THE SOUTHEEN PLANTER. 



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culations ;ire at fault when applied to the draft 

 of a plow. It has been demonstrated tliat, of 

 several plows of similar appearance, working 

 in the same soil, and doing equally good work, 

 one will require double the power of the other. 



The most complete set of expenments ever 

 made to test the different constructions of plows 

 was made by the late Mr. Pusey, President of 

 the Royal Agricultural Society of Great Bri- 

 tain, a complete report of which is in the 8th 

 volume of the Cultivator in connection with 

 Mr. Clemons's report of the plowing match of 

 Worcester, Mass. In Mr. Pusey's experiments 

 it was ascertained that the rule generally laid 

 down as to the increase of draft in proportion 

 to the square of the depth of tlie furrow-slice 

 was erroneous. This is demonstrated by the 

 following experiments, in which he used the 

 Scotch plow. The disparity of the figures is to 

 the imperfection of the dynamometer: 



At 5 inches in depth the draft was 322 fbs. 



6 do. do. do. 308 



7 do. do. do. 350 



8 do. do. do. 420 



9 do. do. do. 434 



10 do. do. -do. 560 



11 do. do. do. 700 



12 do. do. do. 700 



In this case the draft at 12 inches should have 

 been, according to the rule referred to above, 

 1,848 lbs. instead of 700 ibs. as found by actual 

 experiment. 



The improvement of the plow, as stated be- 

 fore, must be preceded by an improvement in 

 the dynamometer. This instrument must be 

 so improved as to be self-registering, and must 

 record the actual amount of draft in all parts 

 of the furrow and foot up in a sum total the 

 power expanded in making a furrow of a given 

 length. With such an instrument it will be an 

 easy matter by a series of experiments to form 

 such a plow as will give the greatest depth of 

 furrow with the least draft. Without such an 

 instrument all modifications of the form of the 

 plow for this object are but little better than 

 guess work. 



The operation of plov/ing is generally con- 

 sidered so simple that any boy is equal to it who 

 is large enough to hold the handles of the plow. 

 No man who has observed the difference be- 

 tween good and bad plowing but will admit 

 that there is an art in guiding and n)anaging the 

 plover at which but few farmers arrive. To con- 

 stitute a good plowman a man must have some- 

 thing of a mechanical turn, and must under- 

 stand the different objects in view in plowing 

 the different kinds of soil for the succeeding- 

 crop. If there is any defect in the structure', 

 form, or arrangement of the plow he should be 

 capable of discovering it and correct or direct 

 its correction so that the work may be perform- 

 ed in the best possible manner. 



The plow should always run level so as to 

 cut a furrow-slice of equal thickness and such 



a width that tlie share should cut it clear all 

 but a small turning pivot strip to enable the 

 mould-board to effectually invert the t-lice. 

 This nice adjustment of the plow should be 

 made by the proper arrangement of the points 

 of resistance and those of force without allow- 

 ing one force to neutralize another unprofitably 

 in adjusting the draft for the purpose of making 

 the plow run steady. These are points which 

 require experience and close observation to 

 learn, and in the absence of exact criterion to 

 explain are seldom fully understood by plow- 

 men. 



In plowing sod land great care is requisite to 

 lay the furrows even and regular, so that there 

 shall be no faults, for, besides being unsightly 

 and unworkable, these faults will greatly inter- 

 fere with the management of the succeeding 

 crop, and every time a plow or cultivator 

 presses these breaks it cultivates the grass, and 

 spreads it so that if there are many in the field, 

 it becomes exceedingly foul from this cause. 



In breaking up inverted sod land, which 

 should be done the season after it is inverted, 

 the object to be kept in view is the thorough 

 mixing of the decomposed sod as well as any 

 vegetable or mineral matter that may be on the 

 surface, entirely and evenly through the entire 

 depth of soil, turned over by the plow. To do 

 this the furrows must be turned on edge, not 

 inverted. The angle at which the furrow should 

 turn will be governed by the amount of vege- 

 table matter on the surface ; if there is much of 

 this (unless coarse corn-stalks for instance) the 

 furrow slice must be inverted so far as to cover 

 it and no more; if the surface is clean, the slice 

 may stand rather more perpendicular. One 

 thing must be borne in mind, that the different 

 stratas of soil, when set on edge, or as near it as 

 the case admits of, will be thoroughly mixed 

 when stirred by the harrow, or by cross plow- 

 1 ing, and thus become well prepared to afford 

 j nourishment to the succeeding crop. To illus- 

 trate: Suppose slices of apple, potato, turnip, 

 ! and beet be laid one m the other, if you scrape 

 the upper surface you reach but one kind ; in- 

 vert them and their relative position remains 

 comparatively the same; you reach but one kind 

 by scraping the surface ; turn them on their edge 

 and you cannot scrape the then upper surface 

 without reaching all. This is the thing to bo 

 arrived at when plowing for the purpose of mix- 

 ing the soil, or plowing it in such a position that 

 it shall be well mixed when stirred. If the fur- 

 row slice were fully inverted at every plowing, 

 manure might remain in the soil for years, with- 

 out being of much benefit to the crop grown. 

 The plowmen should understand the necessity of 

 this thorough mixing and pulverizing of the 

 soil ; there is no operation of more importance 

 than this ; it is the object of plowing, except 

 where vegetable matter has to be turned under 

 to decompose preparatory to being mixed by the 

 succeeding plowing. Plowing for the purpose 

 of stirring the soil round the growing crop has 



