Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/265

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bly well when the ground is fine, and makes a fhift to break up light land. This is the fort of land that is common in the Eaft, and the arable lands about Rome, being never fuffered to be fallow fo long as to come to turf: this plough fucceeds veiy well in fuch places, but it would be wholly impofiiblu to turn up what in England we call ftreng land, with it. The EtnBfliAfatgfo are therefore different from thefe, as the foil is different. Our ploughs^ where well made, cut oft the furrow at the bottom horizontally ; and 'then- tore, it being as thick on the land fide as on the furrow lick-, the sloughs cannot break it off from the whole land at fuch a .thiefcneia (being fix times greater than what the eaftern fleugbi have to break off) and for this purpofc it mull have, of neeeffityi, a eoulttr to cut it off: by this means the furrow is turned perfectly • whole and no par-, of the turf of it is broken ; nd if it lie lone without new tinning, the grafs from the edges will fpread, a©d imm a new turf on the, other fide, which was the b< Etum of the furrow before the turning ; but is now become the fur- face of the earth, and will foon become greenei with rate than it was before pi ug ing.

If whole, ftrong, turfy furrows are ploughed crofs-waj , too commoi'.Iv practif-:!, the coulter cannot eafiLy cut them; becaufe being ioofe underneath, they do not make a proper reftftauce or prefiure againft its edge, but are apt to lie drawn on heaps, '-and turned In all directions, but without cutting. Some of our ploughs have heavy drags, with long iron tines in them ; and tho' thefe broken pieces of turrows, 'being now loofer than before, require keener edges to cut them, thefe tines have no edges at ail. Thus the clods of earth are toffed into heaps again, and thefurface left bare between them, and great labour and expence is ufed to very little purpofe: " all this is owing to the one coulter.

If the foil be {hallow, it may be broken up with a narrow furrow, which will the fooner be brought into tilth ; but if it be a deep .foil, the furrows mull be: proportionably enlarged, or elfe a great part of the good mould will be left unmoved, and fo be loll. The deeper the land is, the worfe it is broke by one coulter; that is, it is broke into larger furrows, and it requires fuch repeated labour to conquer this, that often the belt land will fcarce pay the tillage.

This gives an opportunity to fcrvants to cheat their matters. They i'Lugh fuch deep land with a fmall furrow, and iballow, to the end that the turf and furrows may he broken the fooner, and the fuperficial part made fine. They pretend the plough will go deeper the next time ; but this is never the cafe. This fort of land muff not be ploughed the fecond time in wet weather; for this will caufe the weeds to multiply, and the earth will be formed into thick and heavy clods where trodden : and in dry weather, the refinance of the untouched earth be- low, and the flight prefiure of the plough above, will always be reafons why the plough will enter no deeper the fecond time than it did thefirft.

Another way to conquer a ffrong turf, is to plow it up firft with a breaii-pliugb, very thin ; and when the fwerd is rotten, then it is to be ploughed to the proper depth : but this method is liable to great objections; it is very troublefome and ex- peniive, and"if the turf be pared off in the winter, or early in fpring, it is a chance but the rains come on, and fet it to growing faftcr than before : if, on the other hand, it be pared later in the year, tho' the turf be thoroughly killed by the fucceeding dry weather, yet the time is loff, and the far- ■ merlofes the" lowing fealbn for wheat, which is the proper corn for fuch ffrong land.

The hwr-coukeved plough is the proper inftrumentfor the far- mer to have rccouife to on this and many other the like oc- caiions. This is an improvement on the comrnop plough, that makes it cut the pieces of earth into four ; that is, it thus divides the earth four times as fmall as the common

J

The common two wheeled plugh has of late years become

miiverfally ufed in m:mv counties, and is found greatly pre- - ferableto the pkughs theyu&u before; there is an objection to it, indeed, in regard to fomeftiff and miry lands, in which the wheels become clogged up, and cannot turn. I his, how- ever, is eafdy remedied by twilling thumb ropes of ftraw about the iron circle and fpokes of the wheels ; thefe fpread- ing as they turn, and as the circle twiit bears upon the ground, throw off the dirt, and ne»er. clog. The two prin- cipal parts of this plough are the head and the tail : the plough- head contains the two wheels and their axis, or ipindle, patting through a box, and turning round Loth in it and in the wheels. There are fixed perpendicularly to this box, two crow-flaves, as they arc called, which are flat and narrow 1 boards, each having on it two rows of holes, whereby to raife or fink the beam of the plough, by pinning up or down the pil- low, to increafe or diminiih the depth ot the furrow. Be- hind are a pair of gallows, through which the crow-ftaves » pafs at the top by mortaifes, into which they are pinned ; and to thefe are fattened what are called the wilds, which arc rings and crooks of Iron, by which the whole plough is drawn in the working. From the box to the center of the beam there is carried an iron-chain, confiftjng of tour, five, or more long links, and called the tow -chain : this fattens the plough-tail to th& ploughrhsad. It is fixed to an iron collar fattened in the

beam at one end, and at the ether paffes through a hole in the middle of the box, and is pinned in with a wooden pin. From the fame iron-collar to which the tow-chain is fixed, there is alfo another chain fattened, called the bridle-chain : this runs above the beam, as the tow-chain dees below it, and is compofed of fmaller and more numerous links. At the up- per end, as the tow-chain enters the box of the plough, this bridle-chain is fixed to the top of what is called the ftake of the plough : this is a perpendicular ftLk, carried up parallel with the left crow-flaff, and pretty near it, and fattened to it by a wyth or rope, or by the end of the bridle-chain itfelf, when that i-: long enough. This flake is alfo fn^ened in its lower part, under thegallows, to the fame crow-ftaff, by ano- ther wyth or piece of rope.

Thefe are the parts of which the head-part of the pktigh is compofed. The p&^A-tail confifts of the beam carried from the head to the very extremity, and fervjng as the fupport and bafe of all the reft. A little below the collar to which the tow-chain and bridle chain are fattened, this beam is pierced with a large hole, which lets through the coulter : this is a long and narrow piece, terminating in an edge, and reaching juft, to the (hare ; and it is i.xed immoveably in its place by means of a wedge which is driven into the hole of the beam with it : the office of this coulter is to cut the earth as it is thrown up by the fhare. Behind thefe, the fame beam is pierced with two more holts, one very near its end : thefe give paflage to two oblong pieces, called the fore-flieat and hinder- fheatj by which the rl ugh-fhare is fupported in its place. To the top of the hinder-iheat there is fattened a fhort handle by a wooden pin. Parallel to the hinder-fheat there runs up a piece of wood of much the fame form, called the drock ; and to this is fattened another horizontal piece, called the ground- writt : thefe are all on the right hand fide of the plough, and parallel with the fore-fheat. There runs another piece of much the fame form with it, on the right hand ; and the bot- tom of this is the earth-board. The long handle of this, which reaches as far that of the (heat, is fattened to the drock by a pin, the other end of which goes into the beam Near the lower end of the fore-fheat, there are two flat pieces of iron, which pafs from the two fides of it up to the beam j and being let through it, are fattened to the upper part by fcrews and pins. Thefe keep the meat in its place. The ft.ruct.ure of the four-coultered plough is different, in fome refpecls from this, tho' in general founded on it Its beam is ten foot long, whereas that of the common plough is but eight. The beam is itrait in the common plough^ but in this it is arched in one fourth part of its length, near the, plough-bsa. . Atthe diftance of three feet two inches from the end of the beam at the plough -tai], thefirft coulter, or that next the fhare, islet through ; and at thirteen inches from this, a fecond coulter is let through : a third at the fame diftance from that ; and, fi- nally, the fourth at the fame diftance from the third, that is thirteen inches.

The crookednefs of the upper part of the beam in thisphugh is contrived to avoid the too great length of the three foremoft coulters, which would be too much, if the beam was firait all the way; and they would be apt to bend and be difplaced, unlefs they were v..ttly heavy and clumfy. Afli is the belt wood to make the beam of, ft being fuilidently ftrong, and yet light.

'1 he iheat in this plough is to be (even inches broad. The fix- ing of the fhare in this, as well as in the common plough, is the niceft part, and requires the utmoft art of the maker; for the well going of the plough wholly depends upon the placing of this. Suppofing the axis of the beam, and the left fide of the fhare, to be both horizontal, they mutt: never be fet parallel to each other; for if they are, the tail of the fhare bearing againft the trench as much as the point, would caufe the point to incline to the right hand, and it would be carried out of the ground into the furrow, if the point of the fhare fhould be fet fo, that its fide fhould make an angle on the right fide of the axis of the beam, this inconvenience would be much greater ; and if its point fhould incline much to the left, and make too large an angle on that fide with the axis of the beam, the plough would run quite to the left hand ; and if the holder, to prevent its running quite out of the ground, turns the upper part of his plough toward the left hand, the pin of the fhare will life up, and cut- the furrow diagonally, leaving it half unphughed. To avoid this and feveral other inconve- niences, the ftrait fide of the fhare mutt make an angle upon the left fide of the beam ; but that mutt be fo very acute a one, that the tail of the fhare may only prefs lefs againft the fide of the trench than the point does.

The great thing to be taken care of, is the placing the four coulters ; for on this the fuccefs of the whole depends. Thefe muft be fo fet, that the four imaginary planes defcribed by their four edges, as the ; lough moves forward, may be all paral- lel to each other, or very nearly fo ; for if any one of them fhould be very much inclined t, or fhould recede much from either of the other, then they would not enter the ground to- gether. In order to the placing them thus, the beam muft be carefully pierced in a proper manner. The fecond coulter- hole mutt be two inches and an half more on the right hand than the firft ; the third muft be as much more to the right of the

fecond.