PLOTT • . That PL . at the plough is an instrument of the highest.
ty is apparent both from the oldest writings that we possess d from the existing monuments of EFypt. We might exercise our imagination in supposing a probable origin of the plough in the branch of a tree dragged along the ground, in which the stump of a smaller branch made furrows as it went on. It seems indeed probable that some accidental circumstance first suggested this mode of stirring the earth to prepare it for receiving the seed.
The oldest forms of the plough of which we have any description in ancient authors, or which are represented on monuments and coins, are very simple : a mere wedge, with a crooked handle to guide it, and a abort beam by which it was irawn, form the whole instrument. The light Hindu plough, now in use in many parts of India, seems to differ little from the old model.
Before we enter into any details it may be as well that wo describe the different essential parts of a plough, by the names which are usually given to them.
The body of the plough is that part to which all the other parts are attached. The bottom of it is called the sole, or glade, to the fore part of which is affixed the paha, or share; the hind part of the sole in called the heel. The beam, which advances forward from the body, serves to keep the plough In its proper direction, and to the end of it are attached the oxen or horses which are employed to draw it. Fixed in the beam, in a vertical position, before the point of the share, with its point a little forward, is the conker, which serves to cut a vertical section In the ground, while the point of the share, expanding into a in, separates a slice by a horizontal cut from the subsoil or solid ground under it. The staidd-Leard or tern furrow, is placed obliquely behind the fin, to the right or left, in order to push aside and turn over the slice of earth which the coulter and share have cut off : It thus leaves a regular furrow wherever the plough has passed, which furrow is Intended to be filled up by the slice cut off from the land by the aide of it, when the plough returns. The stilte or handles, of which there
may be either one or two, an is thought more convenient, direct the plough by keeping it in the line required and at a regular depth in the ground. The mingle stilt appears to be the most ancient form.
]Wheels are a modern invention in comparison with the other parte. They support the end of the beam, and prevent it from going too deep into the ground while the plough is going on. The greatest improve ments Introduced into modern ploughs are in the shape of the mould board, or turn-furrow, of which we shall take particular notice, and the contrivances) for regulating the line of draught, so as to make the plough goat an equal depth, and cut off a regular slice of equal breadth, without any great force being applied by the ploughman who holds the atilts.
The Hindu plough consista of a alight beam, often without any coulter, a narrow share, and a corresponding stilt.. The whole is of wood, slightly pointed with iron. it is so light that a man can readily carry it upon his shoulder. When it is at work it is usually drawn by a small buffalo, and sometimes by a man or a woman. This instru ment is intended merely to make a shallow furrow in a very light soil, or in the mud produced by irrigation where rice is cultivated. It does not act as our ploughs du, nor does it turn over a regular furrow, but it acts snore like one of the tines, or teeth, of souse of our more complicated instruments called cultivators or grubbers, with which the earth is stirred without being turned over.
The Chinese plough resembles the Hindu in its simplicity. The earth in turned over by holding the instrument obliquely, and much depends on the art of the ploughman, in whose hands it is like a stout shovel pulled through the ground by a horse or an ox. The sole is not straight, but rounded, like the bottom of • boat. The work done by this instrument is not unlike the furrow drawn in the sand at the bottom of the sea when a ship drags her anchor.