296 



Ploughs and Ploughing. 



ordinary practice from 2\ to 3 feet is more common, and more 

 easily handled, all things considered, while it is even as little 

 as 18 inches on the modern chilled steel ploughs. 



In favour of the friction on the short mouldboard, however, 

 there is the fact that there is a less bulk of furrow-slice at any 

 given moment passing up it than on the long one, but even after 

 this is allowed for the draught on the long is less than on the 

 short. In some of the trials which have been conducted the 

 draught on these short ones has been found to be comparatively 

 low, much lower than on the ordinary old-fashioned plough, but 

 this is accounted for by the difference in the quality of the 

 metal of which the breasts are made. Cast iron is nowhere, 

 and even malleable steel is inferior in its friction-reducing power 

 as compared with the cast chilled steel of the modern plough. 

 There is no reason, of course, why a long breast should not be 

 made of this latter material as well as a short one — and, if it 

 were, the draught or friction would be found to be less than' 

 the other — but we have never happened to see a plough 

 so made, while the short breast cultivates as well as ploughs. 



In ploughing damp or wet clay one of the worst features to 

 contend with is the stickiness or adhesiveness of the soil. This 

 increases the friction and draught very much, for the furrow- 

 slice tends to hold the plough by adhering to the wearing parts, 

 and it is quite possible that in a case of this sort the short 

 mouldboard has the advantage. In some clay districts it was 

 the custom at one time to lubricate the breast as the furrow- 

 slice slid up it by dropping water on it from a cistern set on the 

 beam of the plough, but land requiring this sort of manipula- 

 tion is much better in grass, and is probably out of cultivation 

 now. 



Apart from the question of friction, however, the short chilled 

 steel mouldboard has shown itself the best, all things considered, 

 as it leaves the land in a fitter state for putting a crop in and 

 afterwards growing it, while doing the work much more quickly. 

 It will not, of course, do ploughing-match work, but that is of 

 little consequence, because it is a notorious fact that the style 

 of ploughing which obtains prizes at a competition is not the 

 best for the land, the crop, or the farmer's purse, and is such 

 that many go-ahead farmers would not tolerate, for which 



