PLOUGHING. 35 



forty years have witnessed have been wonderful indeed. The 

 contrast between the clumsy, ill-constructed, and unsightly 

 wooden plough, shod with wrought iron, used forty years ago, 

 and the trim, bright, and sharp-cutting steel plough of to-day, 

 though great indeed, is not greater than the difference in the 

 character of the work performed. The "cut and cover" 

 work of former years, with, in many instances, but a precious 

 little of either " cut or cover,"" has been succeeded by the 

 well-cut, neatly-turned, and properly-disintegrated furrow of 

 to-day, with the difference in ease of after-cultivation, and 

 the ultimate results secured as widely variant. 



One of the requirements in the regulations that governed 

 the Avork of to-day was the turning of a "flat furrow." 

 Whatever the advantage, if any, of a flat furrow may be on 

 level land, your committee are decidedly of the opinion that 

 a slightl}- inclined furrow on our hillside fields has a decided 

 advantage of the flat one, as it will, to some extent at least, 

 prevent the washing by heavy rains of the upturned soil to 

 the bottom of the hill ; and, further, many good farmers claim 

 that the inclined furrow gives a better opportunity for the 

 circulation of the air under the same, thus aiding in hasten- 

 ing the decay of the buried vegetable matter ; and, further 

 still, the soil will be less likely to become compact. We sug- 

 gest that this matter is entitled to candid thought and care- 

 fully conducted and thorough experiment. 



Another requirement was, that the ploughman should also 

 be the driver. We regard this as a wise regulation. The ne- 

 cessity for the economizing of labor in our time is a sufficient 

 reason, if there were no other, why the team should be trained 

 to work under the sole guidance of the ploughman. This 

 result can be obtained very easily and in a short time with 

 any team that is fit to be employed in the general work of 

 the farm ; and oxen that cannot be so trained should be fitted 

 for the shambles with all possible despatch. 



Heney E. Hitchcock, Chairman. 



