110 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



may be obtained in a few years. In no case, how- 

 ever, should the surflice phjugh be plunged into 

 a poor subsoil at hap-hazard. 



As soon as I was ready to turn sod-furrows seven 

 inches deep, my ploughs began to be troubled to 

 carry themselves erect and do as good work as at 

 nine inches deep. At eight inches deep they did 

 not do nice work, and at nine inches deep they could 

 not work at all, until I added some contrivances of 

 my own. 



About a year ago, I called upon Messrs. Rug- 

 GLEs, NouRSE, Mason & Co.,and upon stating the 

 difficulties I had experienced with my ploughs, they 

 remarked that there was quite a growing demand 

 for ploughs for deep work; and they at once evinced 

 a most commendable readiness to undertake such a 

 series of experiments, regardless of expense, as 

 should enable them to supply, in the best manner, 

 this demand of an advancing agriculture. They 

 made a plough that gave me satisfaction, for it 

 could turn a furrow a foot deep, and it did not 

 choke under the beam. The making and trial of 

 this plough suggested further improvements, and 

 these in turn led to others. The various experi- 

 mental trials may be summarily stated as follows: 



1. To make a plough to turn furrows ten or 

 twelve inches deep, and to turn them without chok- 

 ing under the beam. 



2. To make a plough to turn deep furrows, re- 

 quiring the least practicable width in proportion to 

 the depth of furiow. 



3. To make a plough turn deep narrow furrows, 

 and to turn them on so easy a line of transit as to 

 prevent breaks in the furrow-slice. 



4. To make a plough to turn deep 

 narrow furrows on the easiest practica- 

 ble twist, and to lighten the draught of 

 the plough whenever it could be done 

 without detriment to the best work. 



5. To make a series of sizes of 

 ploughs for turning flat furrows, sev- 

 en, nine, and twelve inches deep, each 

 plough proportionately combining the 

 above specifications. 



The experimental trials also led to 

 the production of two sizes of ploughs 

 for adhesive soils, laying lapped fur- 

 rows at an angle of 45'^; and two sizes 

 of ploughs for turning stubble furrows. 



Fig. 1 represents a furrow-side ele- 

 vation of the No. 72, or smallest size 

 of the new flat-furrow ploughs, and 

 Fig. 2, a horizontal plan of the same. 

 In considering the remaiks I oflfer 

 upon the No. 72 plough, it will be 

 borne in mind that plough No. 73, 

 for furrows nine inches deep, and 

 plough No. 74, for furrows twelve 

 inches deep, each possess the same 

 general form and working proper- 

 ties of No. 72. They are each 

 constructed upon the principles of 



an ingenious scale, the lines of which, as applied to the mould- 

 boards of the three ploughs, are relatively the same throughout. 



Fig. 1 represents the handles as long and raking, which gives 

 the ploughman a powerful leverage, and an easy and aiscurate 

 control of the implement; the beam is high, and arches well over 

 the coulter, to permit loose giass or other loose matters to pass 

 off, and the plough to swim clear; the coulter is consequently 

 long, and is made wholly of steel, to give it the requisite stiffness; 

 the wheel, or roller, is nine inches in diameter, to prevent laboring 



and creaking of the avis, and it is set under the beam, 

 experiments the past summer indicating that a 

 wheel on the side of the beam gives the plough an 

 unsteady movement; a wrench accompanies the 

 plough, adapted to the adjustment of the coulter, 

 roller, clevis, &c.; the draft rod is short, connect- 

 ing with the beam forward of the coultre, in order 

 to preserve the space under the beam in that re- 

 gion entire; the quadrant or clevis attached at the 

 end of the beam, through the bolt of which the 

 draft- rod passes, is adapted to give the plough any 

 desired landing or earlhing; the mould-board is 

 long, the line of transit over it for the furrow-slice 

 is easy, giving the slice a long, easy, and equal 

 curvature throughout. 



Fig. 2, shows the inclination of the land-side, and 

 the coulter has a corresponding inclination. Fig. 2 

 also shows the position of the beam over the body 

 of the plough. The share and lower parts of the 

 mould-board are narrow, and the mould-board is 

 high, to adapt the plough to deep, narrow work. 

 The share is long, with a raking cut, which gives 

 it an easy entrance into the ground. 



Fig. 3, represents pretty well the movement of a 

 furrow-slice 7 inches deep and 11 inches wide, over 

 the mould-board of this plough, and its final posi- 

 tion after leaving the plough, The easy transit and 

 the equal flexure of the slice, are noticable. By 

 means of the inclined land-side and coulter, the 

 slice is cut off the land upon a bevel, which very 

 much facilitates its dropping in snugly beside the 

 previously turned slice. It will be observed that 

 the width of cut made by the share is such as to 



