PLOUGH. 



PLOUGH. 



FIRST TRIAL Ploughs for lapping furrows. 



By Charles Howard - - - 29J inches. 



Kuggles, Nourse & Mason - 24 " 



John Wilson - - - - 21$ " 



Stephens' plough - 20 " 



James Stewart (Scotch plough) 19 " 



Cornelius Bergen - 18 " 



Barnaby & Mooers - - - 17| " 



E. G. Whiting .... 18 " 



SECOND TRIAL. For flat furrows. 



Prouty &. Mears ... 27 " 



Charles Howard - 25 " 



Ruggles, Nourse & Co. - - 24 " 



Barnahy &. Mooers - - - 18i " 



E. G. Whiting ... 14 " 



Another plough by Prouty A; Mears 26 



Do. 



do. 



Charles Howard 25 



The terms used in this experiment are dif- 

 ferent from those adopted in the English one ; 

 but those who choose may easily compare 

 them with each other by remembering that 112 

 Ibs. is 8 stone, and making the furrow-slice to 

 correspond, which in the American experiment 

 was 84 inches, and in the English one 45 ; or 

 6$ by 13, to 5 by 9. When this is done, the 

 experiments will be found to correspond re- 

 markably well, and the general results of both 

 may be considered as establishing many im- 

 portant truths, some of which have been 

 already pointed out. Thus it will be seen that 

 in the same soil, and under the same cir- 

 cumstances, one plough will work 100 per 

 cent, easier than another, or that one horse 

 will perform the work of two, or two that 

 of four, with the same ease. Could horses 

 speak, they would doubtless direct a vote 

 of thanks to the men who have invented, and 

 the farmers who use, implements by which 

 one-half of the severest labour the horse per- 

 forms is done away. We very much question 

 whether our farm-horses on our heavy wheat 

 lands do not often perform much more severe 

 labour than the highest rate named by Mr. 

 Pusey (52 stone, or 728 Ibs.), as we have seen 

 them day after day showing more exertion and 

 evident distress in ploughing than when draw- 

 ing a ton a day over hard roads. Whatever may 

 be the obduracy or tenacity of the soil, or the 

 toughness of the sward ; only one pair of horses 

 is used, where, under the same circumstances, 

 four would be used abroad, and the question is 



never asked whether the plough is of a con- 

 struction so defective as to require 5 cwt. to 

 move it, or whether it works with ease, with a 

 force of 2 cwt. applied. Mr. Pusey estimated 

 the fair draught of the Clydesdale horse at 168 

 Ibs. or 12 stone, and that of a common English 

 farm-horse at 112 Ibs. or 8 stone. 



At a fair held by the New York Agricultural 

 Society, at Syracuse, in 1841, the first of the 

 regular premiums, $30, was awarded to the 

 plough made by Howard Delano of Mottsville, 

 the second premium of 20 to E. G. Holliday, 

 for his plough, favourably known as the Laugh- 

 lin plough. The Wisconsin and other ploughs 

 attracted considerable notice; but the double 

 mould-board plough of Barnaby and Mooers, 

 from the excellence and novelty of its con- 

 struction, the facility with which it would ope- 

 rate on side hills as well as on level land, and 

 its ease of draught, rendered it deservedly a fa- 

 vourite implement, and the-honorary premium 

 was deemed well awarded. It was supposed 

 by many very good judges of ploughing, that 

 the resistance offered by the land-side share 

 would increase the draught sensibly, but the re- 

 sult showed that such was not the case. 



The trial of ploughs which took place under 

 the direction of a committee of the American 

 Institute, at New York, was very well con- 

 ducted; and although the number of ploughs 

 on the ground was not as great as at Syracuse, 

 the trials with the dynamometer were more sa- 

 tisfactory. It is to be regretted that some of 

 the favourite Massachusetts ploughs had not 

 been present for competition, as a full investi- 

 gation and understanding of the matter requires 

 repeated and careful comparison of ploughs in 

 the same soils, and as near as possible under 

 the same circumstances. 'We believe that 

 such will hereafter be the case. The manner 

 in which the report of the trials of ploughs last 

 year at Worcester was presented, renders a 

 comparison of the actual draught used there and 

 at New York, difficult; but as the mode was 

 adopted at New York that English experiment- 

 ers have used, a comparison between the 

 ploughs of England and Scotland, and those 

 of this country, is more easily made. The fol- 

 lowing table, which we find prepared at our 



115 



4H 



913 



