Resp. Any Weather, except the Ground be so dry and hard that the Plough cannot enter it; but it is very proper to be done, when the Earth is so wet, that by no means it ought to be plowed with any other Plough; for it never can be too moist for this, unless the Cattle which draw it be mired; because, tho’ all the Cattle should not go in the Furrow, yet their Treadings are cut so small by the Coulters, that the Earth is not kept from dissolving, as when turned off whole in common Tillage. ’Tis observed, that the Incisions made by the Coulters on swerdy Land, will not heal, or so close up, but that they will open again by the next Plowing, though it be a great while after. A Farmer who uses this Plough, may till in all Weathers and all Seasons of the Year, either in fallowing with this, which is best in wet, or in stirring with the common ones, which must be done in dry Weather; and when the Ground is broken up with this, it may be stirred in the driest Weather that can be, without the Danger of tearing (or spaulting) up of the under Stratum along with the Staple, because this is all broken before, and then no more can rise with it; as it does to the Ruin of the Soil, when in common Tillage they go deeper the Second time than the First: Also, if there be a Necessity of stirring some sort of Land when it is wet, it ought either to be done with this Plough, or else with a common one drawn by a single Row of Cattle treading all in the Furrow; for tho’ some Land be very fine, yet, when plowed by a double Row of Cattle in wet Weather, it will be made into large Pieces by the Treading, and perhaps not dissolve again in a long time: Therefore it is better to be prevented.
Farm. I perceive this Plough lays the Foundation for all good Husbandry; and there can be no other way to bring Land into perfect Tilth in so short a Time, or with so little Expence. And I am convinc’d, that no Farmer ought to be without it, who desires to be free from the Danger of his Land being ever out of Tilth: But I have heard it objected, that it is harder to draw than the common Ploughs; and that its Beam being longer, upon account of the Four Coulters, it lies farther behind, and comes harder after the Horses.
Resp. I must confess, there is something in that Objection; for this Plough, being something longer, may be a little the harder Draught; and also its Weight and Strength must bear a Proportion to the Length of it. But this small Increase of the Draught would have been a much stronger (if not a fatal) Objection, had that Custom been general, of Horses drawing by their Tails, as ’tis said to have been formerly in some Places; for then, perhaps, a sufficient Strength of Horses could not be applied to the Plough. But in Countries where Traces are in Use, every Horse of the Team may draw the Plough equally, and then there will be no other Inconvenience, besides the adding one Horse, or keeping a stronger Team: And he cannot be wise, who would lose the Profit of his Land, for the Odds of sometimes adding a Horse to his Plough. And I am very certain, that this Plough requires a much less Strength of Cattle to draw it in moist Weather, which is the most proper to use it in, than to draw a common Plough in the same Ground, and at the same Depth, in dry Weather; and can seldom be used safely in any other. And the Vulgar, who have always a wrong Cause ready at hand to apply to every thing, impute that Draught to the Fashion of the Plough, which ought to be imputed to its going deeper; and this great Depth at which ’tis capable of plowing, viz. Two Spit deep, is one extraordinary Benefit of it, tho’ it may, on Occasion, go as shallow as any.
The Draught is not so much increased by adding Three Coulters, as may be imagined; for when the Ground is moist, the Incisions are easily made by the Edges; and when they are cut small, the Furrows rise much more easily upon the Share and Earth-Board, than if whole.
Farm. If this Plough be so beneficial, having so many Advantages, and only the Two Inconveniencies, one of requiring a little more Strength to draw it, and the other its being unfit for dry hard Ground, I wonder why it is not become more common?
Resp. It has been used with very great Success for these several Years last past, but never like to be common, unless it be described in a more geometrical Manner, than any Plough has hitherto been; for the Plough-wrights find it difficult enough to make a common Plough with one Coulter to perform as it ought, for want of the necessary Rules of their Art. It is upon this Account that the Two-coulter’d Ploughs are used in few Places, though they have been found of excellent Use, and have been formerly common: But, alas! when the Makers, who by their diligent Study and much Practice had attained the Perfection of their Art, died for want of learning to write their Rules mathematically, and shew how the mechanical Powers were applicable to them, the Art was in a Manner lost, at the Death of those Artists; and then the unskilful Plough-wrights, destitute of the true Rules, were not able to make a Two-coulter’d Plough to perform well, and then it was left off. Very lately ’tis revived, since the Three and Four-coulter’d ones have been used; from whence some have made a Shift to take the Rules of placing Two Coulters into a Plough, and they begin to be common again; and, no doubt, will cease again as soon as the Rules are forgot.
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Plate. I.
B.Cole. Delin. et Sculp.