58 



AUSTRALIAN AOUCOLTURE. 



and sharp, and there is a strong draught bar. The 

 dimensions of the plough as made by M'Lean, Brisbane, 

 are length of beam from draught-bar, four feet ; handles, 

 from end of mould board, seven feet; body, two feet; 

 total length, thirteen feet; from point of share to end 

 of mould board, five feet ; the coulter is made of four by 

 one inch iron. Altogether it is a most suitable implement 

 for breaking purposes. Ten bullocks or six horses are used 

 for breaking up land. Four acres per week is fair work. 

 The disc coulter is an improvement for cutting through 

 grass land. In each of the ploughs mentioned, and indeed 

 in cultivating tools generally, modifications are made and 

 introduced for special kinds of work and different con- 

 ditions of soil. Thus friction wheels (see pp. 61 and 62) 

 are found to lessen the draught in free loamy soil. The 

 double mould -board is used for ridging up potatoes, opening 

 furrows for sugarcane, corn fodder, &c., and is a decided 

 labour-saving implement. Hudson Brothers, of Clyde ; 

 Ritchie, of Auburn, and others are notable makers of 

 ploughs, and at the warehouses of Lassetter & Co., James 

 Martin, Martin & Martin, Friend, Wm. Fleming, M'Lean 

 Bros. & Rigg, Gandon, and many others, implements of the 

 best kind can be got for all sorts of soils and the different 

 crops. 



Double-furrow, three, four, and six-furrow ploughs are 

 coining into favour, and deservedly so, in the grain-growing 

 districts. With a team of three horses for a double-furrow 

 plough, nine or ten acres weekly can be got through com- 

 fortably, and the work is nearly as well done as by the 

 single plough. There is less tramping of horses and a 

 decided saving of labour. 



Stump-jumping Ploughs are made for getting through 

 land where there are mallie and other roots, and grass is 

 not an active enemy amongst the cultivation. 



The steam plough is found suitable for both old land 

 and for breaking up, and promises to become a powerful 

 aid to semi-tropical farming where large areas are under 

 crop. 



