PLOUGH. 



PLOUGH. 



if ever steeled ; but whether they are steeled 

 or not, they are always in the best state when 

 sharp, and of the proper lengths. 



An imperfect state of the mould-board is 

 another interruption to a perfect temper of the 

 plough. When new and rough, it accumulates 

 the loose soil upon it, whose pressure against 

 the turning furrow-slice, causes the plough to 

 deviate from its right course. On the other 

 hand, when the mould-board is worn away 

 much below, it is apt to leave too much of the 

 crumbled soil in the bottom of the furrows, 

 especially in ploughing loose soils. Broken 

 side-plates, or so worn into holes that the earth 

 is easily pressed through them into the bosom 

 of the plough, also cause rough and unequal 

 work; and more or less earth in the bosom 

 affects the balance of the plough, both in its 

 temper and draught. These remarks are made 

 upon the supposition that all ploughs are 

 equally well made, and may, therefore, be tem- 

 pered to work in a satisfactory manner; but it 

 is well known that ploughs sometimes get into 

 the possession of farmers, radically so ill-con- 

 structed, that the best tempering the irons are 

 capable of receiving will never make them do 

 good work. 



When all the particulars which ploughmen 

 have to attend to in executing their work, in 

 having their plough-irons in a proper state of 

 repair, in tempering them according to the kind 

 of ploughing to be executed, in guiding their 

 horses, and in ploughing the land in a method- 

 ical way when all these particulars are con- 

 sidered, it ceases to surprise that so few plough- 

 men should be first-rate workmen. Good 

 plousfhmanship requires greater powers of ob- 

 servation than most young ploughmen possess, 

 and greater judgment than most will take time 

 to exercise, in order to become familiarized 

 with all these particulars, and to use them all 

 to the best advantage. To be so accomplished, 

 implies the possession of talent of no mean 

 order. The ship has been aptly compared to 

 the plough, and the phrase "ploughing the 

 deep" is as familiar to us as ploughing the 

 land: to be able to put the ship in "proper 

 trim," is the perfection aimed at by every sea- 

 man ; so, in like manner, to "temper a plough" 

 is the great aim of the good ploughman ; and 

 to be able to do it with judgment, to guide 

 horses with discretion, and to execute plough- 

 ing correctly, imply a discrimination akin to 

 sailing a ship. (Stephens.) 



Plough Handles. The handles should be suffi- 

 ciently wide apart to allow the ploughman to 

 walk in the furrow, and long enough to give 

 him a full command of the plough, so that he 

 can lift or depress it readily in work, guide it 

 to the right or left hand, and swing it round at 

 the land's end out of the furrow into another. 



Plou%h-bcnm. The beam should be of such 

 a length, that its end, commonly called its head, 

 shall cut at the point of draught, upon a line 

 drawn from that part of the collar to which the 

 traces are attached, to the share or that part of 

 k where it first raises the soil. On the right 

 arrangement of the point of draught in the 

 structure of the plough depends much of its 

 steady working at its proper depth. It is from 

 908 



the principle of balancing from a point ad- 

 justed to the line, of draught, that the plough 

 takes its name of swing, in contradistinction to 

 the names of foot and wheel ploughs. 



The beam should be curved upwards at the 

 coulter and throat of the plough, to clear itself 

 of rubbish which sometimes accumulates, and 

 should be inclined slightly from the land, or, in 

 other words, towards the furrow, because its 

 tendency is to yield towards the loosened land, 

 and it therefore requires this counteraction in 

 the line of draught to keep it in a right line. 

 This is supposing a pair of horses to be har- 

 nessed abreast ; if they be harnessed at length, 

 the beam should be still more inclined ; for as 

 neither horse then walks on the "land," the 

 direction of the force towards the land-side is 

 still further decreased. 



Plough-head. The cross-head of the plough 

 forms a ready means of increasing or de- 

 creasing the inclination last spoken of, anJ 

 the hake, or draught-iron, which moves in tl > 

 arc of a circle along the cross-head, has notches 

 by which the depth of the plough can be regu- 

 lated in unison with the line of draught. There 

 are various contrivances for these purposes, 

 most of which involve the use of a screw as a 

 means of adjustment ; but the plan of pins and 

 notches is sufficiently accurate, and not liable 

 to be out of order. Sketches of two, the one 

 English, h, the other Scotch, i, are given in 

 PI. 17. 



Plough-share. The plough-share is the apex 

 of the sole, as the hind part is called the heel. 

 It varies in shape for different purposes. On 

 stony lands it is best with a point, as figured 

 PL 17, k. But where the land is free from 

 stones, the wing is best when angular, and the 

 cutting edge in a line, or nearly so, as figured 

 in PI. 17, I. 



For different work, " hard lands" and "sum- 

 mer lands," shares of a greater " dip" or "pitch" 

 are requisite. A common plan is to use new 

 shares on hard lands, and to wear them a day 

 or two, and then lay them aside for summer 

 lands. 



Mould-board. The upper part over the box 

 of the share should form the first part of the 

 rise of the mould-board. After the coulter and 

 share have made the vertical and horizontal 

 uts for the depth and width of the furrow-slice, 

 the mould-board has to complete the work by 

 turning it over and leaving it in its proper po- 

 sition. On the precision with which this part 

 of the plough performs its work, much, indeed 

 nearly all, of the beauty of the ploughing de- 

 pends : hence the importance of discovering its 

 true form for the land on which it has to be 

 used. Desirable, however, as this is, there 

 does not as yet appear to be any precise rule 

 for the formation of the mould-board, that has 

 met with so uniform an approval under the 

 test of practice, as would lead us to speak with 

 entire confidence of it. We have looked at the 

 mechanical principles laid down by Small, 

 Bailey, Gray, Amos, Jefferson, Clymer, and 

 others, but are not aware of any plough-makers 

 of the present day who strictly adhere to either 

 the one or the other ; and so long as the mould- 

 board cannot be used on even the same farm 



