POTATOES. 3T 



angles and fill up the interstices between the two furrows. 

 But what we want is something that shall thoroughly break 

 up and disintegrate the whole furrow, from top to bottom, 

 so that, without any action of the harrow, we may have it 

 in such a perfect condition that the sun, the air, and the rain 

 can penetrate it, and act upon the different substances in the 

 soil in such a way that they can serve as food for plants. 

 That seems to me to be the true plan; and when- you can 

 have plows of this kind, I think you will be perfectly willing 

 to abandon the old-fashioned tooth-harrow. 



Dr. Baldwin. Does a plow in green sward run easier with 

 a coulter on the beam or not? 



Mr. Gould. Well, sir, you have asked me a very curious 

 question. I will tell you tbe result of an experiment, al- 

 though I hardly think you will believe me when I tell it. It 

 was, however, made in the presence of Gov. Holbrook, Gov. 

 Brown, Mr. Tucker, of the " Country Gentleman," Mr.Nourse, 

 and several other gentlemen, interested in the manufacture 

 of plows, who had assembled to see the experiments I was 

 making, and they were as much astonished as I was. We 

 plowed a furrow eight inches deep, having an exceedingly 

 accurate dynameter, made for the purpose, to ascertain pre- 

 cisely what was the amount of power required to carry the 

 plow through the land. We afterwards rigged tlie plow with 

 a coulter, which went eight inches below the surface, so that 

 the plow, running on top of the ground, drew that coulter to 

 a depth of eight inches, and we found that the draft required 

 to put the coulter through the soil did not vary a pound from 

 the draft required to turn over a furrow eight inches deep. 

 That experiment was witnessed by a large number of the best 

 plow-makers in the United States. I repeated it again and 

 again, with the same result. I can give you no philosophical 

 explanation of it. When the result of our experiments went 

 out to England, Philip Pusey, who has been president of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society, and is one of the most intelligent 

 and scientific agricultural investigators of England, repeated 

 those experiments, and they came out precisely as ours did. 



