PLOUGH. 



PLOUGH. 



strong manner, having a share, but no mould- 

 board. The share raises the earth in the 

 bottom of the furrow, and, passing on under 

 what it has raised, leaves the soil where it was 

 found, but in a loosened state. See SUBSOIL 

 PLOUGH. 



Somerville's double-furrow plough is obviously 

 advantageous in performing more labour in a 

 given time, with a certain strength of team, 

 than other sorts of ploughs, as producing two 

 furrows at a time. It has been found useful 

 on the lighter sorts of land, where the ridges 

 are straight and wide, though some think it 

 more confined in its work than those of the 

 single kind. The saving of the labour of one 

 person, and doing nearly double the work with 

 but little more strength in the team, in the same 

 time, recommend it for those districts where 

 four-horse teams are in use. This plough has 

 been brought to its present degree of perfection 

 by Lord Somerville, especially by the introduc- 

 tion of movable plates at the extremities of 

 the mould-board, as in his lordship's single 

 plough. But, as observed by an cxceljent au- 

 thority, " with all the improvements made by 

 Lord Somerville, it can never come into com- 

 petition, for general purposes, with the present 

 single-furrow ploughs." Lord Somerville ad- 

 mits, that it would be no object to invade the 

 system already established in well-cultivated 

 counties ; though, where large teams are em- 

 ployed, with a driver besides the ploughman, it 

 would certainly be a matter of importance to 

 use this plough, at least on light, friable soils. 

 "Their horses," he says, "will not feel the 

 difference between their own single furrow, 

 working one acre, and the well-constructed 

 two-furrow plough, with two acres per day ; 

 here is no system deranged, and double work 

 done." This plough is also of particular va- 

 lue for ploughing up and down steeps. 



The Jlrgyleshire plough differs from Small's, or 

 any single swing plough, in having no coulter 

 fixed in the beam, but, in lieu of this, a fin or 

 knife rising from the left side of the share, 

 which serves the purpose of slicing off the 

 furrow as well as a coulter. This fin or fea- 

 ther must be placed at the same angle as the 

 coulter, and should terminate in a lance-like 

 shape, in order to furnish the least obstruction 

 to stubble, weeds, or stones. This plough is 

 not liable to be choked by stubble, or thrown 

 out by catching small stones between the 

 points of the coulter and sock. In point of 

 draught it is precisely the same as the common 

 plough. 



The double mould-board plough is a kind of 

 plough often used with advantage in clearing 

 out furrows, in setting potatoes, cabbages, and 

 other similar crops, and in earthing up such 

 as are planted in wide rows. Those whose 

 mould-boards move on hinges, and may be set 

 wide or narrow at pleasure, are the most con- 

 venient. A variety of this plough, made by 

 Weir of London, admits of removing the mould- 

 boards, and fixing in curved coulters and hoes, 

 for cleaning between drilled turnips and similar 

 crops. 



The binot is almost the same thing as the 



purchaser. It has two mould-boards, one on 

 each side of the beam. It is used in some soils 

 in forming a ribbed or ridged bed for wheat or 

 other grains; by which means, when the grain 

 is sown over the ribs or ridgelets in the broad- 

 cast manner, as it falls for the most part into 

 the furrows, or is harrowed into them, it comes 

 up in rows. It is also used in earthing up 

 crops ; and sometimes in Flanders, but never 

 by the best cultivators in England, in giving 

 the first furrow to stubbles. 



The marking plough is used in straightening 

 and regulating the distance of ridges where the 

 drill system is practised. Any plough with a 

 rod fixed at right angles to the beam, and a 

 short piece depending from this rod, will trace 

 a line parallel to the furrow drawn by the 

 plough, which line will serve for a guide as to 

 the width of ridges, &c. 



Clymer's plough is a recent modification of 

 the implement, formed entirely of iron, and 

 chiefly remarkable for the absence of the coul- 

 ter, or rather its attachment to the breast, and 

 for the share, mould-board, and other parts 

 which move under ground, being composed of 

 distinct pieces of cast-iron. This is considered 

 as cheaper to commence with and easier to 

 repair, because any one part may be renewed 

 of the same material without deranging the 

 rest ; whereas renewing or repairing wrought- 

 iron shares, mould-boards, or coulters, is found 

 in many districts both difficult and expensive. 

 It has never come into use in England. 



SlotharcTs plough is characterized by a per- 

 forated mould-board. The holes may be in any 

 form or dimensions ; and their object is to al- 

 low the air to pass through, and thereby pre- 

 vent the adhesion of wet earth, which it is 

 contended adheres in ordinary ploughs with 

 such a degree of tenacity as greatly to increase 

 the friction, and diminish the speed of the 

 horses. 



Morton's trenching plough has two bodies, the 

 one 



The first cuts or pares 

 required depth, say 5 inches, and turns it over 

 into the furrow, 10 or 12 inches deep, made by 

 the main body. The second body generally 

 works from 10 to 12 inches deep, but might be 

 made to work to the depth of 13 or 15 inches ; 

 upon its mould-board is formed an inclined 

 plane, extending from the back part of the 

 feather of the sock or share to the back part 

 of the mould-board, where it terminates about 

 6 inches above the level of the sole. This in- 

 clined plane raises the soil from the bottom of 

 the furrow, and turns it over on the top of that 

 which has been laid in the bottom of the pre- 

 vious furrow, by the body going before. 



Draining ploughs are of various kinds', but 

 none of them are of much use ; the work can 

 always be done better, and generally cheaper, 

 by manual labour. 



Wheel ploughs are of two kinds: by far the 

 most common, are those where the wheel or 

 wheels are introduced for the purpose of re- 

 gulating the depth of the furrow, and rendering 

 the implement more steady to hold; those less 

 common are where a wheel is introduced for the 



working 4 or 6 inches deeper than the other. 

 s first cuts or pares off the surface to the 



double mould-board plough, and the one is ' purpose of lessening the friction of the sole or 

 commonly sold for the other, with no loss to the share. This last description of wheel plough 

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