PLOUGH AND PLOUGHING. 



en tlie productive portion, and give 

 more room for the roots to spread in. 

 The simplest method of increasing 

 the surface exposed, when the land 

 is first broken up from pasture, or af- 

 ter having been some years in grass, 

 and is in a foul state, is called ribbing. 

 The plough turns up a slice, which it 

 lays over flat on the adjoining sur- 

 face. It does not cover this with the 

 next slice, as if it were beginning the 

 crown of a stitch, but it takes anotli- 

 er slice at some distance, and then 

 one parallel to the tirst, likewise laid 

 flat on the solid part. When the 

 whole field has been so ploughed, the 

 surface consists altogether of ridges 

 and furrows, but only half the sur- 

 face has been ploughed. No grass 

 appears ; if it has been well done, the 

 unploiighed strips being covered by 

 the slices raised by the sides of them, 

 the two surfaces with grass on them 

 cover each other. It is left in this 

 state till the grass is rotten, and when 

 the sod is broken to pieces by heavy- 

 drag harrows, the land can be cross- 

 ploughed and cleaned or fallowed in 

 dry weather. 



" There is another mode of ridging, 

 wlien the land has had one or two 

 ploughings, in order to expose it to 

 the frost in winter, and to mellow it. 

 The operation is somewhat similar 

 to ribbing, but after the first slice is 

 turned over, another is added, as 

 deep as the plough can be made to go 

 so as not to bring up the subsoil ; by 

 this means the whole surface is laid 

 in high ridges and deep furrows ; and 



F.>. 21. 



when this ploughing is reversed in 

 spring, the soil which has been ex- 

 posed to the frost and wind is mixed 

 with the rest, and tends greatly to 

 mellow it. This is an excellent prep- 

 aration for potatoes and roots, if the 

 land has been well cleaned. The 

 manure, being distributed in the deep 

 furrows, is covered by the plough 

 right and left, or at one operation by 

 a plough with a turn-furrow on each 

 side, which divides the ridge and lays 

 half of it in each contiguous furrow. 



E £ E 



The plough is a double mould-board 

 plough, which is extremely useful ia 

 many operations of husbandry. 



" In order to save hands and ex- 

 pedite the tillage of the land, ploughs 

 have been contrived which make two 

 or more furrows at once. When they 

 are well constructed, they are very 

 useful on light soils. If it is not re- 

 quired to go deep, and two horses 

 can draw a double plough, there is a 

 decided saving of power ; but if it re- 

 quires four horses, nothing is gained. 

 The double ploughs are therefore 

 not much in use. But there are in- 

 j struments which cultivate the earth, 

 stirring and pulverizing it much more 

 speedily than the plough. Some of 

 these will stir the ground to tiie depth 

 of seven or eight inches, going over 

 a width of five or six feet at once. 

 Such an instrument is preferable to 

 the plough, after the ground has al- 

 ready had a certain degree of stirring, 

 and is become mellow and crumbling ; 

 but to break up pasture or clover ley 

 there is notiiing so etficacious as the 

 plough, which cuts regular slices, and 

 lays them over so that all the grass 

 shall rot, and the roots, being exposed 

 to the air, shall decay, and thus fur- 

 nish food for other crops. 



" The instruments which have 

 been invented to save the time and 

 labour required by repeated plough- 

 ings are very numerous. Some of 

 the most useful have been noticed 

 before (see Arable Land.) New ones 

 are daily invented, and some are sup- 

 ported by wheels, which render them 

 both lighter and more convenient. 

 They are easily raised out of the 

 ground, when not intended to work, 

 and the depth to which they are let 

 down is more easily regulated. 



" Deep ploughing is generally ac- 

 knowledged to accord with the best 

 husbandry, where the subsoil is dry 

 naturally, or has been artificially 

 drained ; but some inconvenience 

 may arise from bringing a barren 

 subsoil to the surface, in trench- 

 ploughing, by two ploughs following 

 each other in the same furrow. It 

 has therefore been suggested to take 

 off the turn-furrow from the plough 



601 



