Ploughs and Ploughing. 



through the ridge or balk, leaving the tubers mostly on the 

 surface. 



The draining or gripping form can also be adjusted on to the 

 ordinary frame. This is for cutting a small trench or "groep " 

 in grass land on clay soil, to help the running off of the surface 

 water. This can, of course, be done by the ordinary plough, set 

 over to the " land " side so as to run edgeways, and thus cut out 

 a triangular furrow-slice ; but a special cutting share and other 

 parts can be fitted on with some makers' ploughs, and do much 

 better work. 



The multiple plough is simply the double-furrow form with 

 extra shares and breasts for use on light land where one or two 

 furrows do not absorb all the force of an ordinary team of 

 horses. The furrows cut are usually smaller in size than with 

 the regular ordinary plough, and the work is mostly done where 

 seed is ploughed in to a shallow depth, or in working a loose 

 fallow. 



The steam plough is the adaptation of the plough to a giant 

 scale of work to suit the unlimited power which can be developed 

 by a large engine. It is a multiple plough, on the same scale 

 as the largest of single-furrow ploughs, while of necessity it is 

 also a one-way plough. It is worthy of note that the benefits 

 of steam ploughing have been largely handicapped by the depth 

 of our ordinary soils. If the soil is only 6 or 7 inches deep 

 then it has proved a disastrous mistake to tear it up to a depth 

 of, say 8 or 9 inches, which the giant power of steam made quite 

 easy, on account of the often poisonous nature of the subsoil. 

 Ordinary ploughing can, as yet, be more cheaply done on the 

 ordinary scale met with on British farms by horse-power, and as 

 extraordinary ploughing has not been found desirable the use of 

 the steam plough has much fallen into abeyance during the last 

 twenty years, though the steam cultivator has always been in 

 great demand. In connection with this point it is worthy of 

 note that steam ploughing hy direct traction is the order of the 

 day on the great wheat farms of California. 



The engines have immensely wide wheels fitted with speeds 

 to give a greater " bite " on the ground, while twenty to thirty 

 furrows turned behind at one sweep is the rule. Another point 

 worthy of note is that the ploughs are often the disc variety 



