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PLOUGH AND PLOUGHING

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 852 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PLOUGH AND PLOUGHING . To enable the See also:

soil to grow See also:good crops the upper layer must be pulverized and weathered. This operation, performed in the See also:garden by means of the See also:spade, is carried on in the See also:field on a larger See also:scale by the plough,' which breaks the soil and by inverting the furrow-slice, exposes fresh surfaces to the disintegrating See also:influence of See also:air, See also:rain and See also:frost. The first recorded See also:form of plough is found on the monuments of See also:Egypt, where it consists simply of a wooden See also:wedge tipped with See also:iron and fastened to a handle projecting backwards and a See also:beam, pulled by men or oxen, projecting forwards. Many references to the plough are found in the Old Testament, notably that in 1 Sam. xiii. 20: " All the Israelites went down to the See also:Philistines to sharpen every See also:man his See also:share and his coulter." Descriptions of ploughs found in See also:Hesiod's See also:Works and Days and in See also:Virgil's Georgics i. 169-175, show little development in the See also:implement. The same may be said of the Anglo-Saxon ploughs. These are shown with coulter and share and also with wheels, which had in earlier times been fitted to ploughs by the Greeks and also by the natives of Cis-Alpine See also:Gaul (See also:Pliny, His& nat. 18, 18). A See also:mattock with which to break the clods is often found represented in Anglo-Saxon drawings as subsidiary to the plough. All these types of plough are virtually hoes pulled through the ground, breaking but not inverting the soil.

In the first See also:

half of the 18th See also:century a plough with a See also:short See also:convex See also:mould-See also:board of See also:wood was introduced from the See also:Netherlands into See also:England and, as improved at See also:Rotherham in See also:Yorkshire, became known as the Rotherham plough and enjoyed considerable See also:vogue. At this See also:period ploughs were made almost wholly of wood, the mould-board being cased with plates of iron. Small, of See also:Berwickshire, brought out a plough in which beam and handle were of wrought The O. Eng. form is pjoh, which is usually found in the sense of " plough-See also:land," a unit for the See also:assessment of land (see HIDE), the See also:regular O. Eng. word for the implement being sulh, still found in some dialects in the form sull. It appears in many See also:Teutonic See also:languages, cf. Du. ploeg, Ger. Pflug, Swed. plog, See also:Dan. ploy. The See also:Slavonic forms, such as Russ. or Pol. plug, are borrowed from the See also:German. It does not appear in See also:Gothic, where the word used is hoha. The ultimate origin of " plough " is unknown. Max-See also:Muller (See also:Science of See also:Language, i.

296) connects the word with the Indo-See also:

European See also:root meaning " to See also:float," seen in the Gr. ,rXorov, a See also:boat or See also:ship; the same word would be applied to the ship " ploughing " through the waves, and to the implement " ploughing " through the See also:earth. A See also:Celtic origin has been suggested, connecting the word with Gael. ploe, stump of a See also:tree, as forming the See also:original plough. The form " plow " was See also:common in See also:English until the beginning of the 18th century, and is usual in See also:America.iron, the mould-board of See also:cast iron. The shares, when made of the same material, required See also:constant sharpening; this See also:necessity was removed by the See also:device, patented by See also:Robert Ransome in 1803, of chilling and so hardening the under-See also:surface of the share; the upper surface, which is soft, then wears away more quickly than the chilled See also:part, whereby a See also:sharp edge is always assured. Nowadays the mould-board is of See also:steel with a chilled and polished surface to give greater wearing qualities and to reduce See also:friction. In the latter part of the 19th century there were numerous improvements but no fundamental alterations in the construction of the See also:ordinary plough. The working parts of the plough are the coulter, the share, and the See also:breast or mould-board. These are carried on the beam, to which are attached the handles or tilts at the back, and the See also:hake or clevis and See also:draught-See also:chain at the front. The hake is notched so that, by moving the draught-chain higher or See also:lower thereon, the plough is caused to go more or less deeply into the ground. It may also be adjusted to suit the height of the horses used. The hake moves laterally on a quadrant and it is thus possible to give the plough a tendency to See also:left or right by moving the hake in the See also:reverse direction.

A See also:

frame is bolted to the beam and this carries the breast or mould-board to the fore-end of which the share is fitted. The See also:side-cap, a See also:plate of See also:Newcastle Plough. iron fixed to the land-side of the frame, is intended to keep the edge of the unploughed soil See also:vertical and prevent it from falling into the furrow. A piece of iron called the See also:slade is bolted to the bottom of the frame, and this, See also:running along the See also:sole of the See also:fur-See also:row, acts as a See also:base to the whole implement. The coulter (either See also:knife or disk) and sometimes a skint-coulter (or jointer) are attached adjustably to the beam, so as to See also:act in the front of the share. The coulter is a knife or revolving disk which is fixed so that its point clears the point of the share. The skim-coulter is shaped like a See also:miniature plough, substituted for or fixed in front of the coulter; it is used chiefly on See also:lea land, to See also:pare off the surface of the soil together with the vegetation thereon, and turn it into the previous furrow, where it is immediately buried by the furrow slice. Two wheels of unequal height are commonly fitted to the front of the beam. By means of them the See also:depth and width of the furrow are regulated, whereas in the See also:case of " See also:swing " or wheelless ploughs these points depend chiefly on the skill of the ploughman. In the wheeled plough some of the See also:weight and downward pull due to its See also:action on the ground is taken by the wheels; the sliding friction is thus to some extent converted into a See also:rolling friction, and the draught is correspondingly diminished. In operation the coulter makes a perpendicular cut separating the furrow-slice which is divided from the " sole " of the furrow Crested Furrow. Rectangular Furrow.

by the share and then inverted by the See also:

curve of the breast as the. plough moves forward. The See also:process is indicated in the illustra- tion of different types of furrow. The form of a furrow is regulated by the shape and 'width of the share, working in See also:combination with a proper shaped breast. A " crested " furrow is obtained by the use of a share, the wing of which is set at a higher See also:altitude than the point, but this type of furrow Wide Broken Furrow. is less generally found than the " rectangular " form obtained by a level-edged share, which leaves a See also:flat bottom. During the greater part of the loth century the ideal of ploughing was to preserve the furrow-slice unbroken, and this See also:object was attained by the use of See also:long mould-boards which turned the Digging Plough. slices gently and gradually, laying them over against one another at an See also:angle of 450, thus providing drainage at the bottom of the furrow, and exposing the greatest possible surface to the influences of the See also:weather. Subsequently the digging plough came into vogue; the share being wider, a wider furrow is cut, while the slice is inverted by a short See also:concave mould-board with a sharp turn which at the same See also:time breaks up and pulverizes the soil after the See also:fashion of a spade. Except on extremely heavy soils or on shallow soils with a subsoil which it is unwise to bring upon the surface, the See also:modern tendency is in favour of the digging plough. A ploughed field is divided into lands or sections of equal width separated by furrows. On See also:light easy draining land 22 yds. is the usual width; on the heaviest lands it may be as little as s yds., and in the latter case the furrows will act as drains into which the See also:water flows from the intervening ridges).

Certain important See also:

variations of the ordinary plough demand See also:consideration. The one-way plough See also:lays the furrows alter-counteract the tendency for the soil to See also:work down the slope. One-way ploughs also leave the land level and dispense with the wide open furrows between the ridges which are left by the ordinary plough. They are made on different principles. One type comprises two See also:separate ploughs, one right See also:hand and one left, which revolve on the beam, one working, while the other stands vertically above it. In another the mould-board and See also:Balance Plough. share are shaped so that they can be swung on a swivel under the beam when the latter is lifted. A third type is made on the " balance " principle, two plough beams with mould-boards being placed at right angles to one another, so that while the right-hand plough is at work the left-hand is elevated above the ground. See also:Double furrow or multiple ploughs are a combination of two or more ploughs arranged in See also:echelon so as to plough two or more furrows. The weight of these implements necessitates some See also:provision for turning them at the headlands, and this is supplied either by a bowl See also:wheel, enabling the plough to be turned on one side, or by a pair of wheels cranked so that they can be raised by a See also:lever when the plough is working. The double-furrow Turnwrest Plough. nately to its left and right, so that they all slope in the same direction.

This is found advantageous on See also:

hill-sides where the work is easier if all the furrows are turned downhill; or from another point of view the furrows may be all laid uphill so as to ' Methods of the " setting-out " of land to be ploughed together with a full discussion of other technical details' See also:relating to ploughing will be found in ch. vii. of W. J. See also:Malden's Workman's Technical Instructor (See also:London, 1905). See also:Riding Plough. plough was known as See also:early as the 17th century, but, till the introduction of the latter device by Ransome in 1873, cannot be said-to have been in successful use. The " sulky " or riding plough is little known in the See also:United See also:Kingdom, but on the larger arable tracts of " other countries where See also:quick work is essential and the See also:character of the surface permits, it is in See also:general use. In this form of plough the frame is mounted on three wheels, one of which runs on the land, and the other two in the furrow. The furrow wheels are placed on inclined axles, the plough beam being carried on swing links, operated by a hand lever when it is necessary to raise the plough out of the furrow. The land wheel and the forward furrow wheel are adjustable vertically with reference to the frame, for the purpose of controlling the action of the plough. In the disk plough, which is built both as a riding and a walking plough, the essential feature is the substitution of a concavo- convex disk, pivoted on the plough beam, for the mould-board and share of the ordinary plough. This disk is carried on an See also:axle inclined to the See also:line of draught, and also to a vertical See also:plane. As the See also:machine is See also:drawn forward the disk revolves and cuts deeply into the ground, and by See also:reason of its inclination crowds the earth outwards and thus turns a furrow.

A scraper is Multiple Disk Plough. provided to keep the disk clean and prevent sticking. The controlling levers and draught arrangements are similar to those in the " sulky " plough. The See also:

advantage of this plough over the ordinary form is in the See also:absence of sliding friction, and in the mellow and porous See also:condition in which it leaves the bottom of the furrow. Disk ploughs are unsuitable for heavy sticky soils and for stony land, but may be used with effect on stubbles and on land in a dry hard See also:state. Perhaps their most common use is in ploughing on a large scale in See also:conjunction with See also:steam See also:power. Steam is employed as See also:motive power when it is necessary to plough large areas in a short time. In the United Kingdom steam ploughing is generally carried on on the double-See also:engine See also:system (introduced by Messrs See also:John See also:Fowler about 1865), in which case two sets of ploughs are arranged on the one-way balance principle, so that while one set is at work the other is carried clear of the ground. In this arrangement, a pair of See also:locomotive engines, each having a See also:plain winding See also:drum fixed underneath the See also:boiler, are placed opposite to each other at the ends of the field to be operated upon; the rope of each of the engines is attached to the plough, or other tillage implement, which is drawn to and fro betwixt them by each working in turn. While the engine in See also:gear is coiling in its rope and See also:drawing the plough towards itself, the rope of the other engine is paid out with merely so much See also:drag on it as to keep it from kinking or getting ravelled on the drum. In the United States and elsewhere engines drawing behind them a number of ploughs, arranged in echelon and taking perhaps The sub-soil plough has the beam and See also:body but not the mould-board of an ordinary plough. Following in the furrow of an ordinary plough it breaks through the sub-soil to a depth of several inches, making it porous and penetrable by plant roots.

Gripping and draining ploughs are employed in opening the grips and trenches necessary both in surface and underground drainage. See See also:

Davidson and See also:Chase,See also:Farm See also:Motors and Farm Machinery ; articles in L. H. See also:Bailey's Cyclopedia of See also:American See also:Agriculture (New See also:York, 1907) and See also:Standard See also:Encyclopaedia (London, 1908), &c.

End of Article: PLOUGH AND PLOUGHING

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