PLOUGH AND PLOUGHLNG. 



paralive draught is in some measure 

 ascertained. We are not, however, 

 to regard these as absolute (juanti- 

 ties ; they are true only for the time. 

 The adliesiveness of the soil, its state 

 of moisture, the depth of the furrow, 

 its width, and the pace of the horses, 

 are all sources of disturbance. Thus 

 we find, by comparing the different 

 results with the same implement, 

 that the Bergen plough, at Sing Sing, 

 drew 472 pounds, and the next year, 

 at Patterson, 350 pounds. The same 

 difference is seen in other cases ; how 

 little these experiments can be taken 

 as a guide, appears from the fact that 

 ploughs, which at one season were 

 lowest on the list, take the prize the 

 next year. From these experiments 

 we gather, however, two important 

 facts, viz., that a two-horse plough 



ought not to weigh more than 170 

 pounds, nor require, in a medium 

 soil, more than 450 pounds draught, 

 these numbers being the average re- 

 sults of the better kind of implements. 

 The length and shari)ness of a plough 

 have much to do with its draught ; but 

 it is properly urged by practical men, 

 that such ploughs become difficult to 

 manage in rough lands or new fields, 

 the leverage of the body being too 

 great. It is in this respect that Amer- 

 ican ploughs differ so strikingly from 

 Scotch and English implements : they 

 have a mellow, clean soil to till, we 

 a rough, stumpy soil. The accom- 

 panying figure gives a good general 

 outline of our best class of ploughs. 

 It is not, however, a good represen- 

 tatio-n of Ruggles, Nourse, aud Ma- 

 son's implements. 



It would be very invidious to state 

 that any particular machine was the 

 best ; nor is it true, for, as is justly 

 remarked by Mr. Rham, the figure of 

 the plough must differ with the soil, 

 and that is a bad one in any soil 

 which either drags too heavily on the 

 horses, or does not fully tax their pow- 

 er. In a list I procured from \A'ash- 

 ington of ploughs, I find 164 patented 

 since 1831. Of these, there are mark- 

 ed by Mr. Ellsworth as being good, 

 in his knowledge and experience. 

 Beat's, Moore's, Prouty and Mear's. 

 Woodcock's, John Mear's ; and of my 

 knowledge I can recommend Barna- 

 by and Mooer's, Delano's, Bergen's, 

 Ruggles and Go's, centre draught, 

 the Wisconsin, Codding"s American, 

 Howard's, Eastman's, of Baltimore, 

 the Caledonia, Livingston County, 

 the iron beam, Burrell's Geneva and 

 shell-wheel ploughs, the Montgome- 

 ry County plough, and the Scotch 



wrought-iron plough. The editor of 

 Johnson's Encyclopedia also men- 

 lions Beech's, Miles's, Peacock's, and 

 Wiley's ploughs, besides which there 

 are numerous excellent implements 

 in the West and elsewhere. 



Wiard, of Avon, Thorp, and other 

 instrument makers, have placed three 

 or four small ploughs on a frame, so 

 as to run as many furrows ; in light 

 sand soils, and for an after ploughing, 

 these may answer ; but if we have 

 to hitch on additional horses, there 

 is little gain. The shares of Lang- 

 don's cultivators are in some meas- 

 ure of the figure of mould-boards. 



The table on the following page 

 will be found useful in .showing the dis- 

 tance travelled by a horse in plough- 

 ing or scarifying an acre of land ; as 

 well as the quantity of land work- 

 ed in a da^, at the rate of sixteen 

 and eighteen miles per day of nine 

 hours. 



604 



