"Mole-Drains are the simplest of all the forms of the covered drains. They are formed by means of a machine called the mole plow. This machine consists of a long wooden beam and stilts, somewhat in the form of the subsoil plow; but instead of the apparatus for breaking up the subsoil in the latter, a short cylindrical and pointed bar of iron is attached, horizontally, to the lower end of the broad coulter, which can be raised or lowered by means of a slot in the beam. The beam itself is sheathed with iron on the under side, and moves close to the ground; thus keeping the bar at the end of the coulter at one uniform depth. This machine is dragged through the soft clay, which is the only kind of land on which it can be used with propriety, by means of a chain and capstan, worked by horses, and produces a hollow channel very similar to a mole-run, from which it derives its name."
A correspondent of the New York Tribune thus describes the operation and utility of a mole plow, which he saw on the farm of Major A. B. Dickinson, of Hornby, Steuben County, New York:
"I believe there is not a rod of tile laid on this farm, and not a dozen rods of covered stone drain. But the major has a home-made, or, at least, home-devised, 'bull plow,' consisting of a sharp-pointed iron wedge, or roller, surmounted by a broad, sharp shank nearly four feet high, with a still sharper cutter in front, and with a beam and handles above all. With five yoke of oxen attached, this plow is put down through the soil and subsoil to an average depth of three feet—in the course which the superfluous water is expected and desired to take—and the field thus plowed through and through, at intervals of two rods, down to three feet, as the ground is more or less springy and saturated with water. The cut made by the shank closes after the plow and is soon obliterated, while that made by the roller, or wedge, at the bottom, becomes the channel of a stream of water whenever there is any excess of moisture above its level, which stream tends to clear itself and rather enlarge its channel. From ten to twenty acres a day are thus drained, and Major D. has such drains of fifteen to twenty years' standing, which still do good service. In rocky soils, this mode of draining is impracticable: in sandy tracts it would not endure; but here it does very well, and, even though it should hold good in the average but ten years, it would many times repay its cost."
Major Dickinson himself in a recent address, thus speaks of what he calls his
SHANGHAE PLOW.
"I will take the poorest acre of stubble ground, and if too wet for corn in the first place, I will thoroughly drain it with a Shanghae plow and four yoke of oxen in three hours.
"I will suppose the acre to be twenty rods long and eight rods wide. To thoroughly drain the worst of your clay subsoil, it may require a drain once in eight feet, and they can be made so cheaply that I can afford to make them at that distance. To do so, will require the team to travel sixteen times over the twenty rods lengthwise, or one mile in three hours; two men to drive, one to hold the plow, one to ride the beam, and one to carry the crow-bar, pick up any large stones thrown out by going to the right or left, and to help to carry around the plow, which is too heavy for the other two to do quickly.
"The plow is quite simple in its construction, consisting of a round piece of iron three and a half or four inches in diameter, drawn down to a point, with a furrow cut in the top one and a half inches deep; a plate, eighteen inches wide and three feet long, with one end welded into the furrow of the round bar, while the other is fastened to the beam. The coulter is six inches in width, and is fastened to the beam at one end, and at the other to the point of the round bar. The coulter and plate are each three-fourths of an inch thick, which is the entire width of the plow above the round iron at the bottom.
"It would require much more team to draw this plow on some soils than on yours. The strength of team depends entirely on the character of the subsoil. Cast-iron, with the exception of the coulter, for an easy soil would be equally good; and from eighteen to twenty-four inches is sufficiently deep to run the plow. I can as thoroughly drain an acre of ground in this way as any that can be found in Seneca County."
From the best information we can gather, it would seem, that on certain soils with a clay subsoil, the mole plow, as a sort of pioneer implement, may be very useful. The above account certainly indicates that on the farm in question it is very cheap, rapid, and effectual in its operation.