Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1870-05-18
EAST TENNESSEE UNIVERSITY.
Lecturc on AgricuIturc.

Inc euuJcct OF irO1. NlcnOlsOHs lecture on
Tuesday was Plows and Flowing. We give
below synopsis of his remarks. He said
Up to this point, we have found the aim Of
the farmer to be the Improvement of his soil !.
and for the accomplishment of this object he
uses two means-the mechanical division of the
soil and the addition Of other substance, or ma
nuring We have considered the great and i'm
portant means of improving the soil by drain
age, which belongs 70 the first class. The next
most important, and far most widely practiccd
means, is that of blowing. The pillow is the re-
preventative implement Of the farmer. 1t is
alike essential to the civilized and the unciyi-
lized tiller of the soil Practical blowing is not
absolutely essential to a correct knowledge of
the art The great variety of plows show q lack
Of knowledge as to the correct theory.
g. The history of the pillow is the history of
agriculture 1t, history is exceedingly inter-
esting. The efficient use of the pillow has ever
been an index to nations prosperity and its
position in the scale of civilization. The earli-
liest reference to the pillow which now remem-
Der is Deuteronomy 22l0, where the Hebrews
were forbidden to pillow with an OK and All ass
together, from which we learn they had two
horse, or rather two-ox plows in those days
Again, from Samuel 1920 We learn the Jews
had iron plows. If our plows are better than
theirs, they are only so in structure and not in
material The Greeks had wheeled plows, but
the Romans, strange te say, had very inefficient
plows not so good as the Jews or Greeks yet
the Roman was, par ercetience, a farmer.
"The next question is For what do we pillow ?
We must first know the what and then the
why More failures arise from want of a dis
= a i 1. Al.
from lack of either energy or zeal. BE sure
you are right and then go ahead, said Davy
Crockett.
" The first object of blowing is to stir the soil
by upturning the sod, and the next by loosen
ing without inverting it. The latter is partially
effected by the common bull-tongue pillow. In
inverting the sod the turning pillow first cuts it
loose, then lifts and turns it 1t combines the
principle of the wedge and the screw the first
TO cleave the soil the latter to lift it and lay it
over. The mold-board must fit the ftlrrow slice
or it will wear uneycnly. The mold-board
should fit straight-edge rule applied at right
angles to the line of motion. As the mold
board is short and steep or long and sloping, so
will it lift the Garth abruptly and drop quickly
or raise il gradually.
''These notifications are called for by differ
ent soils. To break the soil into fine particles
you want short mold-board to turn the soil it
must be long. One caution is necessary. The
mold-board must clear itself and not throw soil
in front of the plow instead of to the side. The
rise from the point to the mold-board must not
be too steep Again, error, occur in making
that part of the pillow too fat and too long thus
increasing the friction. Next in importance Is
the line of draft 1t should be elevated The
pillow must overcome the friction of its own
weight and the weight Of the soil, in addition to
cutting the sod. A practical direction is, to have
the intersection of the point and mold-board of
the pillow, the clevis and the point of attachment
of the trace chains at the collar, irt a straight
| line
The same subject will be resumed at the next
| lecture