40 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



required in order to produce the cracking of which I have 

 spoken here. 



Question. Did I understand you to say, that the coulter 

 alone required the same draught that the plow did without 

 the coulter ? 



Mr. Gould. Exactly. 



Question. The beam, without any mould-board — -just the 

 simple coulter attached to it ? 



Mr. Gould. Just the simple coulter attached. The mould- 

 board was taken off, and we had nothing but the sole of the 

 plow. That experiment was tried with the utmost care, ajid 

 was repeated by Mr. Philip Purly. 



Mr. Reade. With reference to our soils here, can we dis- 

 pense with the harrow for pulverizing ? 



Mr. Gould. You can pulverize perfectly, if you have your 

 plow made right. With regard to the Nishwitz harrow, there 

 are many cases where a meadow becomes hide-bound ; you 

 do not want to plow it ; you want to get the benefit of all the 

 sod you have got. Go over it with a Nishwitz harrow, and 

 you can pulverize the top of it without destroying the grass ; 

 sprinkle over that your seed, and some top-dressing, and you 

 will get a perfect renewal without plowing. 



Mr. Reade. Now one word in regard to potatoes. Is not 

 this a good plan for us here in Connecticut : to pick out our 

 large potatoes in the fall for sale, then take the next size, 

 about as large as a hen's egg, and lay them aside for planting, 

 and boil the smaller ones for our hogs ? Is not that a good 

 system to act upon ? 



Mr. Low. It is not. Here is Mr. Lillibridge, who has 

 planted large potatoes, and I stand as evidence of the fact 

 that he has raised remarkably fine crops. 



Mr. Gould. I do not wish to speak authoritatively upon 

 the matter. I only give the results which have been arrived 

 at with very great care, to which I have referred. 



Mr. Reade. Your advice would be to discard small pota- 

 toes, use large ones, and cut them in two ? 



Mr. Gould. I dare not advise the farmers of Connecticut 



