_Of_ PLOUGHS.
By what means Ploughs and Tillage itself came at first to be invented
is uncertain; therefore we are at Liberty to guess: And it seems
most probable, that it was, like most other Inventions, found out by
Accident, and that the first Tillers or Plowers of the Ground were
Hogs: Men in those Days, having sufficient Leisure for Speculation,
observ’d, that when any sort of Seed happen’d to fall on a Spot of
Ground well routed up by the Swine (which Instinct had instructed to
dig in Search of their Food), it grew and prospered much better than
in the whole unbroken Turf. This Observation must naturally induce
rational Creatures to the Contrivance of some Instrument, which might
imitate, if not excel Brutes in this Operation of breaking and dividing
the Surface of the Earth, in order to increase and better its Product.
That some such Accident gave Men the First Hints of _original
Agriculture_, may be inferr’d from the very little (or no) Probability
of its being invented originally upon Arguments which might convince
the Understanding (by just Conclusions from Ideas of the Earth and
Vegetation) of any reasonable Grounds to hope, that the Effect of
increasing the Earth’s Produce should follow the Cause of Tillage;
or, in other Words, why it should produce more when tilled than when
untilled. Therefore it is very unlikely, that Men should begin to take
Pains to till the Land without any Sort of Reason why they did it.
And no such Reason could they have before the Invention, as they had
afterwards: For when they accidentally saw that Effect follow that
Cause, then they were well convinced it did so. But tho’ this Argument,
_viz._ Tillage increases the Product of the Earth, because it does, has
been sufficient to continue the Practice of Tillage ever since; yet it
is impossible for the Inventors to have had this Argument before the
Invention, in case it had been invented by Men, and not fortuitously
discover’d.
Had there ever been extant any other or better Arguments, whereon this
Practice, so useful to Mankind, was founded; sure, some of all the
great and learned Authors, who have written on this Subject, would have
mention’d them. Philosophers, Orators, and Poets, have treated of it
in the same Theory by which it was first discover’d, and by no other;
_viz._ Land produces more when tilled; and some seem to say, the more
it is tilled, the more it produces. It does, because it does; not a
Word of the Pasture of Plants, or any thing like it. So that all the
antient _Scriptores de re rusticâ_ have done, was only to keep that
Theory in the same Degree of Perfection in which the first Discoverers
received it.
The bristled Animals broke up the Ground, because they used to find
their Food there by digging; Men till it, because they find Tillage
procures them better Food than Acorns.
The Reasons are the same for one and the other.
These Writers, asham’d to acknowlege so noble a Discovery to be owing
to so mean a Foundation, make no mention of the true Teachers, but
attribute the Invention to _Ceres_, a Goddess of their own makeing;
she, as they pretend, first taught the Art of Tillage. With this
Fable they were so well pleased, that they never attempted to improve
that Art, lest they should derogate from the Divinity of _Ceres_, in
supposing her Invention imperfect.
With what Instrument Men first tilled the Ground we don’t know exactly;
but there may be Reasons to believe it was with the Spade, and probably
a wooden one, and very rough.
For whilst People liv’d on Acorns, there was no need of the Smith; such
Food required no Knives for eating it, nor was it worth while to make
Swords to fight for it; and without Iron the Spade could not be well
hewn, or shap’d; but if it had been such as it is at present, there
never was any thing comparable to it, for the true Use of Tillage. Yet
the Spade could not make that Expedition, which was necessary when
Tillage became general in the Fields; and therefore in time the Spade
came wholly to be appropriate to the most perfect Sort of Tillage in
the Garden. Then the Plough supply’d the Place of the Spade in the
Field; and tho’ it could not (such as it was) till the Land near so
well, yet it could till ten times more of it, and with less human
Labour.
Why they did not improve the Plough, so that it might also till as
well as the Spade, seems owing to their Primitive Theory, which gave
no Mathematical Reason to shew wherein the true Method of Tillage did
consist; _viz._ in dividing the Earth into many Parts, to increase its
internal Superficies, which is the Pasture of Plants.
The Difference betwixt the Operation of the Spade, and that of the
common Plough, is only this; that the former commonly divides the Soil
into smaller Pieces, and goes deeper.
How easy and natural it is to contrive a Plough that may equal the
Spade, if not exceed it, in going deeper, and cutting the Soil into
smaller Pieces, than the Spade commonly does, I leave to the Judgment
of those who have seen the Four-coulter’d Plough.
The Plough describ’d by _Virgil_ had no Coulter; neither do I remember
to have seen any Coulter in _Italy_, or the South of _France_; and, as
I have been informed, the Ploughs in _Greece_, and all the _East_, are
of much the same Fashion: Neither is it practicable to use a Coulter in
such a Plough; because the Share does not cut the Bottom of the Furrow
horizontally, but obliquely; in going one way, it turns off the Furrow
to the right Hand; but in coming back, it turns it to the Left[256].
Therefore, if it had a Coulter, it must have been on the wrong Side
every other Furrow: And besides, as the Handle (for it has but one)
always holds the Plough towards one Side, with the Bottom of the Share
towards the unplow’d Land, it would cause the Coulter to go much too
low when it went on the Furrow-side, and it would not touch the Ground,
when it went on the Land-side.
[256] _Note_, This _Eastern_ Plough always goes forward, and returns
back in the same Furrow, making only one Land of a whole Field:
Though it turns its one Furrow towards the Right, and the other
towards the Left of the Holder; yet every Furrow is turned towards
the same Point of the Compass, as when we plow with a Turn-wrist
Plough.
’Tis a great Mistake in those who say _Virgil_’s Plough had Two
Earth-boards; for it had none at all; but the Share itself always going
obliquely, served instead of an Earth-board; and the Two Ears, which
were the Corners of a Piece of Wood lying under the Share, did the
Office of Ground-wrests: This Fashion continues to this Day in those
Countries, and in _Languedoc_.
This sort of Plough performs tolerably when Ground is fine, and makes
a shift to break up light Land; and I could never find any other Land
there; I am sure none comparable to ours for Strength: And it would be
next to impossible, to break up such as we in _England_ call strong
Land with it.
I do not find, that the Arable Lands about _Rome_ are ever suffered to
lie still long enough to come to a Turf; but I have observed in the
low rich Lands in the _Calabria_’s, subject to the Invasions of the
_Turks_, that there is Turf, and that these Ploughs go over the Land
Two or Three times before the Turf of it is all broken, tho’ the Soil
be a very mellow Sort of Garden-mould. Having no Coulters to cut it,
they break and tear Turf into little Pieces. This was done in the Month
of _November_; and had I not seen Men and Oxen at the Work, or had
there been Oaks in the Place, I should rather have thought that Tillage
performed by a Race of the first Teachers of it, in muzzling Acorns,
than by Ploughs. However, the Mould being naturally very mellow,
when the Turf is broken with shallow Plowing, they can plow deeper
afterwards.
The _English_ Ploughs are very different from the _Eastern_, as in
general the Soil is.
These, when well made, cut off the Furrow at the Bottom horizontally;
and therefore, it being as thick on the Land-side as on the
Furrow-side, the Plough cannot break it off from the whole Land, at
such a Thickness (being Six times greater than the _Eastern_ Ploughs
have to break off), and must of Necessity have a Coulter to cut it off:
By this means the Furrow is turned perfectly whole, and no Part of the
Turf of it broken; and if it lie long without new turning, the Grass
from the Edges will spread, and form a new Turf (or Swerd) on the
other Side, which was the Bottom of the Furrow before turning, but is
now become the Surface of the Earth, and may soon become greener with
Grass than before Plowing; and often the very Roots send up new Heads
to help to stock the reversed Furrow, the former Heads being converted
into Roots, so that it is doubly cloathed and braced on both Sides, or,
as it were, kay’d together, firm and solid, almost as a Plank; it may
be drawn from one Side of a Field to the other without breaking, and
might possibly be made use of, instead of _Virgil_’s _Crates Viminea_,
for harrowing or smoothing of fine-tilled Ground; but not without much
Time, Labour, and Difficulty, can it be made such itself.
If you plow whole strong turfy Furrows cross-ways, as _Virgil_ directs,
and as it is too commonly practised, the Coulter cannot easily cut
them, because, being loose underneath, they do not make a sufficient
Resistance or Pressure against its Edge, but move before it, and so are
apt to be drawn and driven up into Heaps, with their Surfaces lying all
manner of Ways, and situate in all manner of Postures: So the Turf,
which is not turned, continuing in the open Air, grows on, and with its
vigorous Roots holds the Earth fast together, and will not suffer the
necessary Division to be made, which would be, if the Turf were rotten,
and which is the End of all Tillage, _viz._ to increase the Pasture of
Plants.
Next, some have vast heavy Drags, with great long Iron Tines in them;
and tho’ these huge broken Pieces of Furrows, being looser than before,
require keener Edges to cut them; yet these Drag-tines have no Edge
at all, but are as blunt as the Furrows they should cut. These Drags
draw them sometimes into larger Heaps, leaving the under _Stratum_
bare betwixt them, only shaking off some of their Mould in tumbling
them about, and scratching their Surfaces, without reducing them to a
moderate Fineness, until this ill-broken Land has, for above a Year,
and sometimes longer, entertained Ploughs, Cattle, and Men, with a
frequent laborious Exercise, for which they are obliged to the one
Coulter.
If the Soil be shallow, it may be broken up with a narrow Furrow, which
will the sooner be brought in Tilth; but if it be a deep Soil, the
Furrows must be proportionably large, or else a Part of the good Mould
must be left under unmoved, and so lost; for a narrow Furrow cannot be
plowed deep, because the Plough will continually slip out from the hard
Land toward the Right-hand, unless the rising Furrow be of sufficient
Weight to press the Plough towards the Left, and keep it in its Work:
The deeper you plow, the greater Weight is required to press it; so
that the deeper your Land is, the worse (or into the larger Furrows)
must it be broken up with one Coulter, insomuch that, if the Land be
strong (as most deep Ground in _England_ is), it is a Work of some
Years to conquer it, after it has been rested. And often it happens,
that the excessive Charge of this Tillage reduces the Profit of rich
Land below that of poor.
This gives an Opportunity to deceitful Servants, of imposing upon
their ignorant Masters. They plow such deep Land with a small shallow
Furrow, to the end the Turf and Furrows may be broken, and made fine
the sooner; pretending they will plow it deeper the next time (which is
called Stirring), which these Rogues know very well cannot be done, and
intend no more than that the Plough coming the easier after the Horses,
their Coats may shine the better; and tho’ there be no Crop at Harvest,
they must have Four Meals a Day all the Year, and extravagant Wages
at _Michaelmas_, or at any time of the Year, when they think fit to
misbehave themselves.
This sort of Land must not be stirred, _i. e._ plowed the Second time
in wet Weather; for that will cause the Grass and Weeds to multiply,
besides the treading the Ground into hard Dabs, _&c._ And, in dry
Weather, the Plough will never enter any deeper than it went the first
time; the Resistance below being so much more than the Pressure above,
the Plough will rise up continually; or, if it goes deep enough for the
Weight of Earth to keep it down, another Inconvenience will follow,
which is that mentioned by _Columella_, _Page_ 47. _Quod omnis humus,
quamvis lætissima, tamen inferiorem partem jejuniorem habet, eamque
attrahunt excitatæ majores glebæ; quo evenit, ut infœcundior materia
mista pinguiori segetem minus uberem reddat._ The vulgar _English_
Phrase is, It spaults up from below the Staple. Hence the treacherous
Plowman is secure of an easy Summer’s Work, if he can persuade his
Master to suffer him to fallow the Ground with a shallow Furrow.
Another way to conquer a strong Turf is, to plow it first with a
Breast-plough, very thin; and, when the Swerd is rotten, then plow it
at the proper Depth: But this Method is (besides the extraordinary
Charge of it) liable to other great Misfortunes. If the Turf be pared
up in Winter, or early in the Spring, it is a Chance but the Rains
cause it to grow stronger than before, instead of its Rotting.
And if it be pared later, tho’ dry Weather do follow, and continue long
enough to kill the Turf, yet this loses time; the Season of plowing is
retarded; for all the Staple still remains untilled; and, before that
can be well done, the Year is too far spent for sowing it with Wheat,
which is the most proper Grain for such strong Land[257]; and few will
have Patience to wait, and plow on till another Wheat-seed time. The
dry Weather also, which in Summer kills the Swerd, renders the Plowing
obnoxious to most or all the Evils afore-mentioned.
[257] Besides, most strong Land has Stones in it, which will not
admit the Use of the Breast-plough.
* * * * *
A Farmer inquires concerning the Four-coulter Plough, as in the
following DIALOGUE.
Farm. _What must we do then? Must we have recourse to the Spade for
breaking up our rich, strong, swerdy Land?_
_Resp._ If you can procure Men to dig it faithfully in Pieces, not
above Two Inches and an half thick, at the Price of about Eight
Shillings _per_ Acre, it would do very well, and answer all the Ends
of Tillage; but, tho’ you bargain with them to dig it at that Size for
Three Pounds _per_ Acre, you will find, upon Examination, most of the
Pieces or Spits, which are dug out of your Sight, to be of twice that
Thickness. And no great Quantities can be this way managed, altho’ the
Price of Corn should answer such an extravagant Expence.
Farm. _Since it is so difficult to bring our strong Land into Tilth,
after it has rested, that it cannot be speedily done by a Plough
without a Coulter, or by one with a Coulter, in wet Weather or dry,
nor with a Breast-plough, without a certain Expence, and an uncertain
Success, the Spade is too chargeable a Tillage for the Field: It seems
to me, upon the Whole, that we are Losers by this_ inaratæ gratia
terræ, _unless we could contrive some other Method of reducing it
sooner, and with less Charge, into Tilth; for I observe, that, when
we sow it upon the Back, the Corn and Grass (or Couch), coming both
together, exhaust the Ground so much, that by that time we can (which
is about Three Years) reduce the great Lumps to a tolerable Fineness,
it grows full of Grass and Weeds (which we call Foul), and loses that
Fertility we expected it should acquire by Rest, becoming, in our
Terms, both out of Tilth, and out of Heart._
_Resp._ If you know all this to be true, and that without a Coulter you
cannot break it up at all; and that with one Coulter you cannot any way
cut the Furrow small enough, or less than Ten Inches broad; why do not
you cut it with Four Coulters, which will reduce the same Furrow into
Four equal Parts, of Two Inches and an half each in Breadth, and of the
Depth of the Staple, tho’ that should be Two Spit, or Sixteen Inches
deep?