160 Report on Trials of Plows. 



According to Mr. Morton's experiments the whole draught of 

 the plow is 476 pounds; the removal of the mould-board dimin- 

 ishes this only to 434 pounds; in other words, only ten per cent 

 of the whole draught is caused by the turning of the furrow 

 slice. The draught of the plow running along the open furrow 

 was 168 pounds, which, being subtracted from 434 pounds, the 

 di-aught without the mould-board, leaves 266 pounds as the 

 draught required for the cutting of the furrow slice. Should this 

 division of the draught hold generally true, we may infer that 

 the labor of plowing may be distributed as follows: Thirty-five 

 per cent for the weight of the implement; fifty-five per cent to 

 cutting of the furrow slice, and only ten per cent to the action. 



This conclusion, if correct, will change the former current of 

 opinion to a very great extent. Great labor has been expended 

 upon the mould-board, upon the hypothesis that the draught 

 depends to a very great extent upon its shape, but it will be 

 seen that the share, the coulter, and the weight of the plow are 

 far more promising points for its improvement than the mould- 

 board. 



The effect of the friction of the sole upon the draught has been 

 known to plowmakers for a long time, and many attempts have 

 been made to diminish it by the addition of a large wheel near 

 the heel, in such a position that the plow nearly balances over it, 

 and by the introduction of friction wheels on the land side. At 

 the trial at Albany in 1850, Mr. Burrall exhibited a plow with one 

 of these wheels. At first its draught was very light, though not 

 as much so as some of the plows which were not furnished with 

 this appliance, but after working some time the wheel became 

 clogged by the loose earth, and it then became decidedly heavier 

 than those which were formed in the usual manner. 



Another experiment which was tried by Mr. Pusey, with a view 

 of determining the ratio of the draught to the depth of the 

 plowing, may be usefully stated in this connection. 



The experiment was made on a free, brown loamy sand of a 

 good quality, without stone, gravel or clod, resting on a pure, 

 yellow sand on the coral sag formation. The results are given in 

 the following table: 



