140 



On mah 'mcj Compost Heaps. 



on a former occasion. — No amelioration connected Avith the 

 rural art is of more lasting importance than correcting the con- 

 stitutional defects of a soil. The best horticulturists and market- 

 gardeners are many of them^ perhaps, unacquainted with the 

 theory, yet perfectly understand the great results from that prac- 

 tice ; and in this particular information they are all of them supe- 

 rior to many practical farmers. How often do we see a stiff soil 

 sterile in a great degree from that cause only ; yet in the vicinity of 

 a sandpit and adjoining most bogs there is a considerable breadth 

 of coherent land, which might be made double its present value 

 by judicious and liberal top-dressings of peat, which is also un- 

 productive from causes of a contrary nature ! The present po- 

 verty of many extensive tracts of land is a manifest exhibition of 

 the want of skill or enterprise of their owners and cultivators. 



Hatliershaw Lodge, near Oldham, 

 Lancashire, Feb. 1839. 



XIII. — On Wheel and Siving Ploughs. — An Essay to which the 

 Prize of Ten Sovereigns was awarded in July, 1839. — By 

 Henry Handley, Esq.^ M.P. 



In the award of merit between ploughs of various construction 

 some difficulty arises, inasmuch as almost every farmer entertains 

 a predilection for one or the other, which he probably uses exclu- 

 sively, and to which alone his men are accustomed ; and it is there- 

 fore seldom that the comparative advantages of different sorts can 

 be fairly tested. To enable me to meet this difficulty, I have not 

 only used both swing and wheel-ploughs on my own farms, but 

 have seen them tried in different counties and soils ; on claj-, lime- 

 stone, and sandy loam ; in wet and dry weather ; on clover-ley, 

 stubbleSj and fallows ; across ridge and furrow, as vrell as on a level 

 surface ; and with skilful and unskilful ploughmen. 



It is extremely improbable that, were the one implement in all 

 respects and on all soils superior to the other, such a difference of 

 opinion and practice should have thus long prevailed. It will, 

 therefore, be found that, under certain circumstances, each m.ay 

 have its peculiar advantages. Thus Loudon observes — Different 

 soils, situations, and uses will, of course, require different kinds of 

 ploughs, though there are undoubtedly some that are capable of 

 a much more general application than others." 



I ought to premise that, residing in a county where swing-ploughs 

 are almost invariably used, my predilection has certainly been in 

 favour of that implement ; if, therefore, in balancing the advantages 

 and disadvantages of both, I decide in favour of ploughs with 



