The Standards G and H are both alike, except as they are opposite: Their Use is to draw, guide, and hold up the hinder Hopper: They are to be placed perpendicular to the Beams, and at equal Distance from each Side of those Beams, and at such a Distance before the Funnels, that when the fore Side of the Hopper by its whole Length bears against the hinder Surface of the Standards, the Seed may drop into the Middle of both Funnels, the Plough standing upon an horizontal Surface.
Be sure to take care, that the Sheats, Funnels, and Standards, be so placed, that the Spindle of the Hopper may be at right Angles with the Beams.
[Q and R] Part of the Limbers, which are also called Shafts, Sharps, and Thills; from whence the Horse that goes in them is call’d a Thiller. These Limbers are screw’d down to the Plank, by Two Screws and Nuts each. The Limbers are kept at their due Distance by the Bar S; near each End of which Bar, there is a Staple with a Crook underneath each Limber, to which is hitch’d, or fastened, a Link of each Trace, for drawing the Plough. This Bar is parallel to the Plank, and Seven Inches and an half before its fore Edge.
The Limbers must be mounted higher or lower at their fore Ends, according to the Height of the Horse that draws in them; and this may be done by the Screws that hold them to the Plank, and by cutting away the Wood at the Two hinder Screws, or at the Two foremost Screws, or by Wedges.
Every Workman knows how to team the Limbers; that is, to place them so on the Plank, that the Path of the Horse, which goes in the Middle betwixt them, may be parallel to all the Shares, and so that a Line, drawn in the Middle of this Path, might fall into a strait Line with the fore Share, standing on the same even Surface with the Path; for otherwise the Plough will not follow directly after the Horse, but will incline to one Side.
The Use of the Trunks of this Plough is for makeing the Chanels narrow, of whatsoever Depth they are: But, without Trunks, the Chanels must be made wide by Ground-wrists, which spread the Sides of the Chanels wide asunder, to the end that they may lie open for receiving of the Seed; and the deeper they are, the wider they must be: By this Width of a Chanel, the Seed in it is with more Difficulty cover’d, and the Chanel fill’d with the largest Clods, and the Seed comes up of a great Breadth, perhaps Three or Four Inches wide, so that the Weeds coming therein are hard to be gotten out.
To avoid these Inconveniences of wide Chanels, I contrived Trunks like those described, except that they were but Five or Six Inches high; and the Tops of their Plates, bending outwards from each other, form’d Two Sides of a Funnel; and the Wood between the Two Plates, being cut bevel at the Top, was as the fore Side of a Funnel to this Trunk: It was open behind from Top to Bottom: The Wheels were low, and the Seed-boxes narrow: The Seed in these Chanels was easily cover’d, especially those Sorts which were sown in dry Weather; for then the finest Mould would run in, and cover the Seed, as soon as the Trunks were past it.
The Seed in such a narrow Chanel comes up in a Line, where the Row not being above a Quarter of an Inch broad, scarce any Weeds come in it; and when the Weather is dry, the Earth of the Chanel not lying open to be dry’d, the Seed comes up the sooner.
I had Two Reasons for making of these Trunks higher, as they are now used: The one was, to avoid the too great Length of the Shares; and my other Reason was, that with those low Trunks, and long Shares, there could not be Two Ranks of Shares, and their Hoppers in the Plough, which are necessary for making very narrow Partitions, and absolutely necessary for planting this treble Row of Wheat; for if Three Shares for making the Seven-inch Partitions were placed in one Rank, the Mould (which is always moist or wet, when we plant Wheat) would be driven before the Shares, there not being room for it to pass betwixt them.
