PLOUGH. 



PLOUGH. 



the Northern, Eastern, Middle, and Western 

 States, different ploughs are vaunted for their 

 excellence. It has been observed as a singular 

 circumstance, that to the celebrated author of 

 the Declaration of Independence the United 

 States should be also indebted for the first theory 

 of the plough formed on mathematical princi- 

 ples. President Jefferson's letter to Sir John 

 Sinclair, president of the British Board of^g- 

 riculture, addressed in 1798, is published in the 

 Transactions of the Am. Philosophical Society, 

 vol. iv. p. 314. It describes the mould-board, 

 and the principles upon which it is properly 

 constructed. (See American Farmer, vol. ii. 

 p. 185, and Domestic Encyclopedia, vol. iii. p. 

 113.) 



In England the most complete set of experi- 

 ments yet made to ascertain the particular 

 merits of different ploughs, are those instituted 

 by Mr. Pusey, president of the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society, and described by him in the 3d 

 No. of the Journal of that Society. A con- 

 densed view of the objects and results of these 

 experiments may be found in the Cultivator, 

 (vol. viii. p. 10), together with the results ob- 

 tained with American ploughs at the Worces- 

 ter ploughing match in 1840. 



The points embraced in the English experi- 

 ments were : 



1. The comparative lightness in draught, of 

 wheel and swing ploughs. 



2. The lightest plough absolutely, of what- 

 ever kind. 



3. The effect of different soils upon the qua- 

 lities, and chiefly on the draught of the plough. 



4. The comparative tenacity of different 

 soils. 



5. The power of two horses to plough the 

 strongest or clay soil. 



Ten ploughs, embracing some from the most 

 celebrated makers in England, the highly famed 

 Scotch swing plough, and several of those in 

 common use in the different districts of the 

 kingdom, were selected by Mr. Pusey for his 

 experiments, and he was aided by the presence 

 and advice of some of the most distinguished 

 agriculturists in the country. The ploughs 

 were worked by skilful ploughmen ; and, as 

 much interest was attached to the experiment 

 on the Scotch ploughs, a Clydesdale span of 

 horses and a ploughman accustomed to the 

 plough were sent up by Lord Moreton to 

 manage that part of the trial. The Scotch 

 plough has obtained considerable celebrity 

 from the strong praise bestowed upon it by Mr. 

 Loudon, who declares the improved Scotch 

 plough to be superior to any similar implement 

 known in England. They are constructed on 

 the principles laid down by Mr. Jefferson, in 

 his celebrated Report on the true shape of the 

 mould-board, addressed to the French Institute, 

 which, he showed from mathematical data, 

 should be in the form of a gentle hollow 

 curve ; other ploughs constructed more full and 

 short, not raising the earth gradually like a 

 wave, but throwing it over at once. In con- 

 densing Mr. Pusey's experiments, we shall 

 select, as sufficient for the present purpose, 

 from the list given by him, three ploughs 1st, 

 the improved Scotch plough made by Fergu- 

 912 



' son, and entirely of iron 2d, a one-wheeled 



plough of wood, with an iron breast, by Mr. 



Hart, but commonly known as the improved 



| Berkshire plough ; and 3d, an old-fashioned 



! plough made of wood, and such as is in general 



| use in many parts of England, where it is called 



the old Berkshire plough. Some previous ex- 



perimeifts had convinced Mr. Pusey that the 



Hart plough was of easy draught, and the ones 



now instituted showed that his impressions 



were correct. 



The Clydesdale horses were much admired 

 in their work; and it was the opinion of the 

 bystanders that such land, usually worked with 

 four horses in line, might be ploughed with two 

 such horses abreast; though it was said it 

 would cost as much to keep two horses in that 

 condition, as to support the four in their usual 

 working state. On this ground, where the 

 horses had a firm footing, they worked with per- 

 fect ease. 



In summing up the trials, Mr. Pusey remarks 

 that the plough requiring the least draught was 

 Hart's, though in the last trial it was beat by 

 Ransome's two-wheel plough; and that of all 

 modern ploughs the Scotch swing plough was 

 the heaviest, "out of the question on a li?ht 

 soil, and by no means the best on a heavy 

 one." The following table shows the average 

 draught of all the ploughs on the several soils 

 in which the experiments were made : 



Trial 1. Sandy loam - 17? stone. 



2. Clay loam - - - - 47$- " 



- let 



3. Loamy sand - 



4. Strong loam - 



5. ("lay loam 



6. Moory soil 



- 3H 



- 28* 



A drawing of Hart's improved Berkshire 

 one-wheel plough is given in the Cultivator, 

 (vol. viii. p. 10.) 



The trials at the Worcester ploughing match 

 in 1840, were made to determine the award of 

 two premiums offered by the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural Society, of $100, and $75, for the 

 best ploughs, one for lapping furrows and the 

 other for laying them flat. The following re- 

 marks by the reporting committee will enable 

 the reader to understand the experiments, 

 whilst the list of ploughs will show the num- 

 ber of inventors and improvers whose imple- 

 ments have acquired most celebrity in the 

 eastern portion of the United States. 



The power required to turn over a given 

 quantity of earth by a plough is a very im- 

 portant consideration. This power can be 

 measured with great accuracy; greater than 

 many of the committee supposed, before they 

 witnessed the operation. The dynamometer, 

 inserted between the plough-beam and the 

 chain, measures with great accuracy the 

 strength exerted by the team. Suppose the 

 strength applied be the same that would be re- 

 quired to raise 336 Ibs. over a single pulley; 

 suppose also that the depth of the furrow is 6 

 inches with a width of 13 inches. Multiply 13 

 by 6$, and you will have 84 with a fraction. 

 Now, if 336 Ibs. of power will take up and turn 

 over 84 inches of earth, then 112 Ibs. will turn 

 28 inches. Tried in this way, the ploughs ex- 

 hibited showed the following results. The 

 power in each case is 112 Ibs. 



