244 Experimental Inquiry on Draught in Ploughing. 



stances^ it is as easy for a horse to move quickly as slowly with a 

 heavy draught. If he be over- weighted, he will not have suffi- 

 cient strength to spare for carrying on his own weight with ease, 

 and will naturally flag at his task. In order to move briskly, he 

 ought, I suppose, to feel in some degree master of his work, and 

 be able, if required, to draw something more than his actual load. 

 I ought also to mention, after stating the superior exertions which 

 the horse may be called on to make, that these Clydesdale horses 

 of Lord Moreton's are not only fed in a superior manner, but 

 that their day's work is broken into two portions of time, between 

 which they have rest, and either return home to be fed, or are 

 supplied by means of nose-bags with corn in the field. I believe 

 that the practice of working horses for eight hours together not 

 only adds to their fatigue, but that the absence of food for so long 

 a time must be a much more severe privation to them, as to all 

 animals feeding on grass and seeds only, than it is to carnivorous 

 animals and to ourselves. 



I will conclude by expressing the hope that others may also be 

 induced to carry on this investigation commenced by Mr. Handley ; 

 and that, by the use of the draught-gauge on the part of agricul- 

 turists examining the ploughs they employ, and on that of manu- 

 facturers endeavouring to improve those which they make, as 

 well as by the employment of that instrument in promoting com- 

 petition among ploughwrights at our public ploughing-matches, 

 we may gradually save that great waste of horses' strength and 

 farmers' means which hitherto has annually taken place in many 

 of our arable districts. Perhaps, too, when we have got a standard 

 plough, we may employ the draught-gauge in the classification 

 of soils, to register their different degrees of tenacity. 



Pusey, November 27, 1839. 



XXII. — Results of Experiments in Subsoil- Ploughing and 

 Potatoe-Planting. — By the Right Hon. Sir James R. G. 

 Graham, Bart., M.P., F.R.S. 



To the Secretary of the English Agricultural Society. 

 Sir, 



In a communication which I addressed to you in January last, I 

 mentioned a field of 8 acres of poor and wet land, underdrained 

 with tiles, one-half of which [ had trench-ploughed to the depth 

 of 10 inches by two ploughs following in succession ; the other 

 half of which I ploughed with Mr. Smith's subsoil-plough, fol- 

 lowing a common plough, to the depth of 15 inches. 



In every other respect this field received the same manage- 



