Tools & tillage: a journal on the history of the implements of cultivation and other agricultural processes (3.1976/1979)

THE PLOUGH IN CHINA

231

wedge is called the bolt: it holds beam and
wedge together and without it the two pieces
would spring apart and the sheath would not
stay in place.
“The piece across the end of the beam is
called the swing-tree; it can pivot, and it is
attached on either side by traces to the yoke.
The very back of the beam is called the
‘mid-stilt’ which is where the plough is actu-
ally held.
The share is 1 foot 4 inches long6 and 6
inches broad. The mouldboard is 1 foot wide


and long, and is slightly dished. The sole is 4
feet long and 4 inches wide, and projects for 2
feet beyond they<z ch’an or ‘share-press’.7 The
ts’e 0 is 4 inches shorter than they<z ch’an and
the same width as the sole. The sheath or
‘arrow’ is 3 feet high, and the wedge or ‘ad-
justor’ is 1 foot 3 inches long. The swing-tree
is 1 foot 7 inches longer than the ‘adjustor’
[i.e. 3 feet long]. The bolt is just an off-cut.
The beam is made 9 feet long, and the sheath
or ‘arrow’8 crosses it halfway; the distance
between this point and the ‘mid-stilt’ is 4 feet.


From end to end the plough is 12 feet long
”9
On the basis of Lu’s description it is not
difficult to draw a reconstruction of the 9th


century Chinese mouldboard plough (fig.
4).10 The only parts which are not entire-
ly clear are the ya ch’an and the ts’e o. The
ts’e 0 was probably a wooden brace projecting