OPERATIONS OF TILLAGE. 129 



motion is easy, and is performed by the ploughman, until 

 he feels that the plough continues to swim fair^ to use his 

 own technical language, that is, until he feels, which he 

 does at once, that it continues to move horizontally for- 

 ward, without any tendency to turn to the right or left, 

 or to rise from the earth or to sink into it. A well-con- 

 structed plough of this kind, therefore, needs no wheels 

 or other devices to steady its motion ; the effect being 

 produced by merely altering the line of draught. 



" In ploughing, it has been seen, a slice of earth is to 

 be cut from the left-hand side, and to be turned over to 

 the right-hand side. In this operation, the left-hand or 

 near-side horse walks on the ground not yet ploughed, the 

 right-hand or off-side horse walks in the furrow last made, 

 and the workman follows holding the handles of the plough. 

 By means of these handles he guides the plough, and he 

 directs the animals of draught by the voice and the reins. 

 When he is to turn the plough at the end of the ridge, or 

 when it encounters an obstacle, as a large stone, he presses 

 down the handles, so that the heel of the plough becomes 

 a fulcrum, and the share is raised out of the ground. 



' ' In ploughing, the instrument ought to be held vertically. t^. 

 If it is inclined to the left-hand side, the same work is 

 performed in appearance, though not in reality, a portion 

 of the ground below not being tilled at all, but left thus : 



Fig. 20. 



'' The plough is of the most perfect form, when its 

 various parts are so adjusted that they shall not oppose 

 each other's motion ; but it is very difficult to form a 

 plough that is perfect in its form and the combination of its 

 parts. Even in those of the best construction, there is 

 frequently found to be a tendency to rise out of the ground, 

 or to turn to one side, generally the right-hand or open 

 side. The tendency to rise out of the ground can be 

 corrected by giving an inclination downwards to the point 

 of the share, and the tendency to turn to the open or right- 

 hand side can be corrected by turning the point of the 



