The Express.
London, England, 1852-09-18 00:00:00

THE PLOUGH.

It wu found about twelve years ego that in many
parts of Ragland ploughs drawn by four horses were eta'
used, while In the same neighbourhood, or ,even parish,
other ploughs were at work equally easy for two hareem.
The cumbrous plough, resting on • heavy gallows and
wheels, had been adapted to the clay soils when those wile
were the chief source of corn to the country, and had been
handed down from father to son, after the heavy land
had been widely laid down to grazing ground, and the
former downs had become our principal arable land. Not
only, however, did these obsolete monuments survive—it
was also discovered by Mr. Handley, that the inventor; of
new plough?, by rejecting the wheels as well as the gallows,
had produced, especially in the north, a p:ough which,
though fashionable under the name of swing plough, had
little advantage in draught over the ancient one. It was
Meters. Reamome who furnished the modern English plough
with two low wheels, and with mould-hoards adapted to
different soils. Messrs. Howard further improved the
mould-board. The mould-board, indeed, which raising
each elks of earth (furrow slice) from its fiat position gra-
dually through an upright one, lays it over half inclined on
the preceding slice, is the essential acting part of the plough.
It should perform this spiral transfer of a very rough material
with an equal pressure both crossways and lengthways. The
true shape is founded on mathematical leas, but, as in a Gome-
-1 what similar case of displacement, that of water by the bow of
a yacht, is doubtless best determined by smut trial. The
test of perfection in the work of • olough is, that the
furrow-slice shall be, after being turned over, in a pert, ctly
straight line, not only unbroken, but even uacracked. ft
is by patient attention to this point that Mr. Busby. with
the aid of an excellent farmer, Mr. Outhwaite, produced
the beautiful mould-boards of his prise ploughs. Ibis UN-
broken fit-row-slice requires some length of moulds board ;
and it is urged, on the other hand, in behalf of short mould-
boards, that they pulverise the soil while they turn it over.
Practical farmers, how eeee ,; know that to pulverise is not
the immediate object of ploughing land : but as the length
of the English mould-boards surprised foreigners, it may not
be useless to mate • further reason for that apparently ex-
cessive length. Ours also were, in fact, made short and
hollow for our new ploughs, until at one of the Hegel
Agricultural Society'. trials all the selected ploughs were
brought to a stand in attempting to works strong clay.
The cause of the failure was this : the chief resistance to the
horses in ploughing proceeds not from the weight of
earth moved, which is i nsignificant, nor, unless thu
ground be unusually baked, from the act of severing the
earth, but from two other cause., namely, friction, and
on certain soils still more from cohesion. Now, if tho
soil contain sharp sand, there will be no cohesion ; it will
work freely off the mould-board, which will be kept bright,
and the shorter its surface the lees will the friction be.
For such soils, therefore, as are common in Scotland short
mould-boards may be the best. But most English soils
contain so much clay as will adhere to and fill up the hol-
low of a short mould. hoard, so that the furrow-slice will
have to work not upon an iron surface, hut upon the most
disadvantageous ot all surfaces, oce of rough loam, and the
draught may thus be easily doubled by friction and robe•
goo together. Hence, our English mould boards have been
very properly lengthened, the more properly, I suppose,
because the same soil will more often have to be werked
in a moist state hero than in continental Europe. Many
of the foreign plough?, it should be said, behaved, under
all disadvantages, exceedingly well, and were, no doubt,
better suited than ours for their respective localities.
Ploughing, itself, is certainly a singular instance of treat
skill inquired by a body of men who scarcely, as w.es re-
marked by Lord Ashburton, receive the credit due to that
skill. A good ploughman will set up a pole, a quarter of a
mile distant or more, sad keeping this auk, almost in-
visible, steadily in his view, will, on lai.d perfectly emooth,
tree up to that goal, until his horses km ek it down so
they pass on each side, a furrow so true that nit eye can
detect any divergence from absolute straightness. If one
saw for the first time a field of short preen clover oinavrrted
in a few hours into a surface of clean broken soil in regular
ribs, it would be regarded as a triumph of art. I mention
this, the rather because in speculative writing, the (lough
is sometimes depreciate d, and the spade is extolled, though
this very operation of preparing our wheat land could
scarcely be executed at all by spade, since it is necessary
that the existing award should be perfectly buried. The
caution seems morecnecessary, because, as we have seen in
the Exhibition building, ingenious attempts are being made
at steam digging, as well as steam ploughing.
SCARIF.

'IERS, GRUBBERS, OR CULTIVATORS.
Numerous as are the forms of this implement,
and it appears in new forms every year, its full serCceablc-
nese has certainly not beau yet understood. It b:s been
used accidentally sa it were, and not upon system, whereat,
if it were used upon system, I have no doubt that, impor-
tant as are the American reapers, the cultivator would en-
sure to the English farmer upon stock land advantages
quite as great if not greater, for it would Sara him nearly
one-half of the entire labour now bestowed on its plough-
ing ; hut to prove ofhis it will bo unavoidable to enter
somewhat into the detail of actual fanning. Indeed, our
implements must of course be judged not merely by their
I power of effecting a certain object, but by the usefulness of
that object when it has been effected. Thus Kilby's
paring plough will peel off the turf from a bowliog•green
as even a webb of cocoa-nut matting, yet if that were all it
might serve the gardener, but would net set re the farmer.
him, however, servo the farmer, became it gives one
needs of accomplishing a most valuable new process, the
autumnal cleaning of wheat stubble&
In order to prove this great easing the ordinary course of
ploughing on a common stock farm, according to the usual
lour course system, must be shortly stated.
After the wheat crop, the land, being full of running
couch, is ploughed in the winter, and ploughed ag:in, with
other operations, thrice more in the spring, until it appears
to be clean, when the turnip. are sown. In the next spring
it is ploughed by many good farmers twice for barley, in
order that the sheep-droppings may be well mixed with the
soil, and so the growth of the barley oe rendered regular.
The third crop, clover, sown with the barley, gives a year's
rest to the teams until it is broken up. with one ploughing,
and the fourth crop, the wheat crop, is sown. The account
will stand thus:—Boot crop, 4 ploughings; barley, 2
ploughings; clover, 0 ploughings; wheat, 1 ploughiug.
Total, 7.
Now, it has been found that if immediately after harvest
the wheat land be not ploughed, but pared at a depth of
2 inches only, the couch, the cause of so much labour, is
Intercepted before it has penetrated the ground, and ell
that future toil becomes needless. This work is done with
the scarifier. The saving of lab ur is easily calculated, if
we only compare the breadth of the scarifier, whichever
it be, for there are many of them with the breadth of the
plough. Thus our ploughs make a furrow nearly nine
inches wide, and are drawn by two horses. Coleman's
scarifier, one of the best for hard ground, is 5 feet wide
(seven times as wide), and is drawn by six horns. These
three pair, therefore, will cover es much ground as seven
pair at plough, and the labour, accordingly, would not be
half of one ploughing. There must afterwards be one of
good ploughing to lay up the land for the mellowing effect
oldie winter's frost. In the spring the land can be ono
more stirred with a wider scarifier (Biddle's 61 feet wide),
which would go deeper, the land being looser, with four
horses only. As this implement Is equal in width to 8}
ploughs, four horses would thus be doing the work of six-
teen. The operation will in labour be only a quartet,
ploughing. There are saved, besides, in spring, infinite
harrowing and rolling., which will defray the expense of
drilling the turnips.
Again with regard to the Earley-sowing after turnip+, it
used to be good farming, as I have said, to plough twice.
But in order to save ammonia, it is still better to pare the
Led as quickly as the sheepfolds shifted. This may be
does by Kilby'. or Bentall's paring-plough, and may be
set down as a half-ploughing. The frost mellows the
surface, and four horses scarifying at seed time, will make
it fit for the drill. This last operation may be set down
as one-third of a ploughing. We may now examine whet
saving of labour has been produced by this new class of
implements :
Old System. New System.
Ploughings. Ploughings.
One scarifying
Boots 4 .. { One ploughing
One scarifying
Barley 2.. One do.
Clover 0 .. One do.
Wheat 1

7 Si
Tina it appears that cultivators will Mw diq oes-ball
of the bone labour employed on the plough, the work,
too, as well or better. Adopting the standard economy
.a the tat of their merit, we find that, if a ploughing be
valued at 84., they can oave 7s. an acre yearly over the
whole of an arable farm. And we may adopt this calcula-
dem Is their favour more confidently, because by other
assns an equal saving of horse work can be made at other
senetheia ether descriptions of work. Some exceptions to
thin gimbal use of cultivators will occur of course to every
ismer • bat the substitution of them for the plough has
Iwo bees known to moan iood farmers, though probably it
ha sat as yet been earned out upon system by any oue of
b its fullest extent.
Then implements were not originally intended for air-
time lard ground, but were gradually developed out of the
beggew, which was mounted on wheels, with a view to the
rakbg of loose couch out of the ploughed ground, a us
which autumnal cleaning will soon, it may be hoped, make
obsolete.
Of the prise cultivators, Biddle's, by Mears. Ransom.,
is one al the oldest, and still one of the beat. The width
gives it peat assadinass. sad its leverage is good, though
wearing as awkward opleseasse. Many attempts have
bees mkt to ammo lib dodest, but none so succesandl
so dor dog* obaktit /MN by which the other prise
srmmYu 011IthaMi, is VW out of the ground. hinge
tis told I bays tstsd Osisman's, implement, and Mid it
segarior Is ether wide searifiers. For these implements
Mai Whirr* had two defects. They sometimes rise
=eat of the ground, and sometimes swerve in
Ise ; thus in each case missing a part of their
weal. Hence arises often *he necessity of dragging theme
bouti tine seerways
Olimatollooilier lasso
as taw am a plough,
This is s doeided ads,
stitatii• M the
parks of a very
MI be Ilmetimes
ossolloot ier that

fish's horn, is an 1.
adhere to this land.

°aired • prise se

oasways over the Wan; pitoirelvg;;;;a:
er Isere, Tina or swerves, but does ita work
lough, doing it therefore once for all.
, advance, and greatly &lot
scarifier for the ploat • 'fj:47t
tight surface, however, o t 7_,:
es
too brood, and Be • •.6
t purpose. Its long Nibs '
ingenious device by 141, yet eff
ad. This cheap mm ai hhlC4bo. ybe
a =hood plough ; andLth • Alga Ok
( fox CR
'IN
• • ,

Afssom 71,1610. II sioatis I
..
. 1831 .
1833 .
z

Delft attla• Me pa

t7S4
Cr. 5
C 15

at%
438
30

The rugs al the eve years engin Dee. St, lei% belse

C 340
170
270

[o;0

DAILY WEATHER TABLE.
&mania. SarraMll/1 189 Ule.
Tee state of the Weather at earth of the following phenol at
Nine o'clock yesterday awning. The stations are
arranged ia order ot tatitede.
Name of Plane. (k""".
a I litz"Vi I 'Meet Weather.
I Wind VI

Ten-kn. k
Ira nowt ohs
ORZENINI6II
Orris
Campanes
Teas.. LIN

GEMS Bitesat
Cies:k Ores
Gunk Mere
Gentle went
Ltettt
Cana
Oest/e WHIN
Gentle Preto
Grate trees,
lam
• -