PLOUGH AND PLOUGHING. 



•;AJ ! 





Lambert's Mole Plough. 



teen inches under the surface, but is 

 the most easy and expeditious means 

 of temporarily draining land. It can 

 only be done when the soil is moist 

 and gives way without cracking, but 

 at that time the feet of the horses 

 greatly damage the surface. In con- 

 sequence of this, a windlass with a 

 long chain has been invented. The 

 drum, which is vertical, and round 

 which the chain is coiled, is turned 

 by a horse, who walks round and 

 round, while the whole apparatus is 

 kept in its place by means of an an- 

 chor fixed in the ground. It draws 

 th« mole plough the length of the 

 chain, and is then moved forward on 

 small wheels while the chain uncoils. 

 As soon as the chain is all off the 

 drum, the anchor is refixed, and the 

 operation continues. This mode of 

 draining land has now been almost 

 entirely superseded by a more regu- 

 lar and permanent system of drain- 

 ing with stones or tiles. The chan- 

 nels made by the mole plough are 

 very apt to fill up in dry weather ; 

 and the mole takes advantage of a 



ready-made passage to work in it, 

 stopping it purposely to retain water 

 and to form its nest. When this is 

 the case, the water rises to the sur- 

 face and does much harm. Nothing 

 but a fresh application of the mole 

 plough parallel to the old channels 

 can remedy this evil. 



" Various ploughs have been con- 

 structed with the intention of dimin- 

 ishing the draught, or improving the 

 form of tiie turn-furrow ; but most of 

 them without much regard to scien- 

 tific principles, merely from a vague 

 notion founded on some real or sup- 

 posed defect in the ploughs in com- 

 mon use, or in order tu adapt them 

 to particular soils and situations." 



Of late, some have favoured the 

 idea that the introduction of a wheel 

 in the heel of the plough would di- 

 minish the draught by converting a 

 sliding into a rolling friction. The 

 figure, from Mr. \\ilkie"s implement, 

 will explain tlio mechanism (/-'(o-. 25). 

 In a public trial it was found to di- 

 minish the draught thirty per cent. 



Burrell, of Geneva, New-York, and 



other plough-wrights in the United 

 States, have patented friction-wheel 

 ploughs ; and in the case of Burrell's 

 shell -wheel plough, the draught by 

 the dynamometer, at the New- York 

 Agricultural Society's Fair, 1843, was 



298 pounds, his own Geneva plough 

 drawing 100 pounds more. 



Draught. — It is the custom at the 

 fairs of several agricultural associa- 

 tions, to have a trial of ploughs with 

 the dynamometer, whereby their com- 



603 



