at B, moves in a mortise; at D, is a circular cutter, intended to cut the sod, and thus lessen friction. E, is a cutter bar or arm, to which the moles, F and G, are attached; the mole, G, has a fin, H, attached to the under

surface; C, is a

wheel, to the axle of which two stout iron bars, J and K, are attached.

The bar J,

serves as a reg

ulator of the

cutter, E, ele

vating or depressing the mole the depth of the beam, A. Fig. 24 represents the

mole and cutter of the Bales'

mole plow.

The improvement here represented pertains principally to the mole and cutter-its adjustability to

various depths, etc. A, represents the beam; B, the cutter shaft, which is made of cast steel, made light and sharp, and polished, so as to pass through the ground smooth and as easily as possible, that the ground may

readily close behind it. The mole, D, is in the form

of a wedge, having a sharp edge in front, and so curved in its upper

surface as to form an arch-shaped trench, as shown in section D D, 5 by 7 inches. The mole is hollow in the bottom, so as to prevent its pressing the bottom, permitting the water to rise

freely through the bottom, and made of cast steel well polished.

Fig. 25 represents A. Defenbaugh's mole plow. The mole to this plow is attached by a stout link to the lower portion of the cutter bar, or colter, E. The mole, H, has a circular fin,

m, attached to it, and the sides of

the mole are furnished with friction blocks or pulleys, k k kk, on each side. The colter is fixed and not adjustable, but the beam, D, may be elevated or depressed, by means of the windlass, B. The forward end of the beam is attached to a shoe or sled, E F.

It would require a very strong team to operate one of these plows if the power were applied directly—that is, if the team were attached to the end of the beam, as in the case of the ordinary plow. But, by employing a capstan, as represented in Fig. 19, two yoke of oxen can operate it with comparative ease. By attaching a dynamometer at the end of the lever or sweep to which the team is hitched, it appears that about 250 pounds is all the draught required to cut a mole 36 to 40 inches in ordinary moist clay; but if the dynamometer is attached where the cable is attached to the beam (D, Fig. 19), the direct draught is indicated, and amounts to about 5,000 pounds. By a simple arithmetical process the direct draught is readily determined, viz: multiply the power applied at the end of the lever or sweep, by the length of the sweep in inches (counting from the center of the capstan or reel), and divide the product by half the diameter of the reel or capstan; the quotient will be the direct amount of power required to operate the implement or machine. For example, the sweep, in Fig. 19, to which the oxen are attached, measures 16 feet or 198 inches; the capstan or reel measures 16 inches in diameter, and the dynamometer indicates a draught of 250 pounds; what is the actual force or power necessary to operate the plow?

250 pounds 198 inches-49,500-8 inches-6,1871⁄2 pounds. After the reel or spool has been wound full from top to bottom, the doubling of the cable on the reel will cause an increase of power to be applied; the double cord or thread will make the dynamometer indicate an increase of 75 to

100 pounds; thus making, in the above-named instance (with a two-inch cable) the actual draught to be 6,435 pounds.

During the first days of July, 1859, a trial of five different patents of the mole plow was had at London, Madison county, at which the writer acted as chairman of the examining and awarding committee. It is not deemed inappropriate to insert the report of that committee in this place the writer having in the meantime neither seen nor learned anything in relation to these plows to cause him to change a single idea expressed in the report.

"According to previous notice, there were assembled at London, Madison county, O., a large concourse of persons, chiefly farmers, to witness the trial of reapers, mowers, and mole plows or ditching machines. It may not be generally known that within the past twelve months there have been five patents obtained on mole plows, by persons in Madison county. Each one of these plows has special merits, and the agricultural community in that county manifested considerable anxiety to learn, by means of a trial, the comparative merit of each. The entries and description of these plows were as

follows:

"There being great uniformity in the operation and draft of the plows, the committee found it impossible to take the working quali

ties as a basis of the award, and therefore took into account cost, adjustability, and the shape of the mole. The adjustability of the Witherow plow, being very convenient in operation, and so graduated that the operator can know at all times the precise depth (by means of a graduated scale) at which the ditch is being made, together with the cost of the plow, determined the committee to award it the first premium. The mole of this plow is an angular ovoid, six and a half inches high, five in horizontal diameter, running down to a flat base of about two inches. The mole might be considerably improved in form.

"The Defenbaugh machine is adjusted with regard to depth by a windlass, attached in the rear of the cutter, or colter, by which a change of eighteen inches may be made in the depth of the ditch, but the operator has no means of knowing precisely at what depth he is cutting. The form of the mole is that of an ellipse, with a flat base, from the center of which proceeds a sharp fin, downward, an inch or more. Upon the whole, the mole is rather better than that of the Witherow plow.

"The Bales plow is not without merit. On the trial he used the capstan of the Witherow machine. The adjustability is more diffi、 cult than in either of the preceding ones, while the mole is cer tainly the most objectionable. The mole is seven inches in perpen. dicular diameter, and five in horizontal. It is well known that a small quantity of flowing water requires a very limited channel. The mole of this plow presents the same sized channel to a small, that it does to a large quantity of water. When water has a wider channel than absolutely necessary, it forms a zigzag course, and deposits whatever foreign matters, such as sand, roots of vegetables, etc., it may bring with it, at the curves it has made in its course, and in a short time, comparatively, fills up from this cause. But if the channel is so constructed that a small quantity of water has a very narrow channel, and a larger quantity of water a wider channel, the probability is that the channel will be kept clear a much longer period than where a uniformly wide channel is prepared for all stages of water.

Although the Cole & Wall plow is defective in being readily adjusted to different depths, yet, in the opinion of the chairman of the committee, the mole was certainly the best shaped of any presented for competition. Its form is ovoid, and has a fin four inches in depth, extending from the base downward; this fin is about half an inch thick, and makes a deep incision in the earth, in the bottom