State of Agriculture in N or thumb eri and. 



many parts the inequality or stoniness of the surface would ope- 

 rate against them ; the argument^ however, against their introduc- 

 tion, that they form a nursery for bad ploughmen, is not very 

 wise, if it can be proved that an inferior ploughman can make as 

 good work with them as an expert one can do with the others, 

 and with greater ease to his horses. We did not oppose the intro- 

 duction of threshing-machines as an improvement upon the old 

 mode, because it would take the flails out of hands which were ex- 

 pert in the use of them ; and as all ploughmen are not good 

 ploughmen, we ought not to deny the farmer who happens to 

 have indifferent ones the means of remedying the evil. Any un- 

 necessary and injudicious pressure upon the handles of the swing- 

 plough operates in a greatly-increased degree upon the draught 

 at the end of so long a lever — this the application of the wheel 

 will correct; at the same time some addition to the draught may 

 be created by the friction upon the wheel ; it is therefore still 

 doubtful on which side the balance of advantage may be found. 

 I am of opinion that the wheel-plough is not so applicable to the 

 hill-sides and uneven surface of Northumberland as to many other 

 districts ; but the investigation is a very important one, and I re- 

 joice that it has attracted due attention and been undertaken by 

 such able hands. One improvement has often struck me as 

 being obvious, without reference to the question of the compara- 

 tive merits of swing and wheel-ploughs at all. The mould-board, 

 which is adapted to turn over and lay at a proper angle the tough 

 grass furrow, is not the best suited for working in loose land and 

 deep ploughing in fallow ; in the latter case the draught is ren- 

 dered unnecessarily great by the load of earth, especially if the 

 land be damp, which hangs upon the breast of the mould-board 

 instead of slipping easily off it ; and even in sandy or very light 

 soil, when horses might be expected to enjoy comparative ease, 

 they seem to be harder pressed than ever on this account. Now 

 without going to the expense of maintaining two sets of ploughs 

 for different kinds of work upon a farm, it would not certainly 

 require any unusual degree of ingenuity to contrive a mode of 

 adapting and fixing by screws mould-boards of different casts, 

 and suitable for each kind of work, upon the same plough.* The 

 subject, however, is well deserving of consideration. 



The drill for sowing grass-seeds is an important improvement 

 (by its equal distribution of the seed over the land, its capability 

 of sowing in any wind, and its lightness, with which a man and 

 horse can easily sow thirty acres a day) over the old plan of sow- 

 ing by hand, which was obstructed by wind and rain, and where 



* Mr. Hart, of Wantage, has lately made a plough with two shifting 

 mould-boards of diflerent shapes, adapted to different qualities of land, in 

 agreement with the opinion ot Mr. Grey.— Ph. Pusey. 



