354 .
ON THE Alt ABLE LAND
plough, and sets up the second pole at twice its length fromthe slice; and proceeds in this manner to the extremity ofthe slice at the farthest pole, which he sets up again exactlyas the rest; all the directing poles being now accurately setup in the line of the crown of the second ridge. To executethese operations correctly, it is however necessary to drawthree cross furrows at right angles, otherwise there is a riskof the ridge getting narrower at one end than the other.
The ploughman now turns his plough short to theright *, and draws a second slice directly to meet or over-lap the first, correcting by his eye and judgment any inequa-lity or slight crookedness that may have been occasioned bythe swerving of his horses in drawing the first slice. Hethen proceeds to the second line of poles, and repeats theseries of operations already described, until the whole field isfeired or marked off. The other ploughmen fall in succes-sively, as the first has made room for them by feiring, andall the slices are turned inwards, or towards the crowns.When the first ploughman 1ms finished feiring, he falls inalong with the rest to the first unoccupied ridge.
Of late, another method, which seems to be very useful forless skilful ploughmen, ha3 been adopted for this purpose.A stout lath or pole, exactly equal in length to the breadth ofthe intended ridge, is fixed to the plough, precisely at right an-gles to the line of draught, one end of which is placed acrossthe stilts exactly opposite the coulter, while the other endprojects towards the left hand of the ploughman, and is pre-served in its place by a diagonal rope from the outer end ofthe lath to the collar of the near side horse. At the outerend of the lath, a coulter or harrow-tooth is fixed perpendi-cularly, which makes a trace or mark on the ground as the
* The method with other fanners is, to return in the same track, and to thro'*a furrow to the other side. The reason of this is, that there may be nojirvi landbelow. Then the two sidOs are thrown back, to fortn the crown of the ridgfc*