CHAPTER VI. 



PLOWS AND PLOWING. 



" Speed the plow ! Speed the plow I 



O'er the fields away ; 

 And turn the furrows up and down 

 All the summer's day." N. STONE. 



444. OUR country is full of ill-shapen, clumsy, awkward, and 

 almost worthless implements, which pass for plows, in the manu 

 facture of which nearly every correct principle in mechanics has 

 been set at naught. But while there are so many plows of an 

 exceptionable form and character, it is very gratifying to know 

 that there are scores of them which have been manufactured 

 according to the most philosophical and correct mechanical prin 

 ciples ; and many of them have been brought to so good a degree m 

 of perfection that it is impossible to point out a single imperfec 

 tion in any part of them. The common plow, because of its great 

 efficiency, and almost universal application in the thorough pul 

 verization of the soil, is the implement on which common farmers 

 must almost entirely rely; therefore, to aid the young farmer 

 in the proper selection of plows, I will endeavor to point out some 

 of the defects and imperfections which are too commonly met 

 with in the manufacture of plows. 



M 



DEFECTIVE PLOWS. 



445. A very heavy plow is objectionable for a single team, 

 because it increases the draught of the team ; and a light or indo 

 lent plowman will not perform as good work with it as if it were 

 lighter ; because in one instance they are not able to handle it, 

 and in the other they will not. Another very jrreat defect in our 



(USll 



