No. 129.) 265 



The working of the plough plane many will doubt. We did 

 so; but we saw and were convinced of its powers and efficiency. 

 All who have witnessed the operation of it are unanimous in their 

 approbation of the plan and their conviction of its full and com- 

 plete success. 



Ten men and four horses constitute the staff. Without distres- 

 sing either men or horses, Mr. Cotgreave commences draining two 

 statute acres — 4,840 square yards, or 43,560 square feet, each — in 

 the morning, and finally completes, that is, cuts the drains (in- 

 cluding the main drain,) lays the pipe, fills in and makes good 

 the surface of one statute acre, and half prepares the second to 

 be ready for work the next day. These plough planes have regu- 

 lators, which are screws, and by which the plane can be made to 

 shave two, four, five, or six inches thick. When a stone or other 

 obstruction is in the way, the coulter of the plough plane protects 

 the share, and a hooked instrument with a lever is used to ex- 

 tract it before the plough comes back again. One of its great 

 recommendations is, that it is adapted to every variety and con- 

 dition of soil — can be worked almost independently of the weather 

 unless the ground be too deeply frozen. In fact, those who have 

 witnessed the plough at work are at a loss which most to admire, 

 the absence of complexity in the contrivance or the rapidity and 

 perfect success of the operation. The land owner ought always 

 to have the pipes of the maius and the tributaries on tlie field 

 ready to be laid down. Cotgreave begins the work with the spade 

 and completes the mains before he begins the tributaries ; these 

 he commences by casting out by the plough a sod six inches wide, 

 on the left side of the intended drain over the two acres. This 

 is an immediate service in wet land for that immediately begins 

 to drain off. He then returns to the first acre and runs his plough 

 plane, casts out the soil and subsoil on the right hand of the 

 drains. In four drafts he cuts down .to eighteen inches deep by 

 six inches wide. The first shave being six inches, the last three, 

 four inches each. He then takes another plough which cuts six 

 inches deep by two wide ; he then lays the pipes by threading 

 them on a half inch iron bar, one end of which trails in the drain. 

 The rapidity and perfectness with which the pipes are then laid 

 is surprising. A man follows with a sort of paddle with which 



