The Farm.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 8, 20 May 1893, Page 11

The Farm.

PLOUGHS AND PLOUGHING. The plough is doubtless the oldest and most widely-known farm implement in the world, and considering the long’ time it has been in use, one would have thought (remarks Thistledown in the Australasian) that its various parts in construction would have been perfected by now. Such is not the case, however, for ar the present day there is hardly any implement that is undergoing greater improvements than the plough. In bygone years, when ploughing matches were all the rage, the implementmakers in this and other countries laid themselves out to produce a plough that would turn a furrow of mathematical proportions, and with such precision of “cut” that the skill of the ploughman or the steadiness of the horses were matters of very secondary importance. I once knew a blacksmith who invented a very peculiar style of mould-board, who used to attend all the district ploughing matches, and although he knew little or nothing practically about “ holding ” a plough, he never failed to carry away first prize, and that, too, often with a pair of old cart-horses hired in the nearest village, and which were just about as unlikely to draw the plough as the man himself was to hold it. The secret of his success lay in the shape of the mould-board and the angles at which the irons w T ere set. The style of work executed was what has often been termed, “ prize ploughing. ” But farmers have generally come to the conclusion that, although the kind of ploughing was pretty, it failed to grow any better crops. In fact, the yields were invariably noticed to be lighter the more precisely the furrows were turned. Practical men have been studying out this matter, and they have arrived at the conclusion that when the furrows are turned over in uniform slices, unbroken like a slab, another machine and another operation are required to do the pulverising. The new style of ploughs are designed to remedy this defect, so that the furrows are thoroughly broken up and pulverised in the process of turning them over. They are lighter also in draught, thus resulting in heavier crops being raised at less expense, from the simple fact that the ground is beter ploughed.