THE CULTIVATOR. 
71 
feet. These lines the ploughman marks out, by running a straight furrow 
with his plough parallel to the two sides. 
Let him now, beginning at the side of the field, AD, parellel to which 
it is intended to tun the ridges, measure off with his pole Ear, teet 
At the point a let him place one of his poles. This is the point at which 
he is to enter his plough. But, leaving his horses in the mean time, lei 
him walk on to a convenient distance, as to I, and there, in like mannei 
measuring off 16, feet, let him set up his second pole at b, and then, 
at the further end oi the field, on the line of the head-land, at c, let him 
place his third pole. He has now three poles placed in a line; but if 
from the length ot the field or inequalities of the surface, more than three 
poles are necessary, more must be used, as there must be so many poles 
in s'ght as that the ploughman may be enabled to direct his plough by 
means of them in a straight line. He now returns to his plough and en¬ 
ters it at the first pole at a, keeping the other two poles in a line, so that 
he may be enabled to plough directly towards them. Having entered his 
plough at a, he stops his horses and measures off 15 feet to d, where he 
plants the pole. He then returns to his plough, w Inch is standing at a, at.d 
drives his hoises, keeping the two poles before him as a guide, to the se 
cotul pole b. Having done this, and leaving his plough standing at b, he 
measures off from b to e, 15 teet, and there he plants his pole. He then 
returns to his plough, and proceeds forward, making his furro.v in a 
straight line to the last pole c, where in like manner, lie stops his horses, 
and, measuring off 15 feet, he plants his pole at f 
In this manner he has placed his poles in a straight line, at the distance 
of 15 feet from their last position, and parallel, as before, to the line of 
fence. He now turns his horses shaip about, and returns by the furrow 
which he has just drawn cba. By this second ploughing he thiows the 
earth out in an opposite direction, so that he has formed a comph lely open 
furrow. In returning, he takes care to correct any inequality or crooked¬ 
ness that may have taken place through the unsteady motion of the horses 
in his fi st track. 
The poles being now placed in a line, def, he brings his plough to d, 
enters it, and stops it there. He measures off 15 ft. with his pole from 
d to g , and fives his pole atg; and then he proceeds with his plough to e, 
and f, repeating the same operation with his poles as before, and return¬ 
ing try the track ot his last-made furrow from f to d. In this manner he 
proceeds throughout the whole field forming parallel open furrows, at the 
distance from each other of 15 feet. These furrows are to form the cen¬ 
tres of the future ridges. 
The field is now- prepared for being ploughed into ridges, and the man¬ 
ner of doing so is this:— 
The ploughman, beginning at the left-hand side of the open furrow, 
p’oughs his first furrow-slice towards it. He then, returning by the op¬ 
posite side performs the same operation, causing the two fiist furrow-sli¬ 
ces to rest upon each other. 
Thus, in forming his first ridge, he begins at the side of a, and plough¬ 
ing in the direction from a to c, he turns his first furrow-slice into the 
open furrow ac. When he airivesat c, he turns his plough right about, 
and returning from c to a, he lays his second furrow-slice upon the first 
one, as at C, figure 3. 
In this manner he continues always turning to the right-hand side, and 
laying his furrow-slices towards the centre of the ridge, until he has reach¬ 
ed the boundaiy of the ridge EH, on the one side, ami the line os, half¬ 
way between ca and df on the other. He has thus formed a ridge, of 
which ca is the crow n or centre, and HE and os the termination. By 
proceeding in this manner throughout the field, the whole is formed into 
ridges, of which the first marked furrows are the centres. 
Fig 
^A 
/ 
d o a 
D 
It has been said that the 
ploughman continues turning 
h s horses to the right, and 
that thus, after having pro¬ 
ceeded from a to c, he re¬ 
turns liom c to a, and so on, 
always ploughing round ac as 
a central line. When, how¬ 
ever, he has proceeded from 
a to c, he may turn his hoises 
left about and return from f i 
to d and so on, always lay¬ 
ing his furrow-slices towards 
ac and fd respectively. In 
this manner lie will have! 
ploughed the half of two ad | 
joining ridges, and teiminat - 1 
ed at the space vs, half way 1 
between them. This method 
of ploughing, it will appear, has the same effect as turning the horses 
right about, and is the most frequent and convenient in practice. 
In the following figure, in which CC, CC, CC, are the centres of the' 
ridges, the manner in which the successive lurrow-slices have been laid 
upon each other is shown. 
By this laying of the 
eaith towards the cen¬ 
tres, the ridges acquire 
a certain curvature. By 
ploughing the earth away 
fiom the intervals DE, 
FG, the ground is hol¬ 
lowed at these pa i ts, 
w hich now form th vopen 
furrows. It is by these 
open furrows that ihe 
water which tails upon 
the surface finds a pas¬ 
sage. 
A certain, though not 
a great, degree of cur¬ 
vature, is given to the 
ridge by this ploughing. 
It is frequently, how- 
., . ... ever, necessary to give 
^ ^ ^ ^ it a yet greater degree 
of curvature and elevation. This is done by ploughing the whole ridge a 
second time, and in a similar manner. 
The plough is first driven along the centre of the ridge from C to C form¬ 
ing an open furrow. Successive furrow-slices are then laid towards this 
furrow', m the same manner as in the previous ploughing. This is done 
with the successive furrow-slices, until the plough reaches the open fur¬ 
rows, DE, FG. In this manner the whole ridge is ploughed, and an in¬ 
creased elevation and curvature given to it. The operation is termed 
gathering. 
In periorming the operation of gathering, it is important that the ridge 
be formed with a uniform curvature, so that it shall not have what is tech¬ 
nically termed a shoulder, or hollow part on each side of the crown It 
is to prevent this delect that the open track is made along the crown be¬ 
fore the fir-t two slices are laid together; by which means the ploughman 
is better enabled to lay them upon each other in such a manner that they 
shall not overlap and form a protuberance at the crown of the ridge. A 
transverse section of the lidges, when gathered will appear thus: 
A ridge, however, be- 
5 ' __ ing already formed, it 
may be wished to plough 
7 it again, and yet to pre- 
B C E C G serve it at the same cur¬ 
vature and elevation. In this cas", the plough is to enter at the open fur¬ 
row, and to lay the successive furrow slices towards it, until the two ad¬ 
joining ridges are ploughed By this means all the slices of ihe same 
ridge lie in the same direction, and Ihe curvature and elevation ot the 
whole remain a- before. This operation is termed casting, and the man¬ 
ner in which the furrow-slices rest u^ on each other, will appear in the 
following figure: 
pj tr g In the operation of 
casting, two methods 
B C E C G as those at E, &c. may 
be laid resting upon each other, as in the figure above, in which case the 
two ridges will he formed as it were into one large ridge; or else the open 
furrow at E may be preserved by keeping the two first lurrow-slices at a 
little distance from each other, and preserving the space between them, 
thus: 
Fig. 6 . When land is plongh- 
ed in this manner, the 
S round is taken f.om one 
n side of each two adjoin- 
“ *■' _ ing ridges at G, and laid 
towards the other E, that is, it is gathered towards vine side and gathered 
from the other. In this manner the ground at the open turrows G, from 
which we gather, becomes more bare of earth than the open lurrow E, 
towards which we gather This is an imperfection unavoidable in cast¬ 
ing a ridge. When, therefore, we wish to cast a ridge twice in succes¬ 
sion, w-e reverse the former mode of ploughing; we gather towards the 
open furrow G, and from the open furrow E, and thus the ridge is restor¬ 
ed fs its former state. 
Another method of ploughing is cleaving. In this case, the plough com¬ 
mences at the open furrow, lays the first slice towards it, and then return¬ 
ing by the other side of the open furrow, lays the second slice upon the 
first, as in the following figure. When it has reached the centre, it stops 
pj (r 7 and begins with another 
pair o! ridges, and ploughs 
B C E C G in this way the open fur¬ 
rows of the ridges become the centres, and the former centres become 
