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IMPLEMENTS OE HUSBANDRY
Besides this fault of the old Scotch plough, whoever at-tends to its structure, will soon observe some other de-fects ; the coulter is commonly fixed into the beam in an ob-lique position, with its lower end standing to the left hand,or land-side, so that the furrow is not cut square, or at arightangle to the surface of the firm land ; the upper side of thesock is frequently made high in the middle, round in thesides, and its point is often placed in a straight line with themiddle of the head ; and this kind of sock not having a finor feather to cut under the earth of the farrow slice, of courseit must require the more power to raise, shift to a side, andturn over that slice.
There is another material objection to the shape of thisplough. The farthest end of the wrest, or back-end of thelower edge of its mould-board, is generally raised about fiveor six inches, and sometimes more, above the under side ofthe head, so that the soil, which lies immediately below thathinder part, is not sufficiently raised and turned over. Thisform must tend to increase the friction, while at the sametime the ground is imperfectly ploughed. It is therefore evi-dent, that the old Scotch plough stood in need of great im-provements, though these are but of recent date in manyparts of Scotland .
The improved Scotch Plough.
Notwithstanding the antiquity and Importance of theplough, its form continued nearly the same till about the year1763, at which period a plough of a superior constructionwas introduced into Berwickshire by Mr James Small, ploughand cart wright *. This ingenious artist, aided perhaps bysome hints he may have received from others, improved theimplements of husbandry in a very great degree ; and there isevery reason to believe, that he was the first mechanic in