PLOUGHS AND PLOUGHING.

EAULY IMPRESSIONS OF THB PLOUGH.

About a century ago James Small, a Scotch ploughwright, made great improvements on the old cumbrous and unwieldy ploughs used at that time — changing its form and proportioning the several parts. He also adopted the sock aud mouldboard to turn a rectangular furrow with greater precision than had ever been done before. For many years Small's plough was the model, and the only fctyle used in Scotland. This brought them to Wilkie, an Uddingston wright;, who made ploughs after Small's principle. Wilkie, being a wood-worker, got the iron work needed in the construction of his ploughs from George Gray, my great grandsire. At this time, about 1800, a farmer in Bellshill, who had been a blacksmith in his youth, conceived the idea of making a plough wholly of iron, and thus it was to Bellshill that belonged the credit of producing' the first plough made entirely of iron. This plough, which was a very rude implement, had for a coulter hole a fiat piece of iron, kneed or bulged out in the centre, and rivetted to the beam. The mouldboard was short, being pretty near the Yankee style, only more convex, the beam and stilts coming together exactly in the same manner as the short Oliver plough, and about the same length. Wilkie at this time began to keep a blacksmith of his own for making shares, coulters, and other iron work needed, and George Gray, being thus left in the lurch, took up Aitken's idea, and began to improve and model a plough entirely made of iron. Campbell, of'lslay, who also owned Woodhall 'estate, near Bellshill, gave him an order for two iron ploughs for Woodhall, and afterwards many more for Islay, so that George Gray was the first to produce commercially the iron plough. The mouldboards in those days were very short and convex, and turned over a flat rectangular furrow. With a view to produce narrower furrows with a greater shoulder for stiff soils, George Gray brought out Gray's No. 1 mouldboard, and raisfld the feather of the share, 'or, in other words, put on the cut ; and since then Uddingston, the birthplace of the cut, has certainlynot fallen away in this respect, for it has been adding ever since, and has now reached a point that many willsay isquiteoverdone, and; as far as the regular work of the farm is concerned, this is generally admitted.

WEAK POINT OF SCOTCH PLOUGHS.

The weak point of the Scotch plough was undoubtedly in the wearing parts not being interchangeable, so that they could be replaced without skilled labour. In close proximity to a good ploughsmith this might not; be of any consequence, but good smiths are very scarce nowadays. Both the English and American ploughs are ahead in this, and when parts wear out they can be replaced without skilled labour. The Americans had also aimed at producing a plough that would work without depending too much on the ploughman, and in the nso of wheels and shares incapable of being altered in any way, there was not so much need for and less scope for skill on the part of the ploughman. On the other hand, the Scotch plough required some skill, and in the hands of a good man had no tival for producing high-class work. He had often seen a bad ploughman who did not do justice to a good plough ; while, on the other hand, he had often seen a good man win honours with a very indifferent implement.

DOUBLE FURROW PLOUGH.

About 30 years ago they had the double furrow plough, but they were as quickly thrown aside, their greatest fault being probably their weight. Still it was astonishing that on the light and level soils, when the fields were large, that they did not meet with greater favour, for in New Zealand they were the standard implement, and had fairly monopolised the field. He had an nude in New Zealand who made and sold about 1800 of them every season, and within the last few years he had brought out a double furrow, fitted with chilled mouldboards and shares of the Yankee pattern, which had been a great success, Of the chilled ploughs themselves, the Oliver was the first to attract attention in this country, and he might say that the short Oliver had a resemblance to the old Scotch wood plough of a century ago, and its work is pretty much the same. It looked as if the Yankees had been studying ancient history, for this plough greatly resembled the pictures he had seen of Robert Burns at the plough. This was no objection to it, for although we were generally in advance of our forefathers, there were somethings in which we were forced to admit that the old way was the best. Many said that this had been the case with ploughing. Others again supported the more modern style, holding that a firm-packed, smooth and unbroken furrow was the best, fcasd bq

ploughed certainly looked better, and till lately was generally the most approved. Working land was not, and never could be, a cut-and-dried proces3. Bach farmer must accordingly, by practical experience, decide what plough suited his land and produced the best crops. In general usefulness and producing any style of furrow, the Scotch plough had the advantage; with the English or American ploughs they had to take them as they were. The Old No. 2 Gray's mouldboard (which was concave, and resembles the Yankee), with a flat, broad share, would be equally as light in draught as the American, and would make somewhat similar work. The fault of this mould was that, being concave, it did not scour well ; but if made of steel or chilled iron this objection would be removed. ,

DRAUGHT OF PLOUGHS.

The American plough was generally praised for being light in draught, and many supposed that the chilling accounted for it. This was only true to a very limited extent. More was due to the short dished mould which had little weight of earth pressing on it, and the angle of resistance at which the furrow was turned.' There was also a small amount of friction on the soleplate and mould, due to the fact that, instead of having to be drawn through the laud like a wedge with friction on both sides to give the packing necessary, only sufficient resiotance had to be given to make it clear its way, and throw over and outwards the furrow. The wheel or beam and the scouring qualities of the chilled metal aleo helped the draught. But they must remember that the plough that was producing the'best work was not the one that was easiest drawn. By best work he meant the most approved in that district for their Bothwell clays. In good ploughing, the furrow sfiould not only be straight and even ; it should also be thoroughly packed, and so well proportioned in depth that the sun (if the ploughing be towards it) could not show a favour to either side, but share the bounty of its genial rays equally. Wheels had not found much favour in Scotland, although there was no doubt but they lightened the draught and made the plough easier to manage. Now that deep furrows are being avoided to suit the reaper, and the growing scarcity of first-class ploughmen, indications are not awanting that they will yet be more generally used. Cast iron or chilled shares have been little used before the advent of the Yankee, although in general use in Eugland and Ireland for half a century and more. The Yankee had made more headway in Scotland than the English plough, but Scotland was an unconquered country, and he could not believe that even it had come to stay — something more suitable would be produced here to take its place. America for many years supplied our household sewing machines, and our reaping and mowing machines, but they are now made in our own country. At present they were being supplied with binders and ploughs from the same quarter, but it would only be for a time. All the same, the chilled plough was wonderfully well adapted for the lonely American farm, where labour, skilled or otherwise, could not be found, and where the work was more a question of quantity than quality, but they were not so suitable for this country. He found that many who had used the chilled plough for two or three seasons came back again to the iron plough, owing to the tendency the chilled plough had of glazing and leaving the soil hard and firm below.

WHAT PLOUGHING SHOULD BE.

As they were aware, there were various notions at the present time in this country as to what ploughing should be, and to arrive at some standard as to what style was best suited for the different circumstances was a thing much to be desired. Indeed, if there was anything in it at all, it was the one thing most needful. He knew that many said it was of little consequence how you ploughed so long as you put in plenty of good manure, and they pointed to their crops to prove their assertion. But the mere fact of a good crop was no proof that the land was being tilled with profit. Many bad farmers might grow good crops, but the outlay may be greater than the return. He did not care what style they might advocate, whether high or low cut, broken or smooth, tight or slack furrows, so long as it was decided what was the best for the soil of this district. That .was information which they, ploughmakers, expected from the farmers, for it was them alone who had the experience of what was required in ploughing. In farming, good tillage should be the first step ; manure was too expensive an artiele"*to be used as a corrective to bad work. They would consider ib quite out of place were he to attempt to tell them the names of the different parts of the plough and explain their uses— to tell them that a long pointed sock was the best for stony land, and that a short one suited clay best. It would be equally absurd for him^ to lecture them on the proper position of setting a coulter, more especially when there was no proper position for it. No one position was best, under all circumstances. In weedy or foul land the practical ploughman would set his coulter slanting backwards, to enable the weeds to run up the coulter. In clean land, on the other hand, he would set it perpendicular, so as to cut clean and allow the furrow to tweel over. Every farmer must also know that no one nuouldboard was capable of doing the best work under all eircumetances; and that all the theoretical rules 'about curves, angles, or bevels were not worth the paper they are written upon,

SHALLOW V. DEEP PLOUGHING.

Of late shallow ploughing has been much advocated, especially for lea lauds that have been pastured with cattle or sheep^ as their droppiDgs form too good a top dressing to be buried too deep. This seemed plausible enough at first sight ; but an argument for deep ploughing was found in the fact that the roots pushed themselves everywhere in search of nutriment, and in the case of cereals were kaown to go

down some feet. Another thing in favour oE deep ploughing was the" fact that w<=eds were more easily eradicated when a good deep furrow was turned. Unless, perhaps, in a thin soil moderately deep ploughing was, he thought, to be preferred. They had also to consider what breadth to cut for a corn crop. Some preferred a broad plain furrow 83 being more speedy, saving seed, and giving a bßttar crop of grain. His own opinion was that for lea ploughing a narrow furrow, say, about 6in or 6£in, was to be preferred, as the seed was better distributed across the soil and less vacant ground. It certainly took longer time to do the work at this siza, but the quickest way was not always the best. He thought they would get a much finer and better crop of straw by this method than by ploughing broader.

HIGH CUT V. PLAIN PLOUGHS. There was no doubt that the high-cutting plough used in that district foe the ordinary work of the farm had many advantages over a plain plough. It left a better seedbed, and fewer Beeds were lost. It also kept the land much cleaner and was easier harrowed. Ploughing could also be done, earlier ia the season without any danger of being green at seed time. He had all along noticed that those who had used the high-cut plough did nob readily go back to the plain one, or if they did, it Was only for a uhort time Those who cried against cut were mostly those who had no experience and knew nothing about it. If they had a bad ploughman, and could not get the local smith to put on the out properly, he would say by all means go in for plain work. It was easier managed, and, however bad it might be, it could not be worse than a bad and badlymanaged high cutter.

PLOUGHING MATCHES.

In conclusion, Mr Gray alluded to ploughing matches, and remarked that if these stimulated the ploughman to study and take an interest in his calling and be a better workman, it might be short-sighted policy for societies to "allow the ploughing matches to drop out of sight. Long rows of cattle and a good " gate " should not be the only aim of a farmers' society. To be a good ploughman it required unceasing application, a skilled, strong hand, and a correct eye, and be able to have strict command over the horses. He would also require great faculty of observation—in fact, more than many possess. The most successful men were those who were not only good ploughmen, but had also a thorough knowledge of setting their irons. It was a high accomplishment, and it took more ability than one would at first sight suppose. He would strongly advise young ploughman to study the work and take notes as they went along. It is an honourable calling, and they could never be too well informed. The plough was really, the first creditor of the State, and were it to cease work for a single season .the world over, there would be no further need for either ploughs or ploughing. Burns said that he was bred to the plough, -and was therefore independent. What a poetical wealth of thought followed thai! plough-tail that upturned the mouse and the wee modest mountain daisy.