J so 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



NOV. li, 1S40. 



AND IIORTICULTUKAL REGISTER. 



Boston, Wednesday, Nov. II, 1840. 



TRIAL OF PLOUGHS.— No. III. 



[Concluded.] 



Tlio trial ol ploughs at Worci-sier being atill a sub- 

 ject of much iulerebt among the farmers, we hope wi; 

 shall be excused for some farther remarks upon it. 



We ask leave to suggest, with the highest respect for 

 the judgment of iha Trustees, that if these premiums 

 should be continued, Ihey will omil the condition, that 

 two ploughs of the same pattern anil of dilFerent sizes 

 should be produced. Where competitors come from n 

 great distance, this condilioa would impose on them a 

 considerable inconvenience without an criuivalent ad- 

 vantage, as the model, being all that is desirable, may 

 be obtained as well from one as from more ploughs of 

 the same pattern. We should be glad to invite as ex- 

 tensive a competition as possible. If the ploughs used 

 in other parts of the country are better than ours, we 

 shall be benefited by seeing and trying iheni- If ours 

 are belter than theirs, they will derive a corresponding 

 benefit from our improvements. We were glad that in 

 this competition the [talm of superiority should have 

 been awarded to the skilful mechanics of our own state ; 

 but we should not have been sorry if it iiad fallen justly 

 to otliers. Such a result would have operated at once 

 as an incentive to new exertions and new iniprove- 

 inenls. Our Massachusetts mechanics would never be 

 satisfied to remain distanced in any honorable competi- 

 tion. The public gains immensely by such competitions ; 

 the mechanics, if this is the effect of failure upon lh«m, 

 will certainly lose nothing. We heard considerable re- 

 gret expressed that ^ome other individuals, disiinguish- 

 cd for the excellence of their workmanship, did not 

 obtain u premium. This is a benevolent feeling; but 

 there certainly is no reason why every other disappoin- 

 ted competitor should not be entitled to an equal sympa- 

 thy. In a case where only two premiums are to be 

 awarded, ten persims cannot be honored with ihem. 

 The disappoinied compeiitors should feel no other con- 

 cern in the case than that involved in a determination 

 by every means in their power to excel those who have 

 now distanced them. If this decision were to be per- 

 petual, and must fix the rank of these ploughs for all 

 time to come, it might indeed seriously afi'oct their inte- 

 rests ; but it is not so. The field of competition is still 

 open ; the upper round of the ladder is not yet reached ; 

 perfection in the implement slill lips in the distant pros- 

 pect ; and another year may find those now disappoinied 

 coming out of the race a full length before the rest. — 

 This is the spirited emulation which we wish to see ex- 

 cited, and from which we may expect a constant im- 

 provement. Every generation is disposed to consider 

 itself as having reached the perii^ietion (if the arts. A 

 wise man will not permit himself to be betrayed by this 

 overweening selfesleein. The progress of the mechan- 

 ic arls among our.selves has been so extraordinary thai 

 a plough deemed excellent in its construction thirty 

 years ago would now be worth little more than its ac- 

 tual value in oven-wood and old iron. Who shall pre- 

 sume to set limits to tlio progress of the arts.' 



The very last Farmers Magazine (London) for Octo- 

 ber gives a plate and nn account of a newly invented 

 and patented plough, " unlike," it is .ntated, " any other 

 ever offered to the public; possessing greater advan. 

 tagcs in every point of view, in its adaptation to various 

 soils and seasons. The greatest nicety in the draught 

 is assisted tlirough a peculiarly construcled hake, no 

 way liable to get out of order. Indeed every day's in- 



formation affords encouragement to hope these plough 

 from their proved utility will supersede all others." — 

 We know nothing of this plough other than what is 

 here stated ; but the confidence with which this stale- 

 nient is made, shows at least that a remarkable improve- 

 ment is supposed to have been effected. 



The Coinmittee have not laid too great stress upon 

 the comparative ease or difficulty of draught in different 

 ploughs. Forty yeirs ago a " breaking up " learn was 

 a formidable affair. Never less than two yoke, frequently 

 four, and often five yoke of oxen, with twomen to drive, 

 one to hold the plough, one to " keep her in," by riding 

 upon the beam, and one to follow the plough in order to 

 mend the baulks, and with a hoe to turn the furrow 

 slice, which would not go over without being assisted, 

 were cusloriiarily required in this great operation. Then 

 ihe field after being ploughed, presenled any thing but 

 a neat appearance, and looked more as if it had been 

 rooted by ihe hogs flian if it had been broken up by art 

 and skill. Now unless the soil is very tenacious and 

 difficult, the operation is accomplished often by one, 

 seldom more than two yoke of oxen are needed, with 

 only a man and a boy ; and the sward is inverted with 

 neatness and precision, so that it may be brought at 

 once into nice cultivation.* 



The power of draught required for different ploughs, 

 is at this time exciting great attention in England. 

 Ploughing is one of the most expensive operations on a 

 farm; and when " e consider always the great cost of 

 brute labor, since it is ordinarily estimated to require ihe 

 produce of ihree to five cultivated acres per year to sup- 

 port a horse, the saving of fifiy per cent, of this expense, 

 with many other incidental and unavoidable charges, 

 the subject assumes a serious importance. 



The experiments made by Henry Handley,Esq., M.P., 

 on wheel and swing ploughs present the subjoined 

 results. (July 183,9.) 



" A stubble field of a sandy loam was selected ; partly 

 up and down hill, and partly on a level. The ploughs 

 all by the same maker, were set to the same gauge, viz : 

 furrows six inches deep and ten wide, drawn by a pair 

 of horses abreast, and held by the best men that could be 

 procured, who were occasionally changed from one 

 plough to another. The instrument employed to test 

 them was a draught dynamometer, on Regnier's princi- 

 ple, which had been previously proved, by the suspen- 

 sion of weights, to register witJi accuracy." 

 " Description of Weight of 



Ploughs. each Plough. Draught, 



cwt. qrs. lbs-. cwt. qrs. lbs. 



Rutland, with wheels, 1 3 22 ii 1 21 



Bedfordshire with wheels, 1 3 26 2 3 24 



Lincolnshire swing, 1 IS 3 



Lincoln Heath, II 1 3 II' 



The next experiments, which we shall quote in this 

 case are those of Philip Pusey, Esq., M P, from a pa- 

 per recently given to the agricultural public, entftled 

 " Experimental Inquiry on Draught in Ploughing." In 

 these two very able communications from Mr Handley 

 and Mr Pusey, to the Royal Agricultural Society, there 

 are many matters of great interest to the farmers and 

 highly instructive, which we propose at an early occa- 

 sion to lay before our readers ; but we must at present 



"" It is impossible for any man to witness a " break- 

 ins up " of this kind wilhoul being forcibly reminded 

 of ihi; lefleotion made by a Dutch commentator on that 

 passage in ihe hook of Kings, where ii is said that Eli- 

 sha was found ploushing with twelve yoke of oxen — 

 ' Well, ' said the coiunientator, ' it is no wonder that 

 Elisha was glad enough to quit ploughing li>r preaching, 

 if he could not break up with less than twelve yoke of 

 oxen.' '' — Quincy's .Address at Brighton. 



content ourselves with brief abstracts of results and im- 

 perfect explanations. 



" The first trial was made last September between an 

 old Berkshire plough, a small one- wheeled wooden 

 plough, made by Hart, Ransoine's Rutland plough, and ! 

 some others. Tlie field was a clean oat stubble ; the 

 soil a sandy loam, moist with rain ; the furrow 9 inches 

 wide and 5 inchen deep. The draught of the Berkshire 

 was 3 cwt.; of Hart's plough less than 2 cwt. ; and of 

 the Rutland plough, somewhere between these two num- 

 bers. Thus it appeared that within one small parish, 

 the same work was perfiirmed on the one farm by two 

 horses, as on the other by three , (the smallest nun)her 

 ever attached to the Berkshire plough) and that too with 

 greater ease to the two horses than the three.' 



Mr Pusey, however, was not satisfied with the power 

 gauge employed by him, owing to the variations occa- 

 sioned by the inequalities of the surface and ihe rapidity 

 in some cases of the horses' motion, which made it diffi- 

 cult to mark the degrees on the index with exactness. 

 This evil was, however, afterwards remedied by an im- 

 proved instrumenl, which he does not (larticularly de- 

 scribe. 



The next trial was November 6. " The soil a sandy 

 loam, free in working when wet; but notwithstanding 

 its lightness, a little adhesive ; a clean wheat stubble. 

 The depth of the furrow was 5 inches by 9 wide. The 

 ploughs drawn by two horses." An English stone is 

 14lbs avoirdupois. 



1. Ferguson's Improved Scotch Swing plough, 19 stone., 



2. Clark's do. 20 ' 



3. Hart's Improved Berkshire, one wheel, 14 ' 



4. Ransome's F. F., two wheels, 14 ' 



5. Ransome's F. F., Swing, 18 ' 

 C. King's Swing, 18 ' 



7. King's one wheel, 17 ' 



8. Rutland's, Ransome's, N.L, two wheels, 17 ' 



9. Old Berks, 23 ' 

 10. Holkham plough, two wheels, 18 ' 



On this trial, Mr Pusey observes, " 1st. That the 

 Scotch ploughs were the heaviest in the field for the 

 horses, except the old Berkshire ; and more than 35 per 

 cent, worse for them than the two lightest ploughs 

 which were Nos. 3 and 4. 



"2d. That F. F., which on the same spot of ground 

 and in the same state of moisture, had been 24 stone or 

 23 sione, now that its mould board was cleaned, drew 

 18 stone only. This appears to show the importance of 

 the saving the plough irons from being honey-combed as 

 we often see them by rust.. 



" 3d Ransome's F. F., as a swing plough, was 4 stone, 

 or 23 per cent, heavier than the same plough with its 

 wheels on ; and it then equalled in lightness the plough 

 of Hart's, with which it was sent to compete. 



"4th. Putting the old Berkshire aside, the four easiest 

 ploughs of the remaining cighf, were four distinct wheel 

 ploughs; and the four severest for the horses were four 

 swing ploughs. 



"5th If we once more compare the two ploughs in 

 daily use on this very soil we find Han's at 14 stone, 

 and the old Berkshire at 23 stone : that is to say, worse 

 by 2 stone for its three horses than Hart's for its two." 



These are certainly very important inferences. In 

 another Irial on a dark mould on a sub-soil of blue clay, 

 Ihe furrow 6 by 9 inches, " the farmers of this land were 

 all of opinion that even iron mould-boards must not be 

 used upon it, because this clay adheres so much more to 

 iron than to wood." This remark is well worth consid 

 ering. 



The next trial was on a very free, brown, loamy sand, 

 of good quality, without stone, gravel, or clod, resting on 

 a pure yellow sand, on the coral-rag formation. 



