22 



Report on Trials of Plows. 



of the true surface of the moulcl-boarcl, and to lay down intelli- 

 gible and practical rules for its formation, for the first time. 



He saw very clearly, and we believe he was the first to discern 

 it with distinctness, that the plow should consist of two wedges, 

 one acting vertically and the other laterally, which should be so 

 blended in a curve surface that the furrow should rise and turn 

 over smoothly and continuously. 



It is impossible to over-estimate the value of this contribution 

 to agricultural science. All the old writers complain that Avhen 

 the makers of good plows died, their art died with them. Their 

 plans being purely empirical, they could not communicate the true 

 mode of making them to others, and hence the art was lost as fast as 

 it was found. Indeed, the same maker was often unable to realize 

 his own ideals in practice, making at one time a plow that gave 

 perfect satisfaction, and the next time one that was very inferior. 

 Thus, Arthur Young tells us in his agricultural report of Suffolk, 

 that "a very ingenious blacksmith of the name of Brand" made 

 a plow of iron, of which he says " there is no other in the king- 

 dom equal to it;" and yet when he died no one else could make 

 them. A drawing of this plow is given in Fig. 17. 



JP'iff. f7. 



It was usual for the farmer to purchase the wooden part of his 

 plow of a mechanic called the plow-wright, which he afterwards 

 had ironed l)y a ))lacksmith. Neither of these men paid any 

 regard to the views of the other; the plow-wright made his part 

 according to the counsel of his own will, while the blacksmith 

 adhered to his own notions without the slightest reference to the 

 plans of the plow-wiiulit. The result was an implement, as a 



