Ko.244.] 327 



'Considerable diversity in their artangement, and the form of these 

 may be endlessly varied, without sacrificing fitness or utility; this 

 circumstance affords to invention additional means on which to ex- 

 ercise itself. It has been so exercised in the structure of ploughs, 

 and the variety of them, since agriculture has awakened much at- 

 tention, which ingenious and enterprising mechanics have exhibited 

 to the public, and put to proof in operations of the farm, has been so 

 :great as to bewilder the judgment, and to leave us almost in sus- 

 pense as to their comparative merits. Most of these have been 

 praised by their respective patrons and admirers, and for a time had 

 their run, many have had a transient popularity, and a few only 

 have escaped the common wreck and outlived their inventors. 

 These last, it is only our purpose to notice, and in doing this en- 

 deavor to point out some of the reasons of their success, and which 

 bid fair to secure to them perpetuity and their authors lasting fame. 



Keeping in mind the old Roman idea of it, which is undoubtedly 

 the correct one, that it is a moveable wedge, and that all the other 

 parts attached to it are no other than necessary appendages to direct, 

 ■regulate and drag it forward. The shape of this tvedge, its size in 

 length and breadth, the materials of which it is formed, the disposi- 

 tion of all its dependent parts, are circumstances, which will admit 

 of considerable modification, but any change in these must be re- 

 ferred to this primary conception as the criterion of their merit. 



The handles are of no other use, than to guide its motion, — the 

 iron sock or share to give it a hard, sharp, penetrating point, the 

 mould-board to throw off and turn over the furrow slice, — the coulter 

 to cut the land and save the waste of animal exertion, — and the 

 beam with its notched and moveable muzzle to regulate and govern 

 the line of draught. The end to be accomplished is its easy passage 

 through the earth, at the regular depth, with the least possible fric- 

 tion and resistance. All the parts must be adjusted and shaped to 

 effect this great end. 



Its head or which may be called the body of the wedge; should be 

 straight, both on the side towards the land and the sole, that it may 

 move forward without any material obstruction, and the length and 

 breadth of both these, should be diminished as much as is consistent 

 with steadiness of movement. Every inch of the side and the sole 

 rub strongly on the ground, increases greatly the friction and resis- 

 tance, and of course is a wasteful expense of the strength of the 

 team. The mould-board which inverts the furrow slice may either 



