202 



Report on Trials of Plows. 



J^lg 



rows is simply commencing at the middle 

 and turning the furroAV slices all inward. 

 If the plowing be done with a right hand 

 plow the teams will "gee around," always 

 turning on the unplowed ground. When 

 a field is plowed in this manner there are 

 no ridges or dead furrows, and the surface 

 is even, so that the operation of any 

 machine is never hindered. When sod 

 ground is plowed in lands there is always a strijD of ground 

 beneath the first two furrow slices at every 

 ridge that is not broken up. This is to a great 

 extent avoided when the whole field is plowed 

 as one land, and may be entirely avoided if 

 back-furrowed. The accompanying diagrams 

 "will show how to plow a square field, or one 

 of irregular boundary, commencing in the mid- 

 dle and finishing at the outsides. Fig. 1 I^lg. S. 

 shows a rectangular field. The plowman finds a point equally 

 distant from three sides, measuring of course at right angles to 

 the sides, and sets a stake. Then he finds the point equally dis- 

 tant from the three sides at the other 

 end, and sets another stake. From 

 these two stakes to the corners of the 

 field he turns two furrow slices together, 

 and then plows the field, being guided 

 by them, and occasionally measuring to 

 the outside to see if he is keeping his 

 "^' furrows of equal width at setting in and 

 running out, and on each side. In Fig. 2, a four sided lot, 

 where the angles are not right angles, precisely the same rule is 

 followed. In the case of the triangular field, the plowman begins 

 l)y plowing about a single point, which, though awkward at 

 first, may be executed with ease after a few trials. In the CMse 

 of the irregular five sided lot, represented by Fig. 4, it is a little 

 more difficult to start exactly right, but the ruling gives a clear 

 idea of how the furrows run, and it is always well to pace off 

 frequently to the outside of the lot — or rather from the fence 

 startino; at rigrht angles to it — to be sure that the portion remain- 

 ing unplowed on each side, and at each end of each side, remains 

 always of a corresponding width as the plowing progresses. 



