THE RURAL NEW- 
of the class to think for himself. This em¬ 
blem of agriculture, which has been, is yet, 
and very probably will remain a very fair 
gauge of the world’s progress, is the world’s 
most important implement. Since the first 
crooked stick drawn by women launched the 
the art of tillage, the plow has gone through 
a multitude of forms and through countless 
hands, has waited thousands of years for 
Thomas Jefferson to announce its mechanical 
functions and the mathematical principles 
upon which it should be constructed. It has 
reached its age of steel, of steam as a motive 
force and now bears the promise of electrical 
power to lead it across the fields. Yet, not¬ 
withstanding its peerless importance, the 6,000 
(approximately) patents filed upon it in this 
country alone, and the millions of plows that 
are annually held in the United States, some 
of the simplest truths regarding it are unknown 
to this country and to the world. 
It is very easy to vary the draft of a plow 10 
per cent., indeed between extremes of plows 
and practices of plowing a variation of 50 per 
cent, is doubtless made. Assuming 150 
pounds, the accepted standard, as the average 
working or draft power of a horse, then a 
plow running seven inches deep and cutting a 
14-inch furrow would require about three 
horses to carry it comfortably. Only 10 per 
cent, change in draft would add 45 pounds 
draft to a plow, or one-third of a horse’s power 
to perform work. Such an addition to a 
team becomes a very serious burden when 
continued day after day, and wheu applied to 
the country, adds a great loss in a field where 
little excuse should exist for ignorance. 
Any increased force required in plowing, 
that comes from ill-adjusted plows, is at the 
expense of the quality of work done aud al¬ 
ways at a greater exertion on the part of the 
plowman. It may be roughly and safely 
stated that, if our plows draw 10 per cent, 
harder than they need to draw, double 
the loss is really met than the sum com¬ 
puted, although not in horse power alone,but, 
in part, in poor work. 
KELATION OF HARNESSING TO DRAFT. 
1. It is not uncommon to observe an im¬ 
proper harnessing of horses for the plow, due 
to two reasons. The first occurs when saddles 
are used with the harness to sustain the traces. 
When horses are changed from wagons to the 
plow the ‘‘double-tree” is attached at a lower 
point to the plow thau it had been to the 
wagon. If the saddle is buckled up straight 
to the line of the trace from collar to axle, 
which under-tension forms a straight line, the 
dropping of the plow end of the trace when 
changed from wagon to plow, will make an 
angle at the point where the backstrap is at¬ 
tached to the trace. 
Such an angle is also formed by sustaining 
the traces by a strap over the back to hold them 
from the ground when turning at the ends of 
the furrow, in order to prevent the horse from 
stepping over them. 
Of all the little errors that get a footing in 
practice Prof. Sanborn knows of none involv¬ 
ing at once so much of inexcusable ignorance 
or carelessness with so little gain accompany¬ 
ing a great loss. 
WHEEL OR TRUCK. 
The use of the wheel or truck under the end 
of the plow-beam near the bridle is an old 
practice now mainly out of use. So far are 
these trucks out of use that the leading deal¬ 
ers in Columbia did not understand him when 
he inquired for a plow with a truck or wheel 
on it, consequently he had to make one for 
the trial to be related. 
From theoretical principles trucks on a plow 
have been declared useless. Scotchmen, 
whom none excel with the plow, declare 
trucks to be an injury to the plowman, who, 
depending upon them to regulate depth, soon 
overlooks their proper adjustment. 
The following tests are with the Oliver 
chilled plow, a sulky plow and the Oliver 
chilled the second year again, stated in the or¬ 
der named, or Nos. 1, 2 and 3. 
Width 
of 
furrow. 
Depth of 
furrow. 
Square 
Inches 
1 timed. 
Draft. 
Draft 
per sq. 
Inch. 
in. 
in. 
In. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
16 4 
7 55 
123 82 
541 
4 37 
No. 1 truck on_ 
16 0 
7 7 
130 13 
484 
8 72 
15 6 
8 2 
127 92 
512 
4 00 
Average.... 
16 30 
7 81 
127 30 
512 33 4 03 
No. 1 truck off_ 
16 3 
8 2 
133 66 
625 
4 71 
-No. 2 truck on_ 
15 1 
8 35 
126 08 
578 
4 58 
No. 2 truck off.... 
15 4 
8 7 
133 98 
671 
5 01 
Plow No. 3 
11 33 
7 71 
87 35 
500 
6 00 
truck on.... 
11 71 
7 08 
79 08 
Plow No. 3 
14 4 
7 03 
82 35 
522 
6 95 
truck off ... 
12 2 
6 75 
87 85 
624 
Average draft with truck on. 
Average draft with truck off. 
t er cent, of draft saved by truck. 
Here is a startling gain from a discarded and 
very simple practice. The reason for such a 
result was clearly discerned and visible to all 
of Prof. Sanborn’s students. The bottom of 
the furrow was much smoother where the 
truck was used and the plow easier to hold. 
J be following cuts,Figs.50-51,represent very 
pointedly the influence of the truck on the 
character of the work done or the much great¬ 
er evenness with which the plow runs on its 
sole, and results in a much more uniform fur¬ 
row turned, coupled with greater ease in hold¬ 
ing the plow. 
Baldwin’s self-registering dynamometer was 
used. This acts on the same principle that a 
butchers’balance does upon which meat is hung 
in weighing For every inch that the heavy coil 
spring is drawn out by the horses, 400 pounds, 
of draft are required, or,in other words, if the 
spring had been suspended, it would require 
400 pounds, hung on to one end to draw it out 
one inch. While at work testing draft, a small 
wheel forces a card-board across the line of the 
spring and automatically marks just the dis¬ 
tance of the movements of the spring. 
The cuts (p. 148) are an exact measure of the 
force of draft by the two methods contrasted, 
and of the fluctuation of the spring, showing 
great unevenness of draft. The first one with 
the truck on, Fig. 50, shows that the pencil 
varied but comparatively little and thatitreg- 
istered an even running of the plow, while the 
other. Fig. 51, marked severe deflections and 
inequalities of draft. Thehight of the pencil 
marks from the base line or line drawn at the 
bottom of the cut is the measure of the draft. 
The draft was obtained by measuring every 
one-eighth of an inch,or some twenty-six meas¬ 
urements were made and their average taken. 
Soils of uneven density and tenacity from dis¬ 
tribution and character of roots in them, from 
treading, variation of surface and from other 
causes, afford disturbing causes that result in 
unequel degrees of pressure on the mold-board. 
The truck saves tilting and the dipping of the 
plow at the point. 
This gain from the use of the truck can be 
very easily lost by hitching high at the bridle 
and forming an angle in the line of draft. 
The draft of the plows used should not be 
contrasted as the sulky plow was new and the 
Oliver chilled in No. 3 series was used on very 
dry ground. Figs. 50 and 51 were tried 
during 1886. The value of the truck depends 
very largely upon the skill of the workman, 
his comprehension of the idea involved in a 
straight line of draft and skill in obtaining it. 
COULTERS. 
The coulter on the plow has been nearly as 
popular as the truck has been unpopular. 
Stevens of England found no great saving 
from the use of the coulter, while Gould in the 
famous Utica trials, claimed a saving of 113 
pounds. 
When it is remembered that a horse’s power 
is but 150 pouuds, the showing is very radical. 
Plow No 1 was a John Deere plow, and No. 
2 a Sulky plow, while No. 3 was a Moline plow, 
14 inch cut. The former were used in 1886 
and the latter as a new plow on exceedingly 
dry, hard soil in the fall of 1887. 
Width of 
furrow. 
Depth of j 
furrow. 
Square 
inches 
turned. 
Draft. 
Draft 
per so. 
Inches. 
in. 
in. 
in. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
No. 1 Coulter on. 
12 1 
7 0 
84 7 
419 
4 95 
No 1 Coulter off. 
15 9 
7 35 
124 21 
525 
4 23 
No. 2 Coulter on 
14 3 
8 55 
122 66 
635 
5 11 / 
tried a 2 nd day, 
10 61 
7 3 
77 45 
604 
7 80 ) b 4,> 
No. 2 Coulter off 
15 1 
8 55 
126 08 
578 
tried a 2 nd day, 
11 22 
7 25 
81 34 
537 
6 61 j 5 59 
No. 3 Coulter on 
14 55 
5 51 
80 60 
457 
Old style. 
18 12 
5 73 
75 44 
468 
5 92 
No 8 Coulter on 
15 75 
7 7 
121 27 
5<*2 
Ntw style, 
11 21 
7 46 
83 62 
548 
5 56 
No. 3 Roller 
13 12 
5 73 
75 -14 
457 
Coulter on. 
15 33 
5 5 
84 31 
468 
5 96 
No. 3 Coulter off, 
14 04 
6 21 
87 18 
484 
15 75 
6 25 
92 75 
445 
5 15 
Average draft with 
coulter on... 
Average draft with coulter off.. 
Loss by use of coulter, in per cent. 
The loss by the use of the coulter is nearly 
equal to the gain by the use of the truck. If 
we take the sum of the loss to a man who uses 
the coulter and does not use the truck, it will be 
seen that the 10 percent, estimate that I made, 
is very conservative and but a fraction of the 
loss occurring on these two factors alone. But 
loss does not stop here. 
The old-style coulter was that used before the 
rolling coulter came into use, and was attached 
to one side of the beam. The new style is a 
coulter attached to one side of the beam at one 
end of the coulter and at the other end to the 
outside or land side of the share just to the rear 
of the point. 
We are not wholly at a loss for an explana¬ 
tion of these results. The fact that a steel coul¬ 
ter presents a sharper cutting point to sever 
the furrow from the land on its perpendicular 
side than the elevated edge of the share and 
furrow board do, is more than offset by the 
increased friction surface by the use of the 
coulter and by another fact, namely, that the 
old-fashioned coulter,owing to pressure against 
its lower end,tends to change depth of the plow. 
This latter effect has to be met hy a change in 
the bridle to keep the plow at its proper depth 
and the line of draft rightly adjusted to such 
desired depth. This tendency then to change 
depth of running has to be met by the force of 
the team if right depth is maintained, or one 
"•y—-^ - ’ " —* - . . 
(Continued on next page.) 
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