G 



BULLETIN" 814, U. S. DEPAKTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 



of the fourth horse increases the efficiency of the unit by about the 

 same percentage as in the spring plowing, and the addition of the 

 fifth horse to the 16-inch plow results in a similar increase. The 

 fact that nearly one-half of the farmers reported the use of more 

 than three horses indicates that in fall plowing, excepting under 

 favorable conditions, a sulky plow is somewhat of an overload for 

 three horses. 



GANG PLOW. 



Over 450 men reported using horse-drawn gang plows on their 

 farms. About 80 per cent of these plows have 14-inch bottams. Most 

 of the remaining plows have 12-inch bottoms. Some plows with 

 13-inch bottoms were reported, but the number was so small that 

 no figures on their performance are given. Over three-fourths of 

 the men who use gang plows also reported the use of sulky plows. 



SPRING PLOWING. 



An average day's work for four and five horses pulling 12-inch 

 gang plows cutting a total width of 24 inches, and four, five, and 

 six horses, drawing 14-inch plows cutting a total width of 28 inches, 

 is given in Table IV. About an equal number use 4 and 5 horse 

 teams on this implement. (See fig. 1.) The most common per- 

 formance reported for both the 4 and 5 horse teams is 5 acres 

 per day, although on an average the 5-horse teams drawing 28-inch 

 plows cover about one-quarter of an acre more per day than do the 

 4-horse teams and plow to a slightly gi^eater depth. 



Table IV. — Spring plowing with gang plow. 



Width of 

 plow. 



Number 

 of horses. 



Number 

 of reports. 



Acres per day. 



Average. 



Acreage most oftea 

 reported. 



Inches. 

 24 

 24 

 28 

 28 

 28 



4 

 5 

 4 

 5 



6 



24 

 15 

 148 

 154 



68 



5.02 

 4.72 

 4.92 

 5.15 



5.40 



5 (J5 reports). 



5 (8 reports). 



5 (87 reports). 



5 (91 reports). 

 1 5 {30 reports). 

 \ 6 (26 reports). 



The apparent inconsistency in the acres covered per day by the 4 

 and 5 horse teams with the 24-inch plows is probably due to the small 

 number of reports entering into the average. Practically half of the 

 men reporting on the 24-inch plows gave 5 acres as an average day's 

 work, regardless of whether they used four or five horses. 



FALL PLOWING. 



Table V shows an average day's work in the fall for 5-horse teams 

 with 24-inch plows, and 4, 5, and 6 horse teams with 28-inch plows. 

 As compared with spring plowing, there is a marked increase in the 



