Agricultural History Review, Volume 64 Part 1 (2016), pp. 54–80

The double-furrow plough, which enabled two furrows to be ploughed at a time instead of a single one, allowed for significant savings in both manpower and horsepower. While it was regarded as a major innovation at the time, historians of agricultural implements and machines have given it little attention, its importance having been overshadowed by developments in steam ploughing. But for many areas of Scotland steam ploughing could not be used owing to the topography of the fields and soil types. Indeed, by 1878 it was estimated that there were no more than 50 sets of steam ploughs at work throughout the country. But double-furrow ploughs were widely and successfully adopted and had considerable success. This paper asks a number of key questions about the innovation, early adoption and use of the double-furrow plough in Scotland: how did its developer, Thomas Pirie encourage interest in his plough, and double-furrow ploughs more generally? How were his plough, and other double-furrow ploughs more generally, received by farmers and other agriculturists? How did plough makers respond to the demand for this new innovation? How was the plough adopted in particular areas of Scotland? And how was it incorporated into the ploughing technologies on farms? 

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