326 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Oct. 
Miner St Horton’s Peckskill Plow, No. 21.— 
Those of your committee who have watched the 
operation of plows for several years in succession, 
which have been exhibited at our annual fairs, are 
no strangers to the excellence of this implement. It 
is constructed throughout by a rule, which was ex¬ 
hibited to some of the members of your committee 
several years ago. At each successive exhibition, 
competitors have approximated more and more 
closely to this plow, and the great excellence of 
many of the plows manufactured in this State, is 
due to the skill and ingenuity of Messrs. Miner Sc 
Horton. No. 21 turns an excellent furrow, sur¬ 
passes most in pulverization, buries the vegetable 
matter well, is strong in its construction, durable 
in its materials, moderate in price, and light in its 
draft. But in our opinion would be improved, by 
an apparatus by which the breadth and depth of its 
furrow could be more readily and accurately ad¬ 
justed. 
Starbuck Sc Co.’s Trojan No. 5. —The proprie¬ 
tors of this plow were unfortunate in drawing their 
lot, as it was undoubtedly the worst on the ground. 
It was situated at the base of a side hill, receiving 
its drainage. At the time of the trial it was very 
wet, excessively stoney, and covered with a ranker 
herbage than any other lot on the field. The con¬ 
fidence of the proprietors in the excellence of the 
implement was very strikingly exhibited by their 
submission to its being tested without the slightest 
remonstrance under circumstances so decidedly un¬ 
favorable. It is undoubtedly difficult for any judges 
to make a proper allowance for these inequalities 
in the physical condition of different lots, and it is 
possible that injustice may be done in spite of the 
greatest care and impartiality; but your committee 
in making their award, endeavored, individually, to 
be “ fully persuaded in their own minds.” Trojan 
No. 5 is undoubtedly an exjellent plow, and in its 
capacity for turning under weeds and stubble, 
without choking , is probably unsurpassed by any 
plow at the exhibition. 
P. Auld’s Improved Scotch Plow, made good 
work. It seems well adapted to adhesive soils, as 
from its form and the quality of the metal used, it 
will scour well. It lacks the apparatus for proper 
adjustment, which renders it somewhat difficult of 
management. 
Prouty St Mears, Centre Draft, No. 5^.—This 
plow possesses an extraordinary combination of ex¬ 
cellencies. The point or share presents a gradual, 
easy rise of the furrow to the mould-board, which 
is on a gentle spiral curve, in its transverse and 
diagonal sections, and of such length as to insure 
a free and easy delivery of the furrow at its after 
end, and not requiring the foot of the plowman 
to prevent its falling back from whence it came, 
and having the cohesion of its particles so far dis¬ 
turbed as to admit of the genial influences of the 
sun and rain, those powerful agents of decomposi¬ 
tion. It is of that peculiar structure which is so 
well adapted to the form which the under side of 
the furrow naturally assumes, in the process of be¬ 
ing inverted, that after a few hours service, not an 
inch will be found which is not polished by the pas¬ 
sing furrow. 
The centre draft principle, seems almost univer¬ 
sally misapprehended by most farmers and plow 
makers, although it has been the characteristic fea¬ 
ture of Messrs. Prouty St Mears’ plows for many 
years. Most persons suppose that this appellation 
refers to the draft-rod, which dispenses with the ap¬ 
plication of the power at the extremity of the beam ; 
but this is not so. Its takes its name from the ap¬ 
proximation of the beam to the central section of 
the implement, most other plows having the beam 
placed directly over the perpendicular land-side. 
The land-side makes an acute angle with a perpen¬ 
dicular, from the sole of the plow, and hence the 
furrow-slice, instead of being rectangular, is rhom- 
boidal. The combined action of the coulter and 
plow, loosens the earth composing the acute angle, 
so that when the furrow-slice laps on the preceding 
one, the loose earth falls into the channel made by 
the lapping of the furrows and completely buries 
the protruding vegetation. This feature of the 
plow is looked upon by your committee with great 
favor, as it is almost impossible for a rectangular 
furrow-slice to be so laid as to shut in the grass so 
as to insure its decomposition, and to repress its 
growth. 
The inclination of the land-side also brings the 
standard on which the beam is placed within the 
body of the plqw, the front edge of which is thrown 
forwards in a curve under the beam, so as to pre¬ 
vent the vegetable matters on the surface from 
lodging on, and choking the plow. The after part 
of the head of the standard, is extended in such 
manner as to secure the beam and land-side more 
perfectly, and being within the body of the plow it 
admits of the position of the beam being in a line 
parallel with the land-side, and also causes the line 
of draft of the latter, and the line of motion of the 
plow to be parallel one to the other. 
As the draft rod and other apparatus of adjust¬ 
ment attached to this plow, are in some respects pe¬ 
culiar, we subjoin Messrs. Prouty and Mears, de¬ 
scription thereof. 
“The draft rod. —The under side of the fore end 
of the beam of common length, is elevated from two 
to five inches above the level of the standard at its 
junction with the beam. At the fore end of the 
beam is secured a metallic graduating arc, having 
a slot of about six inches lateral extent, and through 
which is passed, vertically, an eye-bolt of about ten 
inches in length—about eight inches forming a male 
screw, the female consisting of a nut on the under, 
and a powerful thumb nut, or knob nut, on the up¬ 
per side of the graduating arc. By means of this 
arc, nuts and screw, the eye of the bolt may be ele¬ 
vated or depressed, and also passed to the right or 
left of the centre, and thus secured in its position— 
thus adjusting the line of draft with great accuracy. 
In front of the standard, under the beam, embrac¬ 
ing its sides and extending up back of the standard- 
bolt, is a clevis, having its ends secured by a strong 
bolt through the beam. This clevis has three 
notches to admit the hook on the end of the draft 
rod. One central, and one extending out on either 
side of the beam. The draft rod is a bar of round 
iron—having at one end an eye to draw by, and at 
the other is formed a suitable hook or eye by which 
it is attached to the clevis after having been passed 
through the eye of the adjusting screw bolt. 
“ This apparatus, when applied to the Prouty St 
Mears plow, (the land-side and standard of which 
are inclined, and the beam on a line parallel with 
the land-side,) admits of the plow carrying its 
proper width of furrow when drawn by two or more 
horses walking in the furrow, when the draft rod is 
hitched into the right hand notch of the clevis and 
full to the right in the graduating arc. Hitch cen¬ 
tral in the clevis, and set. central in the arc and it 
follows equally well, a yoke of oxen or a pair of 
horses. Let the rod be hooked into the notch on 
the left of the beam, and moved to the left of the 
arc, and it follows the team of three horses abreast 
as perfectly as before, in each instance holding its 
