652 



General Notices. 



adhering to the plough, the draught is thereby much 

 diminished ; the whole surface of this plough not 

 being more than one third or one fourth the sur- 

 face of other ploughs will account for the ease of 

 draught." Notwithstanding the Kentish farmer's 

 well known aversion from reading and from inno- 

 vation of any kind, we confess we are a little surprised 

 that this skeleton plough has not been fairly tried. 

 It may not on every soil succeed without wheels ; 

 but these could easily be joined to the construction. 

 It is worthy of notice, that another individual, we 

 suppose a machinist, Stothard, has taken out a patent 

 for a plough with a perforated mould-board, the ob- 

 ject of which he states to be exactly the same as that 

 of Mr. Finlayson's. We hope some of our readers 

 will give Finlayson's skeleton plough a trial ; and we 

 hope that gardeners, by reflecting on what we have 

 stated respecting this plough, will see the great 

 saving of labour in digging or hoeing stiff clays, be- 

 tween wet and dry, with two-pronged spade-forks 

 and hoes. {fig. 134.) The navigator's spade, with a 

 semi-cylindrical blade (^g. 135. a); with a rounded 

 blade {b) ; with a scolloped blade (c) ; with a tapering 

 blade [d) ; with a triangular blade {e) ; with a pierced 

 blade (/), and with a shield blade (g), 'are all for the purpose of piercing 

 the earth with greater ease, and, of course, diminishing friction. 



For diminishing friction in loamy soils, and in all such as can be worked 

 with ease, the most perfect plough hitherto produced is that of Wilkie of 

 Uddingston, near Glasgow. {figA56.) Wheels are generally placed under the 

 136 ^^g?~j beams of ploughs, 



with a view to ren- 

 der them easier to 

 hold ; but a wheel 

 fixed like that of 

 Mr. Wilkie [a) is 

 for the purpose 

 of diminishing the 



friotion of the land side and the sole. This wheel is placed so as to incline 

 from the perpendicular at an angle of about 30°, and following in the angle 

 of the furrow cut by the coulter and share, it insvu'es a greater degree of 

 steadiness in the motion of the plough, than when rolling only on the bottom 



