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Star (Christchurch), Issue 746, 13 October 1870, Page 4

The American Gang Plough.—The following, which we extract from the Otago Daily Times of Oct. 10, will be interesting in view of the fact that one of the ploughs therein described is to be exhibited at the Agricultural and Pastoral Association's Show, on Nov. 9 :—A trial of the American gang plough recently introduced into the colony by Captain Baldwin, took place on Saturday afternoon at the farm of Mr Brodrick, Caversham, in the presence of a number of gentlemen interested in agricultural implements, and in farming pursuits. A pair of heavy draught horses were attached to the plough, and its merits tried in two classes of ground. The first trial was in the rich black loam lying in the flat to the left of the Forbury read, and the second in the somewhat more clayey, but at the s lme time more light and sandy soil, on the top of the hill behind Mr Brodiick's house. That the gang plough accomplishes the cutting up the land, and that too at a speed untttainable by the common plough there is no question ; hut the result does not so much resemble what we are accustomed to call ploughingas it does the effect of the cultivator. It dees not leave the ground in the smooth regular furrows that are looked upon as necessary to ploughed land, nor is it always successful in completely turning over the earth it cuts, some of the sods falling back, and leaving the original surface uppermost. This defect might probably, however, be remedied either by altering the set of the inner or hinder share, or by the application of a mould board. Otherwise the work ia most effectually and expeditiously performed ; in fact, the more rapidly the horses are driven the better the result. Of course the more rapidly the horses are driven, the sooner will they tire, and although the draught of the gang plough is not great, it is not supposed that a pair of horses could work it at the necessary speed, going at a brisk walk or a gentle trot, for more than two, or two and a half hours, at a stretch. There is no doubt that the gang plough is an important and valuable implement, and that the saving of time it effects is a weighty consideration ; and while the result may not, so far as this trial shows, be altogether satisfactory, it must not be forgotten that this is the first time it has been used in the province, and that the man who worked it can scarcely have had time to become thoroughly acquainted with the proper method of directing its operations. Probably with more experience the result might have been all that could be desired.