ECONOMY OF FARMING. 49 



turnings ; and a team walking at different rates of 1^ to 2 miles per hour will plough 

 to the depth of 5 inches the following quantity in 9 hours : 



acre. rood. poles. 



Rreadth of furrow 8 inches at 1-J- mile per hour 1 — — 



u u 9 « a an I 20 



« " 8 " 2 « 11 10 



« « 9 « u « 12 



The distance at a slow pace is only 12, while at a quicker rate it is 16 miles. 



In relation to ploughs, Burger in Vol. I. p. 216, quotes from Arthur Young's An- 

 nals of Agriculture, a series of experiments to determine the necessary power which 

 needs to be employed with different ploughs. The experiments were made under 

 direction of a Committee of Agriculture of the London Society of the Arts. 



" 1. With the Rotherham plough which weighed 96.6 lbs. with a share of 

 7.71 inches, on a clover-field in a heavy clay soil at the depth of 5.78 inches and 

 9.63 inches breadth, good work, the power requisite was 498,3 lbs. 



"2. With the same plough at the depth of 3.85 inches, with equal breadth, 

 good work, 385 lbs. 



" 3. With the same, with a share of only 4.81 inches, at 9.63 inches breadth and 

 5.78 inches depth, very bad work, because the share was so small, 498.3 lbs. 



" The experiments 1 and 3 differ only in the breadth of the share, and prove the 

 advantage of the larger breadth. 



" 4. Brand's iron plough, full weight 129^ lbs. The furrows were 5.78 inches 

 deep and 9.63 inches breadth, good work, 546 lbs. 



"5. Arbuthnot's red plough, weighing 118 lbs. needed in similar circumstances 

 475 lbs. 



" 6. The same plough loaded with 10.8 lbs. in order to render it like No. 4, in the 

 same circumstances, 430 lbs. 



" A proof that the share of the plough does not always hinder its advance. But 

 how the same plough loaded with 10.8 lbs., with like depth should require less 

 power, I cannot conceive, and suppose that here must have been an error of the ob- 

 servation. 



7. The usual Surreyer plough weighing 125 lbs. The share is forwards 6.26 

 inches, behind 12 inches broad. The breadth and depth of the furrows as No. 1, 3, 4, 

 5, 6. The furrows were not cut up on the ground; power, 611 lbs. 



8. The same loaded with 4^ lbs. in like circumstances 566 lbs. 



9. Arbuthnot's blue plough weighing 108.7 lbs. Necessary power in like circum- 

 stances, 430 lbs. 



10. The same plough loaded with 25.3 lbs., in like circumstances, needs 475 lbs. 



11. Ducket's cutting plough weighing, with appurtenance, 240.9 lbs. ; the furrows 

 were 7.71 inches broad, and 5.71 inches deep: power, 588 lbs. 



12. Arbuthnot's blue plough (No. 9), loaded with 132.2 lbs. to make it equal to 

 Ducket's, in 9.63 inches breadth, and 5.78 inches depth of furrows, needed 453 lbs. 



From these experiments it is clear how much cultivation depends on the plough, 

 that one in like circumstances demands more power than another. With Arbuth- 

 not's plough No. 9, not loaded, with a breadth of furrow, of 9.63 inches, only 430 lbs. 

 power were required; the same loaded with 132.2 lbs. required 453 lbs. for 

 equal breadth and depth, whilst Ducket's plough, with a less breadth of furrow of 0.92 

 inches, required 588 lbs., therefore, about 158 lbs. more than the first. If we reckon 

 200 lbs. to a horse, this is a waste of power of 158 lbs. = to 0.79 of a horse. That 

 the same, if loaded, demanded more power, is shown by this experiment. 



I take this opportunity to mention tRe experiments of Dombasle, concerning the 

 influence of the weight of the plough on the necessary power required for its progress, 

 which he found wholly insignificant, since the Dynamometer showed no difference 

 when the same plough weighing 107-114 lbs. was gradually loaded with 89 to 133 

 lbs. if the weight was always laid on the point of weight of the plough. 



The greatest part of the resistance which the plough opposes to the animals is 

 occasioned by the pressing in of the share and the coulter into the earth, that is, the 

 cutting off the furrow-slice of earth ; since the resistance would only be slightly di- 

 minished, were the mould-board in the same plough wholly thrown away. The re- 

 mainder of the power is used if the plough is joined to the mould-board, to heave up 

 the loosened clods of earth, to shove them aside and to turn them, and here will take 

 place a friction between the clods of earth and the different parts of the mould-board, 

 which takes off part of the moving power. But since this motion advances from 



7 



