143 OPERATIONS OF TILLAGE. 



and of the latter, because punishment, when often repeat- 

 ed, at length ceases to have due effect, and thus leads to 

 unnecessary beating. 



There is, in fact, a certain degree of taste in plough 

 ing, as well as in every thing else, — a kind of tact, which 

 is difficult to be taught, and hardly to be acquired except 

 by a sort of instinct. The ploughman who tills the 

 ground with dexterity, never presses upon the plough 

 without necessity. A mere touch, or a glance of the eye, 

 tells him when she is going wrong, and a slight turn of 

 the hand sets her instantly right ; whereas a clumsy fel- 

 low, without feeling in his palms, or readiness or percep- 

 tion, is continually either throwing the plough out, or she 

 is riding upon the heel or point, straining the team, tiring 

 himself, and altogether making bad work. 



There are various modes of regulating the pitch of the 

 plough. Thus, it may be made to go deeper by lower- 

 ing the back-bands, or increasing the distance of the 

 team ; by setting the muzzle higher up in the index of the 

 beam, and by slanting and giving the coulter a greater 

 rake forward ; and the reverse will make it go shallower. 

 It can also be constructed with a regulating lever, which 

 may be attached to any of the foot and wheel ploughs 

 now in use, and can be used occasionally, or otherwise, 

 as circumstances may require. The side motion may 

 be thus altered so as to make the plough take a broader 

 slice, or, as it is commonly called, " to give her more or 

 less land :" by putting the hook of the traces into the 

 notches of the muzzle more towards the unploughed 

 ground, you take land from the plough ; but by shifting 

 it to the furrow side, you give it land. It ought, there- 

 fore, to be made about eight inches in length, and may 



Fig. 30. Fig. 31. 



