WHEN TO PLOUGH. 19 



The first thing which a farmer must do in order to increase 

 his hay crop is, to look to his manure. We cannot prepare the 

 ground for seed properly unless the manure heap is cared for. 

 That is the first thing. Then it is important that we should 

 plough our ground properly, that it may be in a suitable con- 

 dition to receive the manure and^ seed. If the ground is not 

 ploughed to the depth of seven or eight inches, possibly nine, we 

 cannot get a surface cultivation so thorough that the roots will 

 not be liable to dry up. We cannot get mould enough (to use 

 that term) by shallow ploughing, to insure our crop against the 

 dry seasons of our New England climate. And it is also 

 essential, as every farmer well knows, that we should have a 

 proper quantity of manure, in order that the sod may have 

 plenty of food, and that we may have a paying crop of grass. 

 It does not pay, in Massachusetts, to mow ground where we do 

 not get more than ten or fifteen hundred pounds of hay to the 

 acre, high as labor is now. I should say, that on most soils, 

 about fourteen cords of compost manure should be applied to 

 the acre in planting the ordinary farm crops preparatory to 

 seeding our grass lands. 



There is a great difference in the kind of plough which we use 

 for cultivation. I have used various kinds of ploughs, and while 

 I do not intend to give the preference to any kind here, — for 

 there may be plough manufacturers present, for aught I know, — 

 I will say, see to it that you plough the land in such a way that 

 it leaves the centre of the sod a little like the back of your 

 hand. Don't plough until the land is dry enough to work light 

 and pliable. I think a great deal of injury is done to the crop 

 by ploughing early in the spring. Never plough until the soil is 

 ready for it. Better plough in June and plant in June, than to 

 plough and plant before the soil is dry enough, as I have said, to 

 work easy, light and pliable. I would be cautious about the 

 plough that I used, as that is very important. We all know, 

 that it requires a longer time to prepare the land to receive 

 the manure and seed, when we use one kind of plough, than it 

 does when we use another kind. 



After I have ploughed I use a roller, or an old-fashioned bush 

 harrow, so that all the little spaces may be filled, and that the 

 manure, when it is applied, may be spread evenly all over the 

 surface. " After it has been thoroughly harrowed or cultivated 



