238 WHAT I KNOW OF FARMING. 



and the greater part of Europe, still linger in the 

 dark ages in this respect. Their plows are little bet- 

 ter than the forked sticks which served their barbarian 

 ancestors, and their implements generally are beneath 

 contempt. With such implements, deep and thorough 

 culture is simply impossible, unless by the use of the 

 spade ; and he must be a hard worker who produces a 

 peck of Wheat or half a bushel of Indian Corn per day 

 by the exclusive use of this tool. The soil of France 

 is so cut up and subdivided into little strips of two or 

 three roods up to as many acres each each strip 

 forming the entire patrimony of a family that agri- 

 cultural advancement or efficiency is, with the great 

 mass of French cultivators, out of the question. 

 Hence, I judge that, outside of Great Britain and 

 Australia, there is no country wherein an average 

 year's work produces half so much grain as in our 

 own, in spite of our slovenly tillage, our neglect and 

 waste of fertilizers, and the frequent failures of our 

 harvests. Belgium, Holland, and northern France, 

 can teach us neatness and thoroughness of cultivation ; 

 the British isles may fairly boast of larger and surer 

 crops of Wheat, Oats, Potatoes, and Grass, than we 

 are accustomed to secure ; but, in the selection of im- 

 plements, and in the average efficiency of labor, our 

 best farmers are ahead of them all. 



Bear with me, then, while I interpose a timid plea 

 for our inventors and patentees of implements, whose 

 solicitations that a trial, or at least an inspection, be 

 accorded to their several contrivances, are too often 



