desired of the horse to stand without any movement at all, the word Still is added stand, still. In England, Wo is to stop.

690. To go forward.-The name of the nigh-horse is usually pronounced, as also the well-known Chuck, Chuck, made with the side of the tongue at one side of the mouth, while inhaling the breath in impulses.

691. To step backward.-Back is the only word I can remember to have heard for this motion.

692. To come towards you.-Hie is used in all the border counties of England and Scotland; Hie here, Come ather, are common in the midland counties of Scotland. In towns one hears frequently Wynd and Vane. In the west of England Wo-e is used.

693. To go from you.-Hup is the counterpart to hie in the southern counties, whilst Haud aff is the language of the midland counties; and in towns, Haap is used where wynd is heard, and Hip bears a similar relation to vane. In the west of England Gee agen is used.

694. In all these cases, the speaker is supposed to be on what is called the nigh or near-side of the horse-that is, on the horse's left side. As a single word is more convenient to use than a sentence, I shall employ the simple and easily pronounced words hup and hie when having occasion to describe any piece of work, in which horses are employed.

695. The plough, as it is now made, consists of a number of parts; but, how well soever these different parts may be put together, if not tempered, as it is termed, to one another, that is, if any part has more to do than its own share of the work, the entire implement will go unsteadily. It is easy to ascertain whether or not a plough will go steadily.

ON PLOUGHING, AND PLOUGHING MATCHES.

696. Ploughing.-On holding a plough by the handles with both hands, while the horses are drawing it through the land, if it have a constant tendency to go deeper

into the soil than the depth of the furrowslice previously determined on, it is not going steadily. The remedy is twofold, either to press harder upon the stilts with the hands, and, by their power as levers, bring the share nearer the surface of the ground, or to put the draught-bolt of the bridle a little nearer the ground, and thus give the plough less "earth." The pressure upon the stilts should first be tried, as being the most ready at command; but should it fail of effecting the purpose, and holding the stilts be then too severe upon the arms, the draught-bolt should be lowered; and should both these expedients fail, there must be some error in another part of the plough. On examining the share, its point may possibly be found to dip too much below the base line, which will cause it to go deeper than it should. This error in the share can only be rectified at the smithy.

697. Again, the plough may have a tendency to come out of the ground. This cannot be remedied by supporting the stilts upwards with the arms, because the body having no support cannot walk steadily in the furrow. Hence, a very short man can scarcely hold a plough steady at any time; and does not make a desirable ploughman. The draughtbolt should, in the first instance, be placed farther from the ground, and give the plough more 66 earth." Should this not effect the purpose, the point of the share will probably be above the base-line, and must therefore be brought down to its proper level by the smith.

698. It may be difficult to make the plough turn over a furrow-slice of the breadth desired. This tendency is obviated by moving the draught-bolt a little to the right, which gives the plough more “land;" but in case it arises from some casual obstruction under-ground, such as direct collision against a small stone, or a piece of unusually hard earth, it may be overcome by leaning the plough a little over to the right.

699. The tendency, however, may incline to take a slice broader than is wanted; in which case, for permanent work, the draught-bolt should be put a little to the left, which gives the plough less "land;"

and for a temporary purpose the plough may be leaned a little over to the left.

700. These are the ordinary causes of unsteadiness in the going of ploughs; and though narrated singly, any two of them may combine to produce the same result, such as the going deeper or coming out along with a narrow or broad furrow-slice. The most obvious remedy should first be tried; but both may be adopted at the same time if a compound error is apprehended.

701. Some ploughmen habitually make the plough lean a little over to the left, thus giving it less land than it would naturally have, and to counteract the consequent tendency to a narrow furrow-slice, they move the draught-bolt a little to the right. This ploughing with a lean to the left is a bad custom, because it makes the lowest side of the furrow-slice thinner than the upper, which is exposed to view when turned over, and gives the appearance to the land of being ploughed equally deep; and it gives the horses a lighter draught than those which have turned over a deeper furrow-slice. Old ploughmen, becoming infirm, are very apt to practise this deceptive mode of ploughing. The plough should always move level upon its sole, and turn over a rectangular furrow-slice.

702. The difference in the inclination of the bottom of the furrow, here referred to, is made by ploughs of different construction, as well as practised by cunning ploughmen in the manner just described. The East Lothian or Small's plough, fig. 2, makes a rectangular furrow; the Lanark shire or Wilkie plough makes a trapezoidal or crested furrow, and, as we are considerFig. 15.

THE EFFECTS OF A RECTANGULAR FURROW-SLICE. VOL. I.

ing the subject, it may be well to illustrate it at once. Fig. 15 is an example of the rectangular slice of 10 by 7 inches: abc d may be taken as a transverse section of the body of the plough, the line a c being the terminal outline of the mould-board, a fa section of the slice which is just being laid up, and g h a slice previously deposited. In the triangle i gk the base i k is 10 inches, being always equal to the breadth of the slice, the angle at g a right angle, and the sides i g, gk each equal to 7071 inches, the perpendicular height gl being 5 inches.

THE EFFECTS OF A TRAPEZOIDAL OR CRESTED
FURROW-SLICE.

the slice and the subsoil; k n po is a section of the plough, k m a section of a slice in the act of being deposited on the preceding slice / c. Here the slices are trapezoidal, as they are always cut by this species of plough; and from this configuration of the slice, the broader sides are not parallel, nor do the conterminous sides of the adjacent slices lie parallel to each other in the transverse direction; the side b c lying at an angle of 48° with the base a b, while the side bm makes the opposite angle at b only 41°, the angle at c being 84°, and the triangle abc isosceles. The base a b of the triangle a bc is now supposed to be 8 inches, and the side a c 6 inches, the opposite side / h being 4 or 5 inches. The base, a b when bisected in d, gives a d=4.25 inches, and since a c-a d2-c d2, c d will be 4.918 inches; but cases occur still more extreme, a b being only 7 inches, but the angle at c becomes as acute as 75°, yet with these dimensions c d is still under 5 inches; hence, in all practical cases, with a furrow less than 9 inches in breadth, the result

L

704. Another point remains to be noticed in reference to these two forms of slice. We have seen that the rectangular slice necessarily implies that the bottom of the furrow shall be cut upon a level in its transverse section, fig. 15, while the slice that is cut by the cresting plough leaves the bottom of the furrow with a sloping rise from the land-side towards the furrowside at every slice, and this rise may range from 1 to 1 inch or more. Returning to fig. 16, the serrated line f h o, exhibits a transverse section of the surface of the subsoil, from which the soil has been turned up by the cresting plough. The triangular spaces efg, g h i represent the quantity of soil left by such ploughs at the lifting of each slice. Each quantity may amount to one-seventh of what the slice ought to be, and is robbed from it, and left adhering to the subsoil, except in so far as it may be rubbed down by the abrading action of the lower edge of the mouldboard, as at f and h, and the portion of soil so rubbed off is thrust into the space under the edge of the slice as it is successively laid up. This last process may be readily observed at any time when the plough is working in tough land or in lea. With a cresting plough, the spaces f, h, o will be seen more or less filled up with crumbled soil; while, with the rectangular plough, the corresponding spaces will be left nearly void. Whether or not the filling in of these voids is beneficial to the land in a greater degree than if the seventh here left below had been turned up with the slice, I should say it was not; but it is certain, that it is more frequently left adhering to the subsoil than to be found stuffed under the edge of the slice. Under any view, the system of the crested furrow ploughing is not equal in value to the rectangular.

705. In considering this question, there are two points deserving attention. 1st, The immediate effects upon the labour of men and horses. It may be asserted generally, that all ploughs adapted to form a crested furrow are heavier in draught than those that produce the rectangular furrow. This seems a natural inference from the manner in which they work; the

by the coulter; the narrow feather of the share leaving more resistance to the body in raising and turning the slice; and, not least, the small ridge left adhering to the bottom of the furrow, if rubbed down aud stuffed under the slice, is performed by an unnecessary waste of power, seeing that the mould-board is not adapted for removing such adhering obstructions. 2d, The loss of time and labour arising from the breadth of furrow, compared with those ploughs that take a 10-inch furrow. Thus, in ploughing an imperial acre with a 10inch furrow, leaving out of view the taking up of closings, turnings, &c,-the distance walked over by the man and horses will amount to 9.9 miles nearly; with a 9-inch furrow the distance will be 11 miles; with 8-inch furrow, it will be 11 miles or thereby; and with a 7-inch furrow 13 miles nearly.

706. But to resume our more immediate subject, no ploughman assumes the habit of leaning the plough over to the right, because it is not so easy to hold it in that position.

707. Other ploughmen, especially tall men, are in the habit of constantly leaning hard upon the stilts; and as this has the tendency to lift the plough out of the ground, they are obliged to put the draughtbolt higher up to keep it in the ground. A slight leaning of the hands upon the stilts is requisite at all times, to retain a firm hold of them, and give a quick guidance to the plough.

708. A good ploughman will use none of these expedients to make his plough go steadily; for, he will temper the irons so, as there shall be no tendency in the plough to go too deep or too shallow into the ground, or make too wide or too narrow a furrow-slice, or cause less or more draught to the horses, or less or more trouble to himself, than the work requires to be performed in the best manner; and he will also temper them so, as to hold the plough with ease to himself, have plenty of leisure to guide the horses aright, and execute the work in a creditable manner. I have known such ploughmen, and they invariably did their work the best; but I never yet saw a ploughman do so, who

had not acquired the art of tempering the irons. Until this art is acquired, the bestmade plough will be comparatively worthless in the hands of any ploughman.

709. In the attempt to temper the irons, many ploughmen place the coulter in a position which increases the draught of the plough. When its point is brought down as far as that of the share, and much asunder from it, to the left or land side, (fig. 4) a stone in light land is very apt to be caught between the points of the coulter and share, which will have the effect of throwing the plough out of the ground. Such an accident is of little consequence in ploughing land to be ploughed again; but it disfigures the land in ploughing lea, and must be rectified instantly; but in doing this, time is lost in backing the horses to the spot where the plough was thrown out. To avoid such an accident on leaploughing, on such land, the point of the coulter should be put immediately above, and almost close upon, that of the share. In smooth soils, free of small stones, the relative positions of the points of the coulter and share are not of much importance as regards the steadiness of the plough; but the best practice is always to cut the soil clean.

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712. When all the particulars which ploughmen should attend to in executing their work-in having their ploughirons in a proper state of repair, in tempering them according to the kind of ploughing to be executed, in guiding their horses, and in ploughing the land in a meare considered, it ceases to thodical waysurprise one that so few ploughmen become first-rate workmen. Good ploughmanship requires greater powers of observation than most young ploughmen possess, - greater judgment than most will take time to exercise, more patience than most will bestow to become familiarised with all these particulars, and greater skill than most can acquire to use them all to the best advantage. To be so accomplished, implies the possession of talent of no mean order. The ship has been aptly compared to the plough, and the phrase "ploughing the deep," is as familiar to us islanders as ploughing the land: to be able to put the proper trim," is the perfection ship in " aimed at by every seanian-so, in like manner, to "temper a plough" is the great aim of the good ploughman; and to be able to do it with judgment, to guide horses with discretion, and to execute ploughing correctly, imply a discrimination akin to sailing a ship.

713. But want of attention is the great bar to young men becoming good ploughmen; and if they do not acquire the art when comparatively young, they will never do so in an advanced period of life. It is want of attention at first that makes some ploughmen bunglers all their days, and the great majority exhibit but medi

ocre attainments. The latter class no doubt is preferable to the former, because the injurious effects of bad ploughing are obvious; but the effects of mediocre compared with first-rate ploughing not being so easily ascertained, must nevertheless be considerable. "It is well known," says Sir John Sinclair," that the horses of a good ploughman suffer less from the work than those intrusted to an awkward and unskilful hand; and that a material difference will be found in the crops of those ridges tilled by a bad ploughman, when compared to any part of the field where the operation has been judiciously performed." * Marshall contends that "one-fourth of the produce of the arable lands of the kingdom is lost through a want of tillage," which may have been an approximation to the truth in his day; but ploughing is certainly now better performed in Scotland than it was then, though it must be owned that by far the greatest part of that work is yet of a mediocre description; and other reasons than I have given for its mediocrity are not difficult to adduce. Thus

714. Ploughmen cannot learn their profession at a very early age, and every profession ought to be acquired then, to reach a high attainment in it; because ploughing requires a considerable degree of strength, even from grown-up men, and it bears much harder on the learner; but even after young men possess sufficient strength to hold the plough, they are left to acquire a knowledge of ploughing more through sheer experience than by tuition from those better acquainted with the art. Experience cannot be transmitted from father to son more in this than in any other art; and in this, as in other arts, improvement is more generally effected by imitation of a better style of work than by individual ingenuity.

715. To teach a young beginner to plough, it has been recommended, "to put a cross-bar between the cheeks of the bridle, so as to keep the horses precisely at the same distance from each other, and then, setting up a pole at the end of a furrow, exactly measured to the same line as that

from which he starts, fixes his eye steadily upon it, and carries the plough in a direction precisely to that point." To do all this implies that the beginner has sufficient strength to hold a plough, which, if he have, he must be a stout lad; and to "fix the eye steadily" upon a pole at a distance, while holding the plough with a staggering gait, and unable for want of breath to speak even a word to the horses, far less to guide them with the reins, is much beyond the power of any lad, and far more of a boy. In fact, it would require a very good ploughman to do all this, for it is nothing short of feering, and none but the expertest of the ploughmen is intrusted to feer land on a farm. No single pole, besides, can possibly guide any ploughman in a straight line: he may imagine he is moving to it in a straight line, while all the while he may be forming a very devious route. The truth is, the young man, desirous of becoming a ploughman in a short time, ought to be taught day by day by an experienced ploughman to temper the irons, and guide the plough according to his strength. Very few young men have, or are permitted to have, such opportunities of learning; and the consequence is, and my observation confirms it, the best ploughmen are generally those who have been taught directly by their fathers, and work constantly upon their fathers' farms; and they make, besides, the best stewards, because they have been accustomed to command servants, and have not associated freely with them. A steward promoted from the rank of common ploughmen is apt to continue on too familiar a footing with them to sustain the authority due to his situation.

716. In England boys are not unfrequently sent to tend the plough, for they cannot be said to hold it, which is so constructed with wheels and apparatus as to turn over the soil without the aid of man, and his aid is only required for the turnings at the ends of the ridges. The work performed by such implements is a mere skimming of the ground, not ploughing it.

717. As I have adverted to the English