506 THE GROUNDSWELL. 



X T arious gradations of sand and loams to stiff clay? How 

 many farmers can build a stack of hay or grain so that it 

 shall preserve its proper shape in settling, and in its con 

 tour present the greatest resistance to the influence of the 

 weather? Not one in fifty even of managing farmers prop 

 erly know what good plowing really is in its various details. 

 Not one in a hundred can Luild a series of stacks, either of 

 hay or grain, similar in size and shape, and superior in their 

 structure. Why is this so ? The answer is simple. They 

 have never been taught why furrows laid at different angles 

 exert different influences; why the mold-board and share 

 of one plow is made different from another; why, in 

 building a stack, the proportions should be after exact rules, 

 the whole bearing definite relations to the quantity of ma 

 terial to be used, etc. 



These are among the most common processes of the farm, 

 and yet but little of their philosophy, so to speak, is known 

 by the majority of farmers. There are many others equally 

 important and equally neglected. If the merchant, the 

 manufacturer, or the tradesman manifested the .same indif 

 ference in their several industries, they would all, sooner or 

 later, be involved in a common bankruptcy. That farmers 

 are not is due to the fact that nature is constantly working 

 for them, even while they are sleeping, and that drafts on 

 her storehouse are always honored to the full extent of her 

 ability. 



EXPERIENCE A THOROUGH TEACHER. 



Of the details of mechanics I know but little, except as to 

 the repairs of farm machinery in a rough way. An experi 

 ence in working the soil for a third of a century, during 

 which time I have constantly educated myself to the various 



