108 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
April 
SCOTCH AN© AMERICAN PLOWS. 
Eds. Cultivator —The annexed remarks were 
written some time since, but were not thought by me 
of sufficient general interest to publish. Possibly you 
may judge otherwise. As a practical comment, it may 
be well to mention that I had a quarter of an acre 
plowed at our last cattle show, with the plow in question. 
The work was well done, within the hour, about an 
inch deeper, and an inch or two narrower than the re¬ 
quisition. The plowman, however, received no pre¬ 
mium, which I took to be an indication that the ribbed 
and angular furrows did not please our farmers as 
well as the flatter and smoother appearance of the 
work done by our Worcester and other plows. W. 
Lenox, February 14, 1848. 
Many of your readers will have been struck with the 
extreme beauty and apparent completeness of the Scotch 
plow, as accurately delineated in “Stephen’s Book of the 
Farm;” moreover they may have read such statements 
in regard to the perfection of English plowing as those 
made by Mr. Colman, who says, speaking of an Eng¬ 
lish plowing match—“ I do not misstate when I say, 
that I do not believe there was a variation of an inch 
in the whole field, in the width or depth of the furrow, 
or a single crooked line, or even one solitary balk;” 
and it may be interesting to them to know of some 
practical use of these celebrated plows in this country. 
No doubt there may be many of them in the country, 
but I have never seen any save one imported by me, nor 
have I seen any good account of them in our agricultu¬ 
ral journals. I will, therefore, proceed to relate my 
own experience, and speak of its comparative advan¬ 
tages and disadvantages with reference to our Ameri¬ 
can plows. 
Fig. 30 .—American Plow. 
The accompanying sketches have been made in order 
to give, at a glance, the comparative proportions and 
size of each kind of plow. Fig. 30 being the usual 
form of the American plow as made by the best ma¬ 
kers; fig. 31, the Scotch Iron plow; fig. 32, the Scotch 
plow, showing the underside, or portion that runs on 
the bottom of the furrow; and fig. 33, the correspond¬ 
ing portion of the American plow. 
It will be seen at once that these plows are con¬ 
structed and must work on different principles; and 
before speaking of the action of the two instruments, 
allow me to show, in a few words, what are the prin¬ 
cipal points of difference. 
1. The Iron plow is longer in every part, but chiefly 
in the handles, which are more than five feet, horizon - 
tain* c, in lcj.:.nh from the Ju.ould board, whilst 
our plows are only about eighteen inches. The beam, 
on the contrary, is but little longer than ours. The 
landside, from heel to point, is about six inches longer, 
and the mould board to the extremity of the ear is also 
longer and more twisted. 
Fig. 32 .— Underside of Scotch Plow. 
2. The wing of the share, which is usually 10 in¬ 
ches wide in the American plow, is not over 6 inches 
in the Iron one. Consequently the latter does not cut 
the furrow much more than half off on the underside; 
but on the other hand it encounters fewer obstacles 
likely to disturb its motion, and avoids the friction oc¬ 
casioned by the cutting edge, both against itself, and 
against the landside. 
Fig. 33.— Underside of American Plow. 
3. Owing to the above peculiarities, the plow moves 
so steadily that the coulter may be let down to the bot¬ 
tom of the furrow, thus cutting the slice completely off 
on the landside. In our plows the coulter cannot usu¬ 
ally be let down without causing the plow to throw 
out. 
4. The elevated beam of the Iron plow prevents all 
possibility of clogging. 
5. The American plow has much iron cut away both 
from the mould board and the landside, whilst the other 
is whole on both sides. I believe the 
lessened weight is made up for in 
the increased friction where we plow 
ovbr five inches. 
6 . The Iron plow rests all its 
weight on a shoe, say eighteen in¬ 
ches long by two and a half wide— 
the bottom of the mould-board does 
not touch the bottom of the furrow. 
In our plows the weight rests equally 
on the mouldboard and landside. 
In a word, in the American plow the reversion is 
effected by causing the furrow slice to pass over the 
smallest possible surface of iron; and by keeping this 
in view the extreme of lightness is attained, sufficient 
strength, and the complete reversion of the furrow is 
effected. The plow weighing perhaps one-third of the 
iron plow, turns the same breadth and depth of furrow 
with a lighter team. But these admissions being made, 
and they are large ones, the palm of perfect work in 
every respect must be conceded to the admirable in¬ 
strument we are considering. By its tapering form it 
enters the ground with ea. .-, and moves with perfect 
