RURAL TALKS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 14981, 29 April 1909, Page 10

RURAL TALKS.

(By RTJSTICUS.) '•' Ploughman." Halkett, referring to my notes the other week in reply to a correspondent's inquiries about ploughing, writes:—"You make a mistake when you say that, in drawing a lino, two sticks should be placed at one end and one in the middle. If you did this your land would be wider at the one end. You would find out the reason if you were ploughing. In finishing up, you say that one furrow should be left. This is wrong, and you would find it so if you were finishing at a ploughing match." "With due deference to " Ploughman's" knowledge of ploughing, I still maintain that my system answers quite well. In practice I find that tho descriptions I have given of ploughing are quite workable ; in fact, the descriptions were given from a practical knowledge of the work. I have never been to a ploughing match, so that I do not know how tho work is done there, but I am led to believe that match ploughing is very often quite a different thing from farm ploughing. The one is often show work, while the other is meant for practical utility. In striking out, two sticks placed comparatively close together at the far end and one in the middle are quite sufficient to get a straight line with. If the sticks are all placed at the same distance from the fence or from the last land, it is impossible for the land to be wider at one end than at the other. If there is any doubt in the matter, it is worth while measuring at the end where the strike-out is to start, and then kick a spot in the ground to show, exactly where the plough should bo in starting out. On downs a lai-ger number of sticks must be used, and it is difficult, in going up .hill and_ down dale, to keep a straight line equidistant from the other laud. I find that the fewer sticks in reason, the better. Every time the team comes to a stick it has to be stopped in order to move the stick, and every time the team stops there is a danger of a kink in the strike-out. I may here state that in ploughing three-cornered pieces of land it is no easy _ matter to keep the strikc-outs equidistant. If tho measuring is not done at right angles to the line of ploughing, trouble will result. It is, therefore, necessary -to have marks down tho paddock to direct the measurements at the same angle all through. Sticks may be stuck up as "iiides, or any natural object, such as a tree or a stack, will do very well. With regard to finishing, I can only say that the method I gave is a good one, and in practice is easy to manage. A straight finish can be made easily, and the furrow is not too wide. It is a method adopted fairly widely to my knowledge. If two furrows are left for the last time, the plough must be run back again in order to clean out tho bottom of tho finish. <: Ploughman " also propounds tho following questions:—Could you tell me how to split a feering? Would both ploughs cut ground, or one ? Could you tell me the cause of a polished furrow and a dull one, provided always that the shares are clean and the mould boards near tho same pressure? At what depth and width will a doublefurrow plough make the best work ? I have never split a feering, Dor have I seen one split. I should say that the lever wheel would run on the land, while tho steering wheel would run in the opposite furrow against the ploughing. The front plough only would nut ground, because tho back plough would'be running in the furrow. There is no reason why there should be a polished and a dull furrow if the conditions for both furrows are exactly the same in every particular. It is very difficult to account for the vagaries of some ploughs, but if a plough is turning a polished and a full furrow there must be some difference in tho condition or in The set of the mould boards or share.' - . It is difficult to say at what depth and width a plough will do its best work. A great deal depends upon the kind of land, whether lea, stubble, turnip, fallow, and so on, and a lot de- I ponds upon the make of plough, whe- j thor it has a long or short mould board, and whether it has a long or or a short j angle. Generally speaking, a doublefurrow plough will do good work with a furrow five inches deep and eleven inches across. A digger plough gener- | ally does its best work if it is set with the furrows going double the width of j their depth.