IMPLEMENTS, &c. OF THE FARM. 433 



PROUTY AND MEARS'S CENTRE DRAUGHT PLOUGH. 



Through all the various improvements and alterations which have been 

 made in the construction of the plough, the uniform practice has been to raise 

 or set the landside on a right angle to, or perpendicular with, the plane of the 

 base, over which the beam has been placed on an acute angle with the line of 

 the landside, carrying the forward end towards the furrow about three inches 

 from a continued line of the landside, to incline the plough to land, or retain 

 its proper width of furrow. The elie< -t has been an irregular, unsteady, strug- 

 gling motion, which effect is increased as the plough is shortened, and'the fur- 

 row-slice, being cut and raised with a square edge, is very liable, as it falls 

 over, to rest upon the furrow la.-t turned and not shut in level. Ploughs made 

 of cast iron are necessarily shorter than when made of wood or sheet iron, to 

 prevent their being too heavy and cumbersome, and late improvements in 

 agriculture and the practical use and good effects of tilling the ground with 

 short cast iron ploughs, having brought them into general use, the necessity of 

 adopting some principle, if possible, to the plough to run more uniformly level 

 and steady, and at the same time to form the furrow-slice into such shape as 

 to ensure its closing and shutting in level, has been seriously felt. 



The principle adopted in the construction of this plough, is to set the land- 

 side on an acute angle with the plane of the base, so that the beam is laid on a 

 line parallel to, and continuous with, the line of the landside, and so far over 

 the furrow as to give the plough a sufficient inclination to land, thus causing 

 a straight forward and uniform motion, and the furrow-slice being cut in the 

 form of an oblique-angled parallelogram or a board Kith feather edges falls 

 in and shuts more readily and uniformly with the furrow last turned, leaving 

 the land when ploughed in the best form for the after-tillage, and by covering 

 all stubble and green crop completely under, and leaving the surface level, 

 light and friable, fits it for the production of good crops, requiring less strength 

 of team to draw the plough, and less effort of the ploughman to govern it. 



The head or top of the landside being broad, and transversely parallel with 

 the head of the base, and extended back from the bolt which fastens the beam, 

 so as to make a bearing for the beam to rest upon, serves as a guide for the 

 workmen to lay the beam by, and as a brace to prevent the downward pressure 

 of the after end of the beam upon the landside of the plough. The point being 

 under a rock or stump, and being notched into the beam, protects the standard 

 bolt which fastens the beam to the plough. The mould-board and share is 

 formed in that gradually winding shape which is found by experience to be 

 best adapted to the purpose, turning and laving the furrow in the best possible 

 form for the after-tillage, the production ot good crops, and with the least pos- 

 sible resistance. 



THE HARROW. 



The Harrow is an implement of equal antiquity with the 

 plough, and has of late years undergone so much improvement 

 as to have originated that class of pronged implements, known 

 37 



