Topic summary
Moldboard plow
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Plough.
Mould-board ploughing
To grow crops regularly in less-fertile areas, it was once believed that the soil must be turned to bring nutrients to the surface. A major advance for this type of farming was the turn plough, also known as the mould-board plough (UK), moldboard plow (U.S.), or frame-plough. A coulter (or skeith) could be added to cut vertically into the ground just ahead of the share (in front of the frog), a wedge-shaped cutting edge at the bottom front of the mould board with the landside of the frame supporting the under-share (below-ground component). The heavy iron moldboard plough was invented in China's Han Empire in the 1st and 2nd century, and from there it spread to the Netherlands, which led the Agricultural Revolution. The mould-board plough introduced in the 18th century was a major advance in technology.