400 Transactions of tee American Institute. 



honorable ally was one of political interest and sympatliy. ISTow 

 France and the United States are united by the warmth of intellec- 

 tual sympathy and the tie of a common interest in some of the most 

 important investicrations that affect the weal of mankind. 

 The motion of Dr. Smith, was unanimously carried. 



The Nutting Patent "Wheel Plow. 



The committee appointed by the club to witness the practical ope- 

 ration of this invention, submit the following report : The plow itself 

 lias nothing peculiar in its construction. The point of the invention 

 is an apparatus consisting of an axle connecting two wheels of 

 unequal diameter (because one must run in the furrow) and having 

 levers and poles arranged so as to raise, depress, and otherwise regu- 

 late a plow hung beneath. There 'is a seat for the driver ; the 

 machine we saw was intended for two horses ; but a smaller plow 

 could easily be drawn by a single horse. Suspending the plow in 

 this manner, we find to be a clear and very important advantage in 

 working land not containing stumps and fast rocks. By means of 

 the lever the plow can be raised, wliile in motion, to ride over obsta- 

 cles. We are of opinion, from what we saw at the trials, that more 

 than three acres of light soil can be turned in a day with greater ease 

 to the team than two acres in the usual way. A plow is essentially 

 a wedge, and the friqtion of the lower surface on the furrow bed is 

 measured bj the depth and weight of the furrow slice turned. Now 

 suspend the plow and this friction is taken off. The plow is no 

 longer a wedge between the furrow bed and the furrow, but a hook, 

 carried over the surface, and held so as to take up and turn the fur- 

 row slice. The precise difference is this ; the friction is taken from 

 one-half of the touching surface when the plow is in action, and 

 transferred to the axle, where the surface is polished and oiled. 

 Thus, the friction is reduced, we think, about one-third. With 

 regard to this particular device, a few improvements might be 

 introduced, which would lower its cost ; and here your committee 

 would suggest to agricultural inventors that when an improve- 

 ment so fundamental and important as this, a device by which 

 thirty acres can be plowed with the same power that is now 

 expended on twenty acres, is proposed, a regard for the public good, 

 as well as a wise self-interest, dictates a management by wliich such 

 implement can be made as cheaply as possible. For instance, the 

 patentee might sell the gearing that attaches the plow to the axle for 



