Practical Questions in Plows and Plowing. 



159 



by the land side? What by the share? What by the coulter? 

 What by the mould-board?" 



The first question is answered by Mr. Pusey's experiments, as 

 follows: 



PLOWS. 



Surface 

 draught. 



Weight 

 of plow, 



Fergusson's Swing 

 Clark's Swing . . . 



Hart's Wheel 



FF Wheel 



F F Swing 



King's Swing. . • . 

 King's Wheel .... 

 Old Berks' Wheel 

 Rutland Wheel. . . 



Average 



117 



164 



The average draft of these plows working in strong loam, and 

 with a furrow of five inches by nine inches, was, as we have seen, 

 440 pounds. Hence the ratio of the power consumed by the 

 friction of the sole to the whole power is as 1: 3.76. 



We have met with no experiments having for their object the 

 determination of the friction of the land side separately from the 

 other portions of the plow. 



The only experiments known to ns on the influence of the share 

 on draught are those of Mr. Morton, which, although they do 

 not give a complete answer to our question, are sufficient to show 

 that this part of the plow exercises a very important influence 

 upon the action of it. The draught of Ferguson's Swing plow, 

 with a share ten inches wide, was 630 pounds, while the same 

 plow, with a share six inches wide, drew only 560 pounds. In 

 the former case the w^hole of the lower portion of the furrow was 

 cut ofi"; in the latter case four inches on the right side of the 

 furrow were uncut, and were torn ofi" by the wedge of the share 

 and mould-board. The experiment shows that the cutting of 

 these four inches and the increased friction of the wider share 

 increased the power required to the extent of twelve per cent. 



The experiments of Mr. Stephens seemed to show that it 

 required exactly the same power to draw a coulter through the 

 ground as it did to draw the plow w^ithout a coulter; but this 

 experiment needs verification. 



