576 Report of the Trials of Ploughs, Harroios, S^c, at Hull. 
turned over, but left so exposed that the first shower causes vege- 
tation to start afresh, whereas the paring plough proper not only 
cuts off the surface, but turns it over, or leaves it so light that 
the rain passes through it without remaining sufficiently long to 
start vegetation. 
Ball and Son. No. 1473. — The share or cutting surface is 1 foot 10 inches 
long by 16 inches wide, and is provided with a small cutting-edge, li hy 4 
inches, against the land-side and immediately below a wheel coulter, and 
ought therefore to secure a clean cut. The blade is steel in a cast-iron socket. 
The price of the blade is 9s. The plough is fitted with a common mould- 
board. The work was not so well done as might ha^ve been expected. 
W.Hunt. No. 1633. — The peculiarity in this plough consists in the mould- 
board, which, is concave in the centre, and continued to a flat cutting edge. 
The share cuts 10 inches and 
Fig, 70. the mouldboard 8 inclies, mak- 
ing a total width disturbed of 
18 inches. The work was well 
done, but the objection to this 
arrangement is the cost of re- 
newing the mouldboard and the 
difficulty of sharpening the cut- 
ting edge. As in the other 
ploughs made by Mr. Hunt the 
pitch of the share can be altered 
by an eccentric acting on the slade. A small cutting knife is attached to the 
^ hinder portion of the slade, which is 
iig. 71. adjustable. The only advantage of this, 
as far as wc could judge, was to give a 
sort of inirchase to the hinder part of the 
plough, and so increase steadiness in 
work at some increase of draught. 
The Judges, whilst awarding Mr. Hunt the prize of 5Z,, 
considered the class an indifferent exhibition. 
Class 15. — For the best Plough for leaving the Furrow 
Slice pulverized. 
In this Class there were four entries, three only came to trial, 
Lewis and Co. being here as elsewhere absent. 
MellarcTs Trent Foundry. No. 4322. — This is the American disc jjlough, 
which, though competing at a Royal trial for the first time,* has been used in 
this country for some years, and has attained considerable notoriety. It 
was introduced shortly before the Manchester meeting in 1869, and one was 
exhibited at work near the Show ground. The nature of the implement, and 
the revolving disc in place of the hinder part of the shell board, its peculiar 
feature, will be best understood by reference to the subjoined illustrations. 
The axle of the disc is carried in a box or collar attached to the beam. The 
weight of the soil causes the disc to revolve. That the principle is correct 
will be seen by a comparison of the draught of this and the other competing 
ploughs, and the reason for the lightness is obvious, viz., the absence of 
friction on the mouldboard, and it is the motion to which the soil is subject, 
* A Silver Medal was awarded at Wolverhampton, in 1871, to Jlellard's Trent 
Foundry Co., for " the adaptation of the principle of the rotating disc mould- 
board, &c." — Ed, 
