78 
Report on the Agricultural Implements at 
under the driver's seat. The discs arc 3 feet in diameter, fixed on a cross- 
arch, and the plough can be worked cither as a gang or a sulky. In hard 
soil one disc is taken off. It is quite possible that in soft prairie land this 
implement may be found of more practical value than was apparent to the 
Judges. 
Messrs. Speer and Sons, of Pittsburg, arc the inventors of an admirable 
hillside plough, which, for simplicity and efficiency combined, is far superior 
to any of the turnwrest ploughs which have been used in this country. The 
frame of the plough is in duplicate with a revolving wing. The stilts and 
beam revolve upon the frame, being pivoted to it by a bolt ; a strap attached 
to the beam, passing over a projecting pin on it, and actuated by a rod 
from the stilts, holds the beam, &c, in place. When the plough reaches the 
headland, all that is required is for the workman to push the lever-handle 
which relieves the strap from the bolt, and the horses draw round the beam. 
There is great strength, and nothing to get out of order. 
My space forbids details, which might otherwise be interesting, as to 
varieties of ploughs, which were numerous ; but I must very briefly allude 
to the exhibits of the Oliver Chilled Plough Works, South Bend, Indiana, 
because the company possess the art of chilling metal i-inch thick uniformly 
throughout, so that the fibrous nature produces a perfectly uniform surface. It 
is so dense and compact in grain that it will receive and retain almost as high 
a polish as a mirror ; and rust does not eat into it, because every portion of 
the surface is equally compact and of uniform hardness all over. The conse- 
quence is that the surface is always bright, and these ploughs have a 
deservedly high character for keeping clean in work. The durability must 
be great, both on account of the hardness of the material and the substance 
of the mould-boards. 
Canadian exhibitors followed the English model to a great extent, both as 
to single and double-ploughs. The mould-boards were longer, less abrupt, 
and of lighter material than those in the American section. The Acton 
Plough Company, Ontario, exhibited somewhat of a novelty. The beam being 
much prolonged backwards, in place of the ordinary stilts, is bent at the point 
where the hind part of the mould-board is attached, which is done to 
secure a proper balance ; the handles are very short. The frame or socket 
is like the beam, of wrought iron, forged solid, which gives great strength. 
The coulter-attachment slides by means of an adjustable clip, which allows of 
the coulter being moved forwards or backwards on the beam and set at 
any angle. The bent beam secures direct draft. The shoe is, I believe, 
the only piece of cast metal, the share being of wrought iron, and the mould- 
board and land-side are steel. 
Fig. 62. — Messrs. Speer and Sons' Plougli. 
