THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



1-73 



expected better things. If we all followed this plan of 

 making concessions to the prejudices of our men, wo 

 might be, so far as agricultural machinery is concerned, 

 just about where the Russian farmers are. And these 

 prejudices often arise from very peculiar sources. B., 

 a local plough-maker, witnesses the introduction of a 

 new plough with jealousy ; and as he passes the field 

 whore it is working, he throws the ploughman a shil- 

 ling, and promises another when the plough shall have 

 been pronounced no-go. This verdict is soon practically 

 passed. Many masters believe it true ; some divine its 

 true derivation; but the generality submit to it pa- 

 tiently, and wait for a better state of things. 



Upon introducing the iron wheel-plough upon our 

 own farm the same difficulties met us ; but we were de- 

 termined to inaugurate the improvement, and be 

 master as much in fact as in name. Finding the men 

 persist in not using the new ploughs, we employed boys, 

 and have worked them with boys ever since, aftbrding a 

 lesson to the neighbourhood that will not soon be for- 

 gotten. If the men come to see that this is the alter- 

 native, and that they thus get worsted in the struggle 

 for authority, they will discover that their interest does 

 not lie in opposing the steps of mechanical progress. 



This question set at rest, there is now another which 

 arises for solution : 



Which is the best corn-producing plough ? 

 To reply to this question accurately, we must change 

 the character of our ploughing-matches. They now 

 test and reward the skill of the men ; henceforward they 

 must determine the superiority of the implements used- 

 Some little time since there appeared in the Mark- 

 lane Express the report of such a trial, undertaken by 

 the members of the Lauderdale Society, in the year 

 1856. We find, on referring to the report, that several 

 of the best of the famous Scotch swing-ploughs were 

 tested against two of Howard's patent wheel-ploughs. 

 Something like one acre was allotted to each plough in 

 the same field, the land being precisely identical. 

 The work was done in February • the land was then 

 harrowed and sown with oats, and was treated alike 

 throughout to the harvesting and thrashing of the pro- 

 duce; periodical observations were made and recorded, 

 as to the relative appearance of the diflerent strips; 

 and, finally, the produce of these plots was separately 

 harvested, thrashed, measured, and weighed — straw, 

 grain, and pulse. 



There is a great amount of incredulity upon this point. 

 The instances are not common in which farmers believe 

 there to bo any diflerence, as to produce, from the use 

 of any particular plough. And, if they do not deny 

 the fact of any difference in the result, they maintain 

 that the diflerence is so inappreciable as to be not 

 worthy of regard. Such facts as appear in the ap- 

 pended table must tend to shake the foundations of this 

 preconceived belief, and to show that not only may one 

 plough surpass another in economizing human labour 

 and brute force; but also that one plough may 

 actually, by its mechanical superiority, prove itself a 

 better producer of corn than another. Neat work is 

 not essential to us, but plenty of corn is. 



To ensure truthful results, these trials should, from 

 beginning to end, be carried on with the strictest 

 regard to accuracy and impartiality. The land must 

 be of the same character, and its treatment throughout 

 the several plots identical. During the ensuing autumn 

 or next spring will it not be well to institute these tests ? 

 There may be difficulties in the way ; but the diffi- 

 culties that so often infest a right course should never 

 prove sufficient excuse for our not pursuing it. The 

 example furnished by the Lauderdale Society opened 

 the eyes of the Scotch to an important fact, and they 

 have been found very ready to profit by the teaching 

 given to them. We are open, I hope, to the same 

 conviction. 



In closing these suggestions, we may remark that wo 

 by no means aim any blow at our Benefit Societies. 

 We shall be in a better position even to maintain their 

 fuuds : the only change introduced will consist in a 

 little difference in their distribution. It is not our 

 opinion that machinery is the labourer's enemy, but 

 the labourer's friend, lessening the severity of toil. 

 England could never have accomplished her work of 

 civilization in the world had not machinery increased 

 her treasure, and set free a large portion of her popu- 

 lation. On this head at least, then, we need not grow 

 very sentimental ; and though we entertain some fears, 

 to which we shall at some future time give expression, 

 with respect to the danger, from excessive manufac- 

 turing, of creating an evil inimical to any nation or 

 namely, of great cities— we do not think the employ- 

 ment of the best corn-producing plough likely to hasten 

 this state of things. 



Tabular Statement of Produce on Allotments 

 combined. 



WEATHER WISDOM. — "The late Marshal Bu' 

 geaud," says the Emancipation of Brussels, " when only a 

 captain, during the Spanish campaign under Napoleon I.,once 

 read in a manuscript which by chance fell into his hands, that 

 from observations made in England and Florence during a 

 period of fifty years, the following law respecting the wea- 

 ther had been proved to hold true :— ' Eleven times out of 

 twelve the weather remains the same during the whole moon 

 as it is on the fifth day, if it continues unchanged over the 

 sixth day ; and nine times out of twelve like the fourth day, 

 if the sixth resembles the fourth.' From 1815 to 1830, M. 



