May, 1909.] 



469 



Miscellaneous. 



THE DISC AND MOLDBOARD 

 PLOUGHS COMPARED. 



By H. M. Bainbr, 

 Colorado Agricultural College, Fort 

 Collins - 



Shall I buy a disc or rnoldboard 

 plough? is a question frequently asked 

 by the farmer. The conditions under 

 which the plough is expected to operate 

 must help answer it. 



All farmers are acquainted with the 

 rnoldboard plough and know how to 

 operate it to the best advantage. The 

 disc plough, on the other hand, is a 

 newer invention, and has not been used 

 so extensively. It is harder to operate 

 successfully, and for that reason has 

 not given the general satisfaction which 

 should be obtained. The use for the 

 disc plough, however, is gradually grow- 

 ing, and in a few years it will have 

 almost as large a place, especially in 

 the western estates, as the rnoldboard 

 plough. 



Under similar conditions, the disc 

 plough is of lighter draft, but this 

 difference is not so much as is often 

 claimed by the manufacturers. Rolling 

 friction makes it pull somewhat easier 

 than silding friction. Because of the 

 rolling motion of the disc and its cut- 

 ting effect, it is not so likely to clog as 

 the rnoldboard plough. What the disc 

 cannot cut it will roll over. 



The disc is capable of ploughiug ground 

 that has become too dry and hard for 

 the rnoldboard plough. This is often- 

 times of much value, as it is not neces- 

 sary to wait for rain, and the seed 

 can be planted at the proper time. 



For humid sections and irrigated lands, 

 the rnoldboard plough must be consi- 

 dered superior. Under favourable 

 conditions for ploughing, where the 

 soil is not too dry, the rnoldboard plough 

 pulverizes and turns the soil more satis- 

 factorily. It also handles sod to better 

 advanage, 



To do the same amount of work, the 

 disc plough will require very little 

 sharpening compared to the rnoldboard 

 plough. This makes the running ex- 

 penses of the disc very much less than 

 that of a rnoldboard. 



The disc should not be of too large 

 diameter. A24-in. disc for general use is 

 to be preferred to one of larger diameter. 

 The 24-inch disc will pulverize soil more 

 than a 28-inch or 30-inch one. The 

 draft is a trifle more on the smaller 

 one, but the difference is more than made 

 up by the class of work it is able to do. 



The disc should not cut too wide a 

 furrow. It is far better to use two discs 24 

 inches in diameter, each one cutting 8 

 inches in width, than to use a 30 inch 

 disc cutting 14 or 16 inches in width. 

 Taking a narrow furrow tends to make 

 the bottom less corrugated. 



Ploughing the sam e ground year after 

 year with the disc does not keep it in 

 as good condition as if ploughed with a 

 rnoldboard plough. 



The rnoldboard plough is generally 

 conside red best for humid and irrigated 

 sections, and the disc for dry or semi- 

 arid sections.— Louisiana Planter and 

 Sugar Manufacturer, Vol. XL1L, No. 7, 

 February, 1909. 



A DEMONSTRATION OF INTEN- 

 SIVE CULTIVATION. 



By Principal M. J. R. Duxstan, m.a., 



P.R.S.E., 



South-Eastern Agricultural College, 

 Wye, Kent. 



The following record of an (experiment 

 in intensive cultivation is not put for- 

 ward as either original or as due to any 

 special skill in management or market- 

 ing, but as a possible suggestion to small 

 holders for the utilisation of their oppor- 

 tunities for growing crops which can be 

 marketed through the ordinary whole- 

 sale or retail channels in small or 

 large quantities, The relation of the 

 experience may evoke the criticism that 

 the results are due to an exceptional 

 season and exceptional conditions of 

 sale. Exceptional seasons, however, 

 occur nowadays with some frequency, 

 and the conditions under which the 

 produce in this case was marketed did 

 not differ from those obtained by many 

 alert and businesslike producers. 



On the College farm each year are 

 grown some 13 to 20 acres of potatoes, 

 this area being devoted to earlies, mid- 

 season, and late varieties. In 1908 some 

 6 acres were set with earlies in Wye 

 field, the soil of which is a faiily deep 

 useful loam with the chalk some distance 

 below, rented at 30s. per acre, and lying 

 at an altitude of 100 feet and unsheltered. 

 The previous crop was oats, of which 

 a yield of 9£ qr. was obtained, and the 

 land was in good heart and clean. The 

 varieties of earlies grown on the area 

 under experiment, about § acre, were 

 Epicures and Mayqueens ; tne sets were 

 sprouted in boxes, and planted on April 7- 

 The cultivation and manuring of the 

 crop were as follows :— The oat stubble 

 was dunged with 25 loads of farmyard 

 manure per acre, shallow ploughed in 



