3 12 



Ploughs and Ploughing. 



above described, so that the land is fit for seeding straight away 

 without any further preparation. Even when on a smaller scale 

 horses are used, four horses pulling a four-disc plough is 

 common, with one man riding and controlling the whole. 



Within the last year or two the motor-plough has been coming 

 to the front in this country, and is likely to be still further 

 developed. The convenient adaptability of the oil-engine is 

 rendering this possible, and the invention of a direct traction 

 motor adaptable to all kinds of farm work is now practically 

 accomplished. In connection with these labour-saving devices — 

 such as double-furrow ploughs, motor-ploughs, &c. — it must, 

 however, be kept in mind that there may be no benefit or saving 

 in the total expenses of the farm. If a certain number of men 

 and horses are needed to carry on the work, taking the twelve- 

 month round, then the getting of a costly outfit to do one job, 

 such as ploughing, may only be a ruinous addition to the 

 expenses ; we need, for instance, a crowd of men to do hoeing, 

 harvesting, root-lifting and other kinds of work, and this crowd 

 of men, with the corresponding number of horses, must be kept 

 on while the motor is doing some of their work. This applies 

 all round, of course, so that motors must either be developed to 

 do all the work or else be done without altogether. The limits 

 of two-horse work are by no means yet reached, while enough 

 has been said above to show that there is great room for 

 improvement in both ploughs and ploughing in the old style. 



Conclusion. 



Many of these methods could not, of course, be adopted here 

 in our small fields, wet climate, and, perhaps, stiff clay soil ; but 

 it is desirable that the implements our competitors use, and 

 their methods of use, should be known to us, to realise where we 

 are in the struggle for agricultural existence. Some of their 

 ploughs and style of work we have adopted already in modified 

 forms, but there is immense room for improvement yet, and the 

 writer has endeavoured to show in the above pages what are the 

 most recent ideas on the matter, both as regards the plough 

 itself and the style of work which should be done by it. That 

 in many districts in this country we are a long way behind, the 



