PLOWS AND PLOWING. 303 



area in summer than suffices to yield their winter's keep. In 

 Herkimer county, where Mr. Willard lives, a pasture would hardly- 

 pass for a good one unless, if left to grow grass, it would yield 

 two to three tons of hay to the acre. 



One especial advantage attributed to old pastures! understand 

 to be this, that when they are rich the sward gradually becomes 

 occupied with numerous varieties of grasses, and as one sort 

 chooses one kind of food and another another, and so on, you get 

 much more growth than if only a few sorts grew on it ; and they 

 also furnish a more uniform supply of nutritious food, since they 

 come along one after the other. 



It has been stated as the result of exact counting and assorting 

 that as many as one thousand distinctly rooted plants, embracing 

 as many as twenty distinct species, have been found growing in 

 one square foot of rich, old pasture sward. Such a pasture as 

 that is not obtained in a hurry, nor should I, for one, be in a hur- 

 ry to plow it up. We have lands capable of being put into as 

 good condition as those of Herkimer county, and I have no doubt 

 it will be accomplished in time, for I believe there is progress in 

 store for us ; but we must work for it, and work judiciously and to 

 the best advantage. 



I hope we may hear farther from Mr. Gold, because Litchfield 

 county, wher^ he resides, more closely resembles some of the land 

 about you and the hilly portions of Cumberland, Oxford and 

 Franklin counties, than almost anv sections out of the State which 

 I have ever seen ; and for this reason, in addition to others, I 

 deem his experience and observation particularly valuable to us. 



I will add a word in regard ^^ ^ 



to the Collins' plow which has ^■^~ ' 



been spoken of. Mr. Gold 

 says he found some difficulty 

 in turning a heavy sward. I 

 have used that plow for a year 

 or two past, and can truly say, ~"~^^ '°""^" ~"^~ 



A i-Ar ^ \ • A II " COIiLIIiS' PLOW." 



and alter making due allow- 

 ance for the favor with which a '"' new broom " is generally re- 

 ceived, that it has given me better satisfaction than any other I have 

 used. Perhaps I ought to add, however, that I have not tested 

 all the plows of recent introduction which have received commen- 

 dations of good judges. I have not had occasion to try the 

 Collins' plow on very heavy sward, but on old land, a heavy clay 



