384 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



covered and out of sight, but still with a space open under the 

 furrow slice, it is better plowing than to have the sod merely in- 

 verted and lying flat. I would like to hear the opinion of farraere 

 upon that point. 



Col. SwETT. I had one of the Holbrook plows last year, and I 

 consider it ahead of any swivel plow that I ever used. One point 

 for which I prefer it is, the ease with which it may be held and 

 managed. I consider that plow worthy of reconimcndation. I 

 have seen as good work with it, on level sward ground, as I ever 

 saw with any plow. 



Mr. Lucas. I think we ought to be careful how wo express 

 preference for one plow over another. We have several manufac- 

 turers in this State, and they make good plows, and such as farmers 

 require. Suppose the Foxcroft plow, the Doe plow, and the 

 Ilussey plow were all here, and we went out to see them tried, 

 would there be difference enough to make us feel safe in express- 

 ing a decided opinion in favor of one over the others ? 



In breaking up, the object is not so much to pulverize the soil as 

 to invert the sod. We turn the sod underneath because we don't 

 want it on top. We turn it over for the purpose of rotting it, that 

 it may be afterwards converted to the uses of the plants wo pro- 

 pose to put on that soil. We have other means of pulverizing the 

 soil. Suppose we break up a piece of ground this month, and pro- 

 pose to let it be until spring. What is the object of that ? It is 

 that it may rot and be easily worked. We have harrows and cul- 

 tivators to make that soil fine ; hence, in this case, the plow is not 

 needed as a pulverizer. My idea is, that the sod should be turned 

 upside down, and there remain until we have occasion to use it for 

 cropping purposes. 



The objection to these steel and iron plows is tlie trouble and 

 expense of repairing them. That used to be the difficulty with the 

 old iron plows that were used forty or fifty years ago. It was quite 

 an expense to get a new iron share, or to get the old one repaired, 

 to say nothing about the bungling and imperfect manner in which 

 the plow did the work. As I understand it, these steel plows, 

 which are used almost exclusively in the west, have their shares 

 as sharp as a knife, for the purpose of cutting the roots of the 

 prairie grass. They sharpen their plows as we do our scythes. I 

 have witnessed that several times. Those plows would not be 

 adapted to our purposes. I do not know that that is the case with 

 the Collins plow, however. 



