Part 38

_Fig._ 2. is the Beam with its Mortise and Holes; its Crooking down at the Tail is not very material; but it causes the hinder Sheat to be a little the shorter below the Beam, whereby it may be something the lighter, and yet of the same Strength as if it were longer. Its whole Length is Four Feet Ten Inches: We make its Breadth and Thickness such, that it may be as light as it can be without Bending. A is the Mortise thro’ which the hinder Sheat passes. B is the Mortise for the fore Sheat, upon which it is pinned up. C is a Hole in the Beam, into which the End of the left Handle being driven, holds it from moving, and is the best Manner of fastening this Handle of a Plough. D, E, are the Holes, thro’ which the Two Legs of the double Retch pass, and are there held up by their Nuts. F is the Coulter-hole. G is the hinder Hole, by which the Plough is held up to the Plank. H and I are the Two foremost Holes of the Beam, thro’ one or the other of which passes the Pin which holds the Beam to the fore Part of the Plank. These Holes must be made as near together as they can be, without Danger of splitting them one into another; to prevent which there are several Ways: The one is by driving in Two square Pins cross the Beam, under the pricked Line _a b_, before the Holes are bored, which will prevent the Grain of the Wood from being forced out of one Hole into the other; or these Holes may be plated with Iron above and below, which will have the same Effect, and then there need not be more than One Inch between Hole and Hole.

_Fig._ 3. is the Plank apart, which by its Holes, and pricked Lines, shews the different Manner of placing the Beam. _a_, _a_, _a_, _a_, are the Four Holes for screwing down the Limbers to the Plank.

Supposing the Path of the Horse to be a strait Line, and the pricked Line _h i_ (which is at right Angles with the Plank, and equidistant from each Limber) to go exactly over it, without making any Angle on either Side of it; then the Beam must be placed at right Angles with the Plank, to the End that the Share may go parallel to the Horse-path, excepting that very small Inclination that its Point has to the left, shewn by the pricked Lines in _Fig._ 1. of _Plate_ 1. But this Plough seldom follows the Horse in that manner. The said pricked Line _h i_ generally makes Angles with the Horse-path; else when the Beam stood near the left Limber, and the Draw-pin near the right Limber in the Hole 9. (which it must do to keep the Share parallel to the Horse-path) the Weight of the right End of the Plank and its Limber would be too heavy for the right Hand of the Holder to manage; and if the Draw-pin be removed (suppose) to Hole 7. the Parallelism of the Share with the Horse-path will be lost, and the Point of the Share may be inclined too much towards the Left; and when a Furrow is to be plowed on the right Side of the Horse-path, the Beam must be removed nearer to the Middle of the Plank, and the Draw-pin must be placed on the left Side of the Beam, suppose to the Hole 2. This will bring the greatest Part of the Plank to the right Side of the Horse-path; and then the Share, standing at right Angles with the Plank, will make a very large Angle with the Horse-path, and then the Plough will not perform at all. Therefore it being necessary, that the Share always go parallel to the Horse-path, and often as necessary that the Plank go at oblique Angles to the Horse-path; it follows then that the Beam stand at oblique Angles with the Plank, to preserve the Parallelism to the Horse-path; and this cannot be done but by the Holes which are shewn under the pricked Lines which cross the Plank.

The Holes A, B, C, are those to one of which the Beam is screwed up by its Hole G, in _Fig._ 2. These Holes are made as near to the hinder Edge of the Plank, as they can safely be, without Danger of tearing out; which is generally about an Inch distant from the said Edge.

Every one of these Holes are answered by Three others, near the fore Edge of the Plank, as the Hole B has, at the fore Edge of the Plank, the Holes D, E, F, D, E belong to the Hole I of the Beam _Fig._ 2. These Two Holes are made as near together as they can be without breaking into one another. F answers the Hole H in _Fig._ 2. and is made between D and E, as near them as safely it can.

When the Beam is screwed up at B and F, and makes the same Angles with the Plank, as the pricked Line _b c_ doth; then the Draw-pin standing in the Hole 8 or 9, will bring the Plough so much to the Left, that the Share will point too much towards the Right; then remove the fore End of the Beam to the Hole D, and then the Beam will make the same Angle with the Plank as the pricked Line _c d_, which may bring the Share to be parallel to the Horse-path nearly enough: But if the Draw-pin should be placed in the Hole 1. then the Plank would go so much on the Right of the Horse-path, that the Share would point vastly too much towards the Left, standing in either of these Two Positions: Therefore the foremost Pin must be removed to the Hole E, and then the Beam being at the same Angles with the Plank as the pricked Line _f g_, it may be parallel to the Horse-path, or so nearly, that by removing the Draw-pin one Hole, it may be made perfectly so.

_Note_, That tho’ here are but Nine Holes for the Draw-pin; yet we usually make many more in our Planks: And sometimes by changing the Draw-pin either Way into another Hole, tho’ that Hole be but an Inch distant from the former, the Share is brought right without any Inconvenience.

The Holes A and C have each of them their opposite Holes, which (when the Beam is placed into either of the Two) have the same Effect, for keeping the Share parallel to the Horse-path, as the Hole B and its Three opposite Holes have; and if either of the Holes belonging to A, B, or C, should not bring the Beam sufficiently oblique to the Plank, for the Share to be parallel to the Horse-path, when the Draw-pin is in some one particular Hole, then there may be another Hole bored before, on the Right or Left, for the fore Pin to pass thro’ by the Hole H of the Beam _Fig._ 2. which will incline the Beam a little more to the Right or Left, as occasion requires; and if none of all these be sufficient, the Plank may be turned the other Side upwards; and the Beam being fastened there by the hinder Screw into any one of those Holes, which were next to the fore Edge of the Plank before it was reversed, there may be a new Set of Holes to answer the fore Pin, of which that which was an hinder Hole before the Plank was reversed, may be one. These may set the Beam at different Angles from any of the first Holes; so that there may be at one End of the Plank Six Systems of Holes, Three on the one Side, and Three on the other; and if we have a mind to make yet more various Positions of the Plough, we may turn the Plank, End for End, and there make Six different Systems of Holes.

But, instead of turning the Plank, it would be better to have a Fourth Hole in the Beam, standing as near to the hinder Hole as H doth to the fore Hole; to answer which Fourth Hole, there may be Two Holes in the Plank, one at each Side of the hinder Hole of every System at proper Distances, to set the Plough still at more different Angles with the Plank; and these, I believe, will be more convenient for the Purpose than the different Holes in the fore Part of the Plank, it being easier to remove the hinder Screw than the fore Screw; because if the Plank and Limbers are not held up by somebody, whilst the fore Pin is out, their Weight will wrench out the hinder Hole of the Plank by that Screw; but whilst the hinder Screw is out, there is no need of holding up the Plank, because its Weight, bearing upon the Beam, cannot injure the foremost Hole, whilst the Limbers bear upon the Horse. Upon this account, I wonder we had not made the Holes, for changing the Position of the Beam, at the hinder Part of the Plank rather than the fore Part; which convinces me, that new Instruments are seldom perfect in the Beginning.

We can also alter the Standing of the Beam, by cutting away the Wood on one Side of an Hole, and placing a Wedge on the opposite Side of the Pin.

The Holder may make some Alteration in the Going of the Plough by the Handles.

The Reason we never set the Beam on the right Half of the Plank is, that the Plough always turns its Furrow towards the Right-hand; and the strait Side of the Share and the Coulter never go so near to a Row on the Right-hand, by the Breadth of Two Furrows, as it does to a Row on the Left-hand.

If by the Drawing of the fore Horse or Horses, the Plough should bear too hard upon the Thiller, it may be helped by making a Row of Holes near the hinder Side of the Plank, for the Draw-pin, instead of those in the Middle; for the farther backwards the Draw-pin is plac’d, the less will the Limbers bear on the Thiller, especially when drawn by more Horses than one; because the fore Horses draw the Limbers more downwards than the Thiller doth, as may be seen in _Fig._ 4.

_Fig._ 4. shews the manner how the Hoe-plough is drawn, and how the Traces are fix’d to it. The Traces of both Horses are fastened to the Notches of the Ends of the Whipper at _a_ and _b_. The Traces of the Thiller by their fore Part are fastened to an Hook, or Ring, on the Wood of the Collar, as is usual for other Thillers; and the fore Part of the next Horse’s Traces is fastened to his Collar in like manner; but these Traces, being twice as long as those of the Thiller, must be held up in the Middle by a Piece of Cord or Chain, as at _c_, where one End of it is fastened to the Trace, and passes over the Top of the Collar, behind one of the Hames, and before the other to keep it from slipping backwards or forwards; its other End is fastened to the opposite Trace on the other Side, as this End is at _c_. This prevents the Chain from falling down, and getting under the Horse’s Legs in turning; but beware that this String or Chain be not so short as to hold up the Traces higher than their strait Line; for that would press upon the Collar, and gall the Thiller, besides occasioning the Plough to be drawn too much upwards; for this drawing of the fore Horse by a different Line from that of the Thiller, is a great Advantage for keeping the Plough the firmer into the Ground.

If there is another Horse, his Traces are fastened at the Collar of the Second, in the same manner as in drawing of a Waggon.

When we hoe betwixt Rows, where the Plants are very high, as those of Turnep-seed, which are much higher than the Horses, to turn a new Furrow up to the Row, when there is a Trench in the Middle of the Interval, where the Horses must go, we find it best to place the Beam by the Holes B and E, in _Fig._ 3. and the Draw-pin near the left Limber, which brings the Tail of the Plough to the Right-hand, and the fore Ends of the Limbers being towards the Left, the End of the right Limber (by turning the Handles a little to the Left) bears against the wooden Saddle at _d_, and cannot hitch into or take hold of any of the Plants to tear them. And that no Part of the Limber may take hold of any Plant, we make it very smooth from one End to the other; and cut off the Corner of the Plank equal with the Limber, that the Plants may slip by it without hanging in it, or being broken by it. The Whipper standing towards the left End of the Plank, its End _b_ does not reach so far towards the right as to take hold of the Plants, its End _a_ being over the Interval, where no Plants are; and to keep its right End the more out of Danger of hurting the Plants, we place the Hook of its Chain nearer towards this End, by which means the left End, becoming heavier, sinks lower, and raises the right End higher; and the higher it is, the more secure the Plants will be from it; because they are held off by the Limber above.

This way my Turnep-seed has been ho’d, when one would have thought it impossible for a Plough and Horses to go betwixt the Rows without destroying the Crop. Almost in this manner we give our Wheat the last Hoeing, to turn the Furrow a Second time towards the Row. When the Plants of the Rows are very high, the Driver must go in the next Interval, on the Left of the Plough; and the Holder has a Cord, like the Reins of a Bridle, which he lays over the End of the Draw-pin, which keeps it from falling down, until he has occasion to use it for guiding or turning the Thiller.

When we turn the Furrow from the Row (which will then be ever on the left Side of the Plough), the Plough must be set in a very different and contrary Posture; but then the Plants commonly being low, there is no Danger of the Whipper’s or Limber’s hitching or taking hold of them; but the Driver must take care, that he does not tread on them, nor suffer any of the Horses to do so; and they of themselves, when they are not blind, take all the Care they can to avoid it; and I observe, that the Plants are oftener injured by the Driver, than by the Horses.

’Tis in this last-mentioned manner of Hoeing, when we go very near to the young Plants, the First or Second time, that we must take care of burying them with the Earth, which (especially when dry and fine) is apt to run over to the left Side of the Plough; this we can in great measure prevent, when the Ground is clean, by nailing with Three or Four Nails a very thin square Piece of Board to the Sheat, with one Corner bearing at, or below, _a_, in _Fig._ 1. and its other lower Corner bearing on the Back of the Coulter on its left Side at _b_, its upper Corner reaching to _c_ or higher; its fore End is ty’d on to the Coulter by a leathern Thong passing thro’ an Hole very near the End of the Board. The lower Edge of the Board must come no lower than the prick’d Line _a_, _b_, which, at _b_, is just even with the Surface of the Ground, before it is rais’d by the Share; for if this Board should be set down too near the Share, the Plough would not go; but, being set in this manner, it prevents the Earth (when never so much pulveriz’d in the driest Weather) from running over upon the Plants to bury them, tho’ the Plough go very near them; except in this case, we never use a Board, the Earth running over to the left Side, being often advantageous in Hoeing; for it changes more Surface of the Ground, than if it went all to the right; and when in Summer we hoe from the Wheat-rows, not going very near to the grown Plants, this Earth that runs over the Share to the Left, helps to mend such Places where the Furrow was not thrown up close enough to the Row by the precedent Hoeing.

The first time we turn a Furrow towards the Row, the Horses go in the Trench near to it, and the Plough stands on the left Side of the Horse-path, almost in the same manner as when the Furrow is turn’d from the Row; but we very often make use of a common Plough, for throwing down the Ridge, which has lain all the Winter in the Middle of the Interval. One Wheel, going on each Side of that Ridge, holds that Plough to a great Exactness for splitting this Ridge into Halves, which the Earth-board, being set out for that Purpose, throws up to the Row on each Side of the Interval.

We also very often make use of the Two-wheel’d Plough, for raising up the Ridges, whereon we drill the Rows; not but that the Hoe-Plough will do every thing that is necessary to our Husbandry: Yet the common Ploughs being heavier than we usually make our Hoe-Ploughs, they by their Weight, and Help of their Wheels go a little steadier: and besides the Ploughmen, being more accustom’d to them, prefer them before all other, where their Wheels are of no Prejudice.

I never saw neater Ridges rais’d by any Plough, than by the Hoe-Plough, nor finer Plowing; and I believe that were it made as heavy, and as strong, it would outdo the Swing-Plough, in plowing miry Clays, where Plough-wheels cannot go; but I, haveing no such Land, have never made any Hoe-Plough heavy enough for it. However, I am convinc’d, by the many Trials which I have seen, that no other Plough can be used for every Horse-hoeing Operation, so effectually as this I have now describ’d.

The making the Hoe-plough is not difficult for a good Workman; and a few of the Holes for setting the Beam are sufficient, provided they are made in their proper Places, which is impossible for me to describe exactly in a Number that is no more than necessary; because the Distance the Plough must go from the Horse-path on either Side, is uncertain, as the Largeness or the Depth of the Furrow is; and for that Reason, it is as impossible for me direct the Ploughman to the particular Angles, at which his Beam must be set with the Plank, to keep the Share parallel to the Horse-path, as it is to direct a Fidler, how far he must turn his Pegs to give his Strings their due Tension for bringing them all in Tune, which without a Peg to each String could never be done; but when he has his just Number of Pegs, his Ear will direct him in turning them, till his Fiddle is in Tune; so the Ploughman by his Eyes, his Feeling, and his Reason, must be directed in the setting his Plough; but without a competent Number of Holes, he can no more do it than a Musician can tune Four Strings upon one Peg. And I am told, that some Pretenders to making the Hoe-Plough have fix’d its Beam to the Plank immoveable, which makes it as useless for hoeing betwixt Rows, as a Violin with but one Peg to its Four Strings would be for playing a _Sonata_.

_Fig._ 5. shews the Sort of Yoke, that is us’d on every Ox that draws in a single File, as they always must when they work with the Hoe-plough; but after they have been accustom’d to draw double (_i. e._ Two abreast) they must be practis’d for about a Week to draw single, before they are set to Hoeing; for otherwise they will be apt to demolish the Rows, one running off to the right-hand, expecting his Fellow to come up with him on the Left, and another will run off on the Left to make room for his Companion to go abreast with him on the Right, endeavouring to go in the manner in which they us’d to be placed for drawing in Pairs.

I suppose I need not give any Caution about muzling the Oxen when they hoe; because they will eat the Plants as soon as they come an Inch above the Ground, and that will shew the Necessity of it; but there is no occasion to muzzle the Horses until the Plants are grown as high as their Noses, when rein’d up, as in _Fig._ 4.

_Fig._ 6. is an Instrument of Pulveration, which might have been sufficiently describ’d by its Matter, Weight and Dimensions, without any Portrait, were it not to shew the particular Manner of drawing it, being very different from that of a common Roller, whose Frame is difficult to make, and costly; but this, being only Three Feet long, is drawn by a simple Pair of Limbers, held together, by the Two Bars A and B, firmly pinn’d in at their Ends.

Its Gudgeons must not come out beyond the outer Surface of the Limbers, lest they should take hold of the Plants, when drawn in the Intervals; also the hinder Ends of the Limbers, behind the Gudgeon, should crook a little upwards, for the same Reason.

This Stone Cylinder is Two Feet and an half Diameter, and weighs Eleven hundred Weight besides the Limbers. It must never be us’d but in the driest Weather, when neither the Plough nor Harrow can break the Clods; and then being so very ponderous and short, it crushes them to Powder, or into such very small Pieces, that a very little Rain, or even the Dews (if plentiful), will dissolve them.

I have had great Benefit by this Roller in preparing my Ridges for Turneps. The Weather proving dry at _Midsummer_ (which is the best Season for planting them), the Land was in Pieces like Horse-heads, so that there was no Hope of reducing them fit for planting with Turneps that Year; the Clods being so very large, that they would require so many Vicissitudes of wet and dry Weather to slack them; but this Instrument crush’d them small, and the Plough following it immediately, the Ridges were harrow’d and drill’d with very good Success.

I have also made use of it for the same Purpose in the Middle of a cloddy Field, where it pulveriz’d the Clods so effectually, that the Benefit of it might be plainly distinguish’d by the Colour and Strength of the Two following Crops, different from the other Parts of the Field adjoining on both Sides, whereon the Roller was not drawn.