| How to Plow: Finishing by Ralph Rice Turn your team to the right every time you reach the end of the field. Put your near horse in the furrow, look up the furrow between the horses, raise both handles slightly, and start your team. The plow slicing through the earth will create the next furrow by laying the strip sod-side down against the preceding one. Walk in the furrow you are making, while your near horse walks in the furrow you are covering. Continue turning to the right until you reach the edge of your plot. You have just completed one land. Plowing in this manner results in no land to finish or ditch (dead furrow) to make. A dead furrow occurs when two lands join together, and may be deliberately incorporated to drain water. As you gain experience you will learn to lay out your fields to have back furrows (the place where you strike out) and dead furrows spaced evenly across your fields. Once your fields are laid out, begin each year of plowing by creating a back furrow in last year's dead furrow. Begin by putting your near horse in the small ditch and plowing as when striking out. In working the second land and always turning to the right, as before, you will come closer and closer to where you last finished. Keep plowing round after round until the green strip between the two lands is about a foot wide. Even though the plow is designed to plow 12" wide, don't try to take out this small strip in one pass. Split the strip. If it is wider in some spots than others, steer the plow to take a bigger bite out of the wide spots. After splitting the strip, let your horses rest a bit. Horses spend themselves a little pushing on each other while trying to stay in the close furrows. Start your horses walking slowly, tip your plow a bit by raising the right handle, and remove the remaining strip. Take your time and stop your horses, as you need to. If the plow jumps out, stop the team, back them up while dragging the plow backward, and restart the job of finishing. Your first back furrow and dead furrow may not be as straight or as clean as you would like them to be, but keep trying. You will soon learn to gauge your progress, steering the plow rather than fighting it. As a beginning plowman, consider striking out on your next land after your horses have worked awhile. With the edge worked off they will walk slower and pay better attention. Keep in mind that this skill, like any other, becomes much easier with practice. Plowing is an art form requiring skills, just as any other expression of art. It is relaxing and enjoyable, and comes at a time of year when weather and the changing seasons make the job a pleasure.
Ralph Rice plows on his farm Riceland Meadows near Jefferson, Ohio. This article appeared in the Spring 2004 issue of Rural Heritage. |
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26 April 2012 last revision
