336 



plowman must be as quick and agile as a weasel ; and if his 

 plow deviates to the right or left, he must set it up as quickly as 

 it turned from its course. A slow-bellied, indolent Jonathan, 

 who always desires to ride through the world, never can make a 

 complete plowman. 



468. In breaking up the prairies of our Western country, 

 which are as level and free from stone and other obstructions as 

 a barn floor, the plow being drawn by three or four yoke of 

 oxen and sustained by four wheels, with a seat on it like the 

 devout and submissive Paddy, who " let the world slide along 

 ' azy,' and jump on and ride" the plowman holds his plow when 

 riding on it. But let a plowman adopt any such arrangement on 

 our compact, stubborn, and stony soils, "where our good plowmen 

 do not know half of the time whether they are on their feet or 

 in a passive state between the heavens and the earth, and he 

 would find his quiet seat disturbed very abruptly so frequently, 

 that he would choose " to foot it " until he became somewhat 

 tired. 



BEGINNING TO PLOW. 



" Clear the brown path to meet the coulter's gleam ! 

 The plowman comes, behind his smoking team I 

 Line after line, along the verdant sod, 

 Marks the broad acres where his feet have trod. 

 At every round the loosening chains resound, 

 And glittering mold-boards sleek the furrowed ground." GRAHAM. 



469. The principles of adjusting and of holding the plow being 

 well understood, and the team being correctly hitched to the 

 plow (see Par. 456), and the mold-board being well polished, so 

 that the dirt will slip, we are ready to start the plow. Now, then, 

 it is not desirable to have huge ridges thrown up along the fence, 

 nor to have deep furrows there; but the surface should be kept 

 as smooth there as in any other part of the field. "Where fields 

 are about level, it is best to plow them one way at one time, and 

 across the middle furrows at the next plowing. This will keep 

 the surface of the ground about level and smooth. In plowing 

 with a double team or with a single team, the plowman must 



