

 the Rauie power at one of Mr Whiting's ploughs will 

 turn only 14 inches — adiffeience of more llian 100 per 

 cent. The stnicliire of the plough, therefore, must be 

 an important matter to the farmiT's cattle; and thi> 

 rornmitti'e think they may add, that the excellence of 

 the woik perllirmeil with the ploughs was, with few ex- 

 ceptions, in the direct ratio of the ease of ilrafl. Had 

 our ciitile the gift of speech, their proverbial patience 

 would hardly h 'Id them b.ick from s.iying to their own- 

 ers—" Pay more attention to the structure ofthe plough." 



UXThrougli the carelessness of the compositor, the 

 usual order of our pages was sadly reversed in our last 

 number— the third page filling the place of the second. 

 We particularly regret this disarrangement on account 

 of its manglrng the report of Mr Walker. We trust 

 that a like vexatious blunder will not again occur. 



[p'ln the account of the Westboro' Cattle Show, in 

 enr h.st number, 4th page, 2d column, 15th line from 

 the top, for " hay load " road huge load. 



The Mobility of Lohor. —Aohamei to toil art thou.' 

 Ashamed of thy dingy workshop and dust labor Held; 

 of thy hard hand scarred with service, more honorable 

 than that ol war : of thy soiled and wcitlier-stained 

 oarment, on which mother nature has embroidered mist, 

 sun and rain, fire and steam— her own heraldic honors'. 

 Ashamed of these tokens and titles, and envious of the 

 flaunting r.ibes of imbecile idleness and vanity .' It is a 

 treason to nature— it is impiety ti> heaven— it is break- 

 ing heaven's great oidinance for human improvement. 

 Exertion is nobler than enjoyment. The laborer is 

 greater and more worthy of honor than the idler. 



I call upon those whom I address, to stand up for the 

 nobilrty oflabor. Toil, I lepeal, toil—either with the 

 brain, the heart or the hand— it is the only true man- 

 hood, the only true nobility.— Ker. O DaDry. 



