PLOUGHING. 223 



the top, being four and a half feet' in height. This hedge 

 appears to the committee to be as perfect as any tiling of the 

 kind can be. It is impervious, smooth, regular, and in every 

 way beautiful. The committee cannot close their report with- 

 out expressing the very high satisfaction which the visit to Mr. 

 Marsh's grounds afforded them. Mr. Marsh is a genuine lover 

 of trees and foliage, and by his liberality and efforts in different 

 ways, has done much for the ornament of his native village. 



The committee take great pleasure in awarding to him the 

 first premium on hedges, |10. 



Eben Wight, Chairman, 



PLOUGHING. 



HAMPSHIRE. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



Ploughing must lie considered the ground-\\ovk of all good 

 farming, and the sturdy ploughman we honor as the backbone 

 and regulator of society. To him we award the double honor 

 of causing " two blades of grass to grow where, before, there was 

 but one ; " for, without a deep and thorough pulverization of 

 the soil, combined with proper culture, we cannot expect to see 

 any great results in the art of husbandry. 



What constitutes good ploughing ? This question has been 

 discussed with reference to the merits of deep or shallow plough- 

 ing, of wide and fiat, or narrow and sliced furrow, and of sub- 

 soiling or bringing the subsoil to the surface, until, amid 

 " confusion worse confounded," many farmers are ready to 

 repudiate all book-farming, and plod along in the beaten track 

 their fathers trod. Observation and experience have, however, 

 produced some practical results, and we shall venture to express 

 our own views of some of the more important requisites of good 

 ploughing. 



A wonderful improvement has been made in the construction 

 of the plough. The ancient, crooked stick, tipped with iron, 



