118 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



OCT. 12,1842. 



a^n horticultural rkgi5ter. 

 Boston, Wednesday, October 12, 1842. 



TRIAL OF PLOWS AT ANDOVER, BV A COM- 

 MITTEE OF THE ESSEX CO. AORICULTU- 

 RAL SOCIETY. 



Minutes of an Examin,Ttion of Plows piiterpH fiir Premi- 

 ums, «t Andnver, Oct. 4, 1812, by a Committee oltlie 

 Essex Agricultural Society : 

 Deserijition Power Depth of Width Earth lie- 

 of Plow. applied. Jurrow. of do. tamed, suit 



tifx would show eiglit hundred at the same point where 

 it was found as he weighed up. Then another hundred 

 was ta];en off, and an examination made at the point of 

 seven hundred — and so on all the way down. Then it 

 was weighed up and drtwn again, before the permanent 

 marks were fixed. The insirument (/oes show the num- 

 ber of lbs. of power — and it shows too, that in common 

 plowing, a team does not exert more strength than is ne- 



S« 



The 7 Prouty plows, if we have added right, give an 

 average of 16 1-3 inclies of earth turned by 100 lbs. 

 power; and the 5 Ruggles' give 16 9-10. The average' " 

 depth of the Prouty furrows was a vcri/ sinall fraction, 

 over 6 1-5. That of the Ruggles exactly U l-.'i. The 

 width of the Prouty was lii inches ; that of the Ruggles- 

 11 4-5. 



Any one who looks at the foregoing tables carefully,|J' 



ry to lift from four to six hundred pounds directly ' will notice that generally wide and deep furrows give it 



1. Prouty & Co.'s A. 



7. Ruggles &Co'i 



rd C. 



.S5 

 33 

 31 



36 

 34 

 37 

 44 



33 

 40 

 33 

 33i 

 33 



61 

 6 



G 



6'' 

 fi 



6 

 7i 



12J 



12 



10 



10 



13 



13i 



13 



12 

 13 

 11 

 lU 

 lOl 



2.28 

 2.1!) 

 1.94 

 1.61 

 2.30 

 2 16 

 214 



72 

 94 

 66 

 69 

 65 



2.19 

 2.35 

 2.00 

 2 06 

 1.99 



8. " Eagle 



9. " sward D. 



10. " Eagle 

 The above plows were drawn with two pair of oxen, 



the same to each plow, moving moderatebj, on a grass 

 Bward, free of stones. Two of the plows were used 

 with a powerful span of horses, moving quick, as follows : 



6 Prouty & Co.'s A. 40 Si 12 66 1.65 



7. Ruggles&CosC. 40 6i 12 75 1 87 



Note. — The power is estimated by supposing the dy- 

 namometer to be subdivided into 72 parts — and the re- 

 sult ii ascertained by dividing the quantity of earth turn- 

 ed by the power applied. P- 



Quere. — In the uso of the dynamoraeler, it is apparent 

 that wo ascertain correctly the relative power applind to 

 the different plows; but I am not salisfiid that the num- 

 bers on the instrument show the actual power in pounds 

 weight — especially if those numbers from 1 to 9 are 

 intended as indicative of hundred ponnils. As you, Mr 

 Editor, are familiar with the use of this instrument, I 

 wish you would give such an explanation of it as we 

 farmers can understand. Can it be possible that when 

 the index of the instrument points to the numbers 4, 5 

 or 6, that only so many hundred pounds of power are 

 applied .■■ If so, then four men attached to a plow would 

 be able to draw it. I wish you would give us an expla- 

 nation (if the actual force exerted by the team, when the 

 work is done as above meniioned. 



Remarks BY the Editor. — The preceding minutes 

 and inquiry have been sent us, and we gladly give pub- 

 licity to them. We stated last week, that the committee 

 for trying the above plows, were unable to finish their 

 work on the day of the cattle show, and adjourned t" 

 the following Tuesday. They then met and completed 



upwards. This may surprise many people, but the dif- 

 ference between piiliing directly upwards, and sliding 

 or rolling, is apt to be overlooked. Were a horse at- 

 tached to a rope that passed over a single pulley or 

 block, or fall, and then passed down without any doub- 



51! 



a plow an advantage in point of power of draft. The '' 

 Prouty plows, in this trial, made furrows a very Utile 

 wider and deeper than the Ruggles, and yet with this r^ 

 advantage, its draft was a grain less favorable. In point || 

 of draft alone, the Ruggles plow has here done a little 



ling, to a tub in the well which you are digging, the the best; but the two are very nearly equal. 



horse would be able to take up only a very small part of 

 what he could move easily in the cart. Two men, we 

 iliiuk, would ca.sily lift a tub, which it would require a 

 strong horse to raLse 40 or 50 feet, when thus situated. 

 Three or four men, could thoy conveniently exert their 

 strength in a horizontal direction, would probably move 

 a plow, in common sward land ; but though they can 

 exert this force for a short time, they are unable to con- 

 tinue it for many minutes. A man of ordinary strength 



What the judgment of the committee was, we havi ^ 

 not learned. 



Our figures, as we omitted some fractions, are not pep ^ 

 fcctly accurate. They are no improvement on those 

 sent us by P. They merely show the result in anotheii j( 

 form. 



The ease of draft, though an important point, is not 

 all that is to be considered in a plow. The ease witll 

 which it can be managed by the holder; the steadinesi 



will carry three, or even four bushels of grain upon his and trueness of its run, and the quality of its work, arr 

 back for a few rods, easier than he will carry a single ' all of them imporlani; and should a committee fim 



those from one factory surpass those from the other ill ^j 

 these respects, the difference in draft is not such as prohl _ 

 ably would be considered material. 



bushel s mile. The team, though it may be capable of 

 lifting fifteen or eighteen hundred pounds, may yet find 

 five or six hundred a wearisome load, when obliged to 

 carry it ten or twelve miles, as is the case in plowing an 

 acre. Take an ox wagon that weighs 2000 pounds, and 

 two men will move it on level ground — put on to this 

 wagon 8000 pounds, and it will require a strong team to 

 manage itcomfortably — and this too though the form of 

 the ox or horse lets him work in a favorable position, 

 while the man at the wagon is unfavorably placed. At 

 the single pulley, the. true place to try the power, man 

 will come nearer to the horse in strength than is gene- 

 rally supposed. We know not how near, but we think 

 two men would raise as much gravel from the well as 

 one horse. 



The dynamometer used in the present case, had its 

 scale divided into 72 parts — the highest point indicated 

 900 lbs. Each division therefore, was one eighth of an 

 bundled pounds, or 124 pounds. The 35 in the table 

 ajjiiinst plow No. 1, is 35 eighths of an hundred — or it is 

 437^ pounds. The 33 against No. 2, is 412i pounds. 



There is another form in which results are often pre- 

 sented, and perhaps we may help fome of our readers to 

 understand this trial better if we give it. Plow No. 1 

 required 437 1-2 Jbs. to move it: the furrow was 6 1-4 

 inches dfiep, and 12 3-4 wide. Multiplying these to 

 gethef gives 80 square inches of earth turned over by 

 the application of 437 1-2 lbs. power. Now make this 

 proportion : If 437 1-? lbs. will turn 80 inches of earth, 

 how many inches will 100 lbs turn ? Making the pro- 



thc trial. A premium had been offered lor the best plow portions thus, wo find the fiillowing results, nearly— (for 



—and any citizen of the county could enter his plow, we discard some of the fractions) 



The consequence was, ih^it the committee were obliged ^ Proiity l^ Co.'s Plows— 



to try many from the hands of the same makers. We 



have previously stated that none were offered for trial 



but those manufactured by D. Prouty & Co. and by 



Ruggles, Nourse & Miison. The comparison, iherefoie, 



is only between the instruments manufactured by those 



two firms. 



The scale of the dynamometer was graduated by a 



balance makir. Af\er the spring was constructed, he 



attached an hundred pounds weight lo it, and made n 

 mark where the index pointed ; then added anolher hun- 

 dred pounds, and made a mark — and so on up to the 

 nine hundred. Then he took off an hundred, to see 

 whether alter being bent by the greater weight, the in- 



SOWED CORN. 



The communication of Mr Denny, of Westboro 

 which will be found in another column, deserves th 

 attention of our readers. We have had several convei 

 satinns with Mr D. in relation to his crop, and are satis 

 fied that he measured with much care, and wa» parlict 

 lar to select spots for trial that should give no more tha 

 a fair average of his field; and are satisfied also, that h 

 land was not in a higher state of cultivation than muc 

 of the land on almost all fiirms. 



MR TESCHEMACHER'S ADDRESS. 

 A part of the exercises attending the annual exhib 

 tion of the Mass. Horticultural Society, which we we 

 unable to be present at, was the delivery of an addrei 

 by Mr J. E. Teschemacher. We have now enjoyt 

 the pleasure of reading this production. It is an appr 

 priale and beautiful address. We shall extract from 

 for our next number. 



.MIDDLESEX COUNTY CATTLE SHOW 

 Was held at Concord, on Wednesday of last vveel 

 Our engagemenis elsewhere prevented our attendancr Hi 

 We desired to be there, but finding that we could no i 

 we requested a friend to give us some account of i\%] 

 show for our columns. We have not heard from hi 

 in the form in which we hoped to. The Ma<s. Plov 

 man and the Boston Cultivator speak well of the Sho\ 

 and of the interest taken in it by the farmers of the cou 



ALBANY CATTLE SHOW. 



Report says that this was one of the most extensi' 

 and interesting shows that have ever been held in tl 

 V. Stales. We have yet seen no full account of it. 



O'The Editor, being one of the Committee appointi 

 for the purpose by the American Institute, attends tl 

 trial of plows at New York this day. 



(nrWill some friend in Plymouth Co. furnish us wi 

 an account of ihe Caltle Show, &z. held at Bridgewate 



