152 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE 



April, 1921. 



has puzzled eveu the best plowmen; perhaps you may 

 have had this experience. In a gang plow the friction 

 on the bottom of the landside is eliminated as far as 

 possible by carrying it on well-oiled bearings. There 

 should be from 3/16" to V2" at the point marked "D" 

 figure 4, and also in Figure 6 "D". The rear furrow 

 wheel is also set outside the lien of the landside as 

 shown at "C" in Figure 6. This holds the land- 

 side away from the furrow wall to some extent and a 

 small adjustment at this point will give more pressure 

 to the moldboa:-d aud the plow will often scour better. 

 Figure 7 shows two methods of adjusting the rear 

 furrow wheel. In some cases two set screws are used 

 for making this adjustment, while some plows have two 

 slotted holes, so that the wheel can be moved one way 

 or the other. See that there are spring washers at 

 every bolt, or else have a hot rivetted frame wherever 

 it is possible. A loose frame will cause no end of trou- 

 ble. 



Keep the Plow Frame as Level as Possible. 



Figure 5 shows a bail support ^ a small iron clip 

 found in different places in different makes of plows. 

 If it gets moved even an inc.ii ahead or back it will do 

 what? It will allow one plow to go too deep or prevent 

 one going in deep enough. Experts have travelled 40 

 miles from a railroad just to move this little piece of 

 metal one inch. These things are simple, if you know 

 they are the cause of the trouble, but they puzzle the 

 best, if their purpose is not understood. 



Every instructor in every course in Farm ^Machinery 

 in Canada should emphasize the important adjustments 

 that are found on a modern gang plow. The results 

 would be far reaching and much better plowing would 

 result. Let me quote a very typical case : 



"At the recent National Tractor Show at Columbus 

 we heard a story that emphasizes again the neceessity 

 of knowing every feature of a machine. 



A prominent concern manufacturing tractor plows 

 had received numerous complaints that its plows were 

 falling down in a certain section of Iowa, the principal 

 trouble being share breakage. This was hurting busi- 

 ness and at the same time one of the company's keenest 

 competitors was increasing its trade. So a plow expert 

 of thirty years' experience was sent to the "battle 

 ground" to scout around and ascertain the trouble. 



In a short time the expert returned, but he could 

 give no reason for the share breakage, which seemed 

 to be about the only trouble, except that the section 

 was stony and the stones broke the shares on his plows 

 but did not on the competitor's. 



One of the head men of the company happened to 

 listen to his report and forthwith took the expert over 

 to one of the plows. 



"Was that bolt in place?" asked the executive, 

 pointing to the device that locks the bottoms rigid in 

 the soil, "or were you floating the bottoms?" 



"Sure, the plows were set up all right," replied the 

 expert, "nothing was missing." 



"Don't you know, you blamed idiot," rejoined the 

 executive, "that you should remove that bolt in stony 

 ground so that the bottoms can float and have several 

 inches play? Did you suppose we designed this plow 

 to meet just such adverse conditions only to have it fall 

 down because our own salesmen and experts don't 

 know the ABC of its adjustment? You'll attend our 

 plow school for the next two weeks." 



Upon hearing this story we thought it would be in- 



teresting to find out whether the representatives of 

 plow companies at the show were following out the 

 educational spirit of the event, so we called at one of 

 the largest manufacturer's booths in company with a 

 fwwer farming distributor and looked for the locking- 

 down device. A salesman approached and asked if he 

 could show us anything. 



"Sure," we said, "where is the adjustment for float- 

 ing the bottoms when you're working on stony 

 ground ? ' ' 



He looked pained for an instant ; then a look of re- 

 lief spread over his face and he said: 



"Why the bottoms are always floating against this 

 ■ spring (pointing to the lifting spring), they never are 

 locked rigid." 



We thanked him for the '"information" and then 

 sought out a man with the company who we knew was 

 posted on plows, plowing and everything concerned 

 therewith. 



"How about it?" we said. "One of vour men savs 



A /^/fr^ iMPoa Tan r AvrusTMe/\rro^gAf^fl T'U)ns 



Figure 7. 



that your plows can't be locked down, but always float 

 against the lifting spring." 



His only reply was a snort, and leading us over to 

 the ]ilow, pointed out the adjustment. 



Figures 7 A and B show the two adjustments which 

 were confused. The adjustment, the set screw, to 

 make a plow "float" is not understood as well as it 

 ought to be. 



How often have the above and similar simple adjust- 

 ments caused unnecessary trouble, and expense from 

 breakages ? 



We will now pass on to the colters. 



Colters Not Properly Set. 



The importance of the proper set of this attachment 

 cannot be over-estimated. It must be set just right to 

 obtain the best results. 



1. Usually the bearing of a colter is set between a 

 point directly over the point of the share and another 

 point about three inches behind it. 



2. For plowing down trash or manure .so as to give 

 the plow plenty of "clearance" (see Fig. 4 "B"). 



3. For stony ground it is advisable to set it well 

 ahead and down so that in the event of a plow striking 

 a stone, the tendency will be to raise the plow out of 

 the ground and thus save the point of the share. 



4. For stul)l)le plowing the colter should be set about 

 one-half inch outside the line of the landside, and down 

 low enough to cut about one-third of the depth of the 

 furrow slice. 



