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Ploughs:
Ploughing prepares land for crop-growing. In
each pass across a field, the plough cuts out a slice of earth and turns
it over.
This has the effect of burying weeds, aerating the soil and easing the
absorption of surface moisture. After a period of weathering, which helps
to break down heavy clods into a more crumbly texture, the land can be
harrowed to produce an even seed bed. Essential features of the plough
have remained the same since medieval times: a horizontal beam to which
is attached a ploughshare and knife coulter to cut the furrow slice, and
a mouldboard to turn it over. Improvements in design and efficiency evolved
over the centuries but quickened in pace from the Victorian period. Regional
variations in the type of plough used were once very marked, but gradually
faded in the later nineteenth century as manufacture became concentrated
upon fewer large firms rather than local craftsmen. As horses were replaced
by tractors with specially designed implements, the process of ploughing
has progressively speeded up so that it can now be completed much more
quickly and with fewer people.
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Ploughs
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