Experimental Inquiry on Draught in Ploughing. 237 



There remains one other question to which our trials were di- 

 rected — the extent to which the two-horse plough can be made use 

 of in husbandry. As far as regards light loams, the answer in 

 the district where the trials were made is easy : the horses have ' 

 been hitherto harnessed two abreast, with a leader in front to a 

 heavy plough. It appears that we have a plough one-third lighter 

 in draught than the old implement. The only change required 

 is to adopt that plough, to remove the leader, and to place reins 

 in the hands of the ploughman : this change has been gradually 

 spreading among our farmers for some time, and of late so rapidly, 

 that on such soils it will soon, I hope, become general. 



On heavy lands, the answer is by no means so easy, because it 

 appears that there are some of them, one at least, the Oxford clay, 

 beyond the power of two horses ; and because here we have to 

 substitute two horses not for three but for four, two horses abreast 

 instead of four in line ; so that a greater change is to be made ; 

 and on these soils too the more important, because the un- 

 ploughed land may not be in a state to bear up well one of the 

 pair. It appears, however, that on the Kimmeridge clay 

 (Trial V.) a plough was found which required three horses only 

 in line, where the old plough required four ; their respective 

 draughts being 3 and 4 cwt., or 24 and 32 stone. The question 

 then which remains, is, whether two horses abreast can, on this 

 land, be made to do the work not of four but of three horses in line. 

 As it is a question of interest, I will beg to lay before the Society, 

 as shortly as possible, such information as I have been able to ob- 

 tain on the subject, after taking all the means in my power. The 

 Scotch ploughman stated, as a general opinion in his own original 

 district, that two horses abreast have as much power over the 

 plough as three horses in line, because their purchase over it is 

 greater in that proportion. Now^ though we have no means of 

 bringing this point to any nice measurement, there are grounds, 

 I think, for supposing that the advantage so gained is considerable. 

 The horse appears to be much less capable of exerting his strength 

 in a level direction, that of drawing, than in an upright one, that 

 of carrying. In these trials I sometimes observed that my own 

 horses, rather strong ones, but not in working order, were a little 

 distressed by drawing once up and down a short furrow^ at a brisk 

 walk, with a draught of only 24 stone between them. It could 

 not be supposed that a strong cart-horse would feel the weight of 

 a rider of 12 stone, at a walk, for that trifling distance : the pack- 

 horses of Yorkshire used to carry, I find, loads of 30 stone for a 

 day's journey over the highest hills of the north. It is well 

 known too, that, with ourselves, much depends on the direction in 

 which we exert our muscles. I believe that a man can put forth, 

 without greater fatigue, three times more of his strength in row- 



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