Ploughs and Ploughing. 



30 1 



common in America, viz., one fitted to run on a swivel like a 

 castor-wheel. The improvement consists in the fact that the 

 setting of the coulter does not need to be so nice ; it adjusts 

 itself to the running of the plough instead of guiding it. 



Spring Bridle. 



There is another little improvement which is quite common 

 on transatlantic ploughs, but which we have never seen on one 

 made at home, and that is the use of a spring clevis or bridle. 

 This is, of course, simply a spring arrangement coming between 

 the draught chain and the beam of the plough, whereby any 

 shock or jerkiness from stony land or other cause is absorbed 

 and the horses do not feel it. We are accustomed to see 

 such an arrangement on some of our mowing machines, and 

 it is a matter of surprise why an attachment of this sort is 

 not more commonly in use. There were spring draught chains 

 — two to each horse — brought out by somebody at one time, 

 but the most suitable and convenient arrangement would be a 

 single spiral spring fastened on to the central draught hook of 

 the wey-tree of a set of whipple-trees, so that the one arrange- 

 ment could be applied to all implements pulled by a couple of 

 horses walking abreast. 



The New Style of Ploughing. 



In recent years from across the Atlantic have come new ideas 

 as to the objects of ploughing. The old idea was to cut and 

 turn over a furrow-slice where the width was to the depth as 

 10 to 7 (10 inches by 7 inches where the land allowed of this 

 size, or in the same ratio), as this proportion mathematically 

 and in practice was found to give a slice which would turn over 

 and lie accurately at an angle of 45 degrees on both faces, where 

 the section of the slice was rectangular. The new idea is now 

 to " cultivate " the land as much as possible concurrently with 

 the act of ploughing, and, consequently, the relation of the width 

 to the depth is no longer a matter of importance if the work is 

 left in a proper state and is done at a sufficiently quick rate. 

 We therefore now, in the majority of cases — at least, where 

 farmers are up-to-date in their methods — turn a furrow which is 

 broken and pulverised in the act of ploughing as much as 



