138 POWER AND THE PLOW 



wrought iron, are to be found in Ontario and Quebec, still 

 known as of the old Scotch model. 



Small's crowning achievement was the East Lothian plow. 

 It had a curved beam, which was continued to form the left 

 handle. From the points of the share of a perpendicular line, 

 dropped from the fore end of the beam, the plow measured 

 about twenty-four inches, only slightly more than the twenty- 

 inch projection customary in modern walking plows. The 

 handles, however, extended about five and a half feet back- 

 ward from the rear point at which the moldboard touched the 

 ground, as compared with about three feet from the heel of 

 the share at present. In many of the later models handles 

 seven to eight feet long were added. A keen blade coulter 

 extended from the beam at an angle of about fifty-five degrees 

 to landward to just opposite the point of the share or sock. 

 The moldboard, instead of being fitted to the upper edge of 

 the share, as is common in modern American plows, was set 

 into the rear of the share, forming a continuation of the neck, 

 or gorge of the latter. Its front edge, or breast, stood vertically, 

 continuing the landside. Its heel was nine inches distant on the 

 ground from the plane of the landside, while its upper edge 

 overhung the heel a distance of ten inches on the furrow side. 

 The plow bottom, or sole, was thirty-six inches long. The 

 extreme breadth of the share was from six to six and one half 

 inches, but the moldboard, which was set only a half inch above 

 the base line, served to tear loose several inches of uncut earth 

 and turn a furrow ten to twelve inches wide. The bridle, 

 by means of which the plow was made to run deeper or shal- 

 lower and to or from the land, was a distinct step in advance 

 and has not been changed materially up to the present time. 



One reason for the long-continued popularity of Small's 

 plow lies in the ideal of plowing which prevails in Great Bri- 

 tain. A high-shouldered, sharp-cornered furrow is desired, 

 one furrow slice lapping its neighbor, perfectly straight and 

 unbroken from one headland to the other. The angle of the 



