I've been reading some of the posts about plows and plowing and thought I'd pass on some information that I was given.
Time period is about the cross-over from horses to tractors.Parts of the Bottom The plow bottom consists of share, landside, moldboard, and frog. The share and landside act as a wedge in the soil, cutting the furrow loose from the subsoil much as a wedge splits a log. The curved sur-face of the upper part of the share and the properly curved moldhoard act as a single curve to invert the furrow slice. In passing over this curved surface, the furrow is twisted and broken, and the soil is pulverized, mixed, and aerated.
The steel frog holds the bottom parts and beam together. The landside and moldboard are bolted solidly to the frog. Most riding plows and tractor plows of the moldboard type now have quick-detachable shares. To remove or replace the share, it is necessary to loosen but one nut. This quick detachable feature saves time when shares are removed for sharpening. Certain types of chilled-iron plows have a detachable chilled shin-piece that serves as a long-wearing cutting edge for the shin of the moldboard where the hardest wear occurs.
Types of Bottoms Different types of soils require different shapes of bottoms to accomplish the results desired in plowing. The texture of the soil and the amount of moisture it contains determine whether it should be thoroughly pul-verized or merely turned over, to be pulverized with other implements. A mellow loam soil and soils of similar texture
should be plowed with a bottom that will pulverize well, while a sticky, wet clay soil should be plowed with a bottom
that will break it as little as possible, leaving the pulverizing to be done with other machines. The pulverizing effect of a plow depends upon the shape of its bottom .A bottom with a long, gradual curve in the moldboard turns the furrow slice gently and disturbs its composition but little. The other extreme is the short, abruptly curved moldboard that twists and shears the soil as it passes over, making a mellow, well-pulverized furrow.
Between these two extremes are many types of bottoms designed to meet many different soil conditions, but for general use bottoms may be classified as breaker, stubble, general-purpose, slat moldboard, and black-land. The breaker is used in tough sod where complete turning of the furrow slice without materially disturbing its texture is desired. Stubble bottoms are especially adapted to plowing in old ground where good pulverizing of the soil is desired. General-purpose bottoms meet the demand for bottoms that will do good work in stubble, tame sod, old ground, and a variety of similar condi-tions. The general-purpose is designed to do satisfactory work in the varying conditions found on the average farm.
The slat moldboard bottom is used in loose, sticky soils, and the black-land bottom in gumbo and �buckshot� soils. In both types of soil, scouring is a serious problem.
The deep tillage bottom is used in certain restricted territories where it is desirable to plow to unusually
great depths�as deep as sixteen inches.
There are a number of variations of these general bottom shapes built to meet a wide variety of soil conditions but, in every case, the manufacturer provides the implement dealer with the types of bottoms suited to his territory.
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