THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 323 



dreds and thousands of plows are now manufactured, which will 

 operate as well as any man can desire, while they cut a furrow 

 only four or five inches deep. But when they are put into the 

 soil seven, eight, or nine inches in depth, the draught is unac 

 countably hard, and all the strength of a strong plowman is 

 necessary to hold them ; and even then they will not operate 

 well. Some plows have such a peculiar shape that an increased 

 depth of the furrow only one inch will so affect their operation as 

 to make them work decidedly bad. 



447. At a plowing match of the New York State Agricul 

 tural Society in 1856, there were two steel plows entered, which 

 were made as nearly alike as two plows could be made. The 

 plowing done by one of them was done most neatly, while the 

 other performed intolerably bad. The teams and plowmen were 

 good, and the soil where both plowed exactly alike. One plow 

 cut just six inches deep and eleven inches wide ; while the other 

 cut from eight to nine inches deep and from ten to eleven wide, 

 and left the furrow-slices all standing on the edge, to the great 

 chagrin and mortification of both the manufacturer and the plow 

 man. 



448. This showed very conclusively, that plows for deep and 

 for shallow plowing must be of a little different form to operate 

 well. A plow that works well for plowing deep, may cut a shal 

 low furrow well ; but a plow may cut a shallow furrow well and 

 will not a deep one, and turn it well. 



HOW TO SELECT A GOOD PLOW 



449. In selecting a plow for every kind of plowing, the surest 

 and best way is, to purchase it on trial, and not take it because 

 A or B pronounces it " the plow that beats the world" Perhaps 

 your manner of adjusting a plow and of plowing, and your soil, 

 are all so very different from his who pronounces that kind of 

 plow a most complete implement in every respect, that you can 

 not possibly make it operate at all satisfactorily. Such a plow 

 no man desires to purchase ; and, as different plows are calculated 



