OPERATIONS OF TILLAGE. 



131 



" The first operation in the formation of ridges is stri- 

 king the furrows. 



" Let it be supposed that afield has been laid level by 

 previous ploughings, and that, the marks of former ridges 

 being obliterated, the lines of the new ones are to be laid 

 out. The usual breadth of ridges is from fifteen to eighteen 

 feet, and sometimes more. We may assume, in the follow- 

 ing descriptions, fifteen feet to be the width of the ridge. 



" Let a steady ploughman be furnished with three or 

 more poles of wood shod with iron, eight or nine feet in 

 length, and divided into feet and half feet. The first op- 

 eration is to mark off, at two sides of the field, what is 

 termed a head-land. This is merely a ridge formed par- 

 allel to the side of the field, on which the horses are to 

 turn, to afford sufficient space for which, these ridges may 

 be eighteen feet wide. The lines of them are marked 

 off before the other ridges, in order that the ploughman 

 may know when to turn his horses. After the rest of the 

 field is ploughed, the head-lands themselves are ploughed 

 and turned into ridges. 



" In the following diagram, fig. 21, representing a 

 field, let E F, G H, represent the lines of the head-lands, 

 drawn parallel to A B, and C D, the sides or boundaries 

 of the field, and at the distance from each of these sides 

 of eighteen feet. These lines the ploughman marks out, 

 by running a straight furrow with his plough parallel to 

 the two sides. 



Fig. 21. 



f s c 



g d a 



