MECHANICAL DIVISION OF SOILS. 93 



PLOWS, AND OTHER FARM IMPLEMENTS. 



There are plows for almost every situation and soil, in ad- 

 dition to several varieties which are exclusively used for the 

 subsoil. Some are for heavy lands and some for light ; some 

 for stony soils, others for such as are full of roots ; while seve- 

 ral varieties of plows are expressly made, for breaking up the 

 hitherto untilled prairies of the West. Some are adapted to 

 deep and some to shallow plowing ; and some are for plowing 

 around a hill and throwing the furrows either up or down, or 

 both ways alternately ; others throw the soil on both sides, 

 and are used for furrowing and plowing between the rows of 

 corn or roots. Every farm should be supplied with all that 

 are entirely suited to the various operations required. 

 There is frequently great economy in having a diversity of im- 

 plements for all the different purposes to be accomplished ; and 

 although one of unusual construction may seldom be called 

 for, yet its use for a few days or even for a few hours, may 

 sometimes repay its full cost. 



The farmer will find in the best agricultural ware-houses, 

 all the implements necessary to his operations, with such 

 descriptions as will enable him to judge of their merits. 

 Great attention has been bestowed on this subject, by skil- 

 ful and intelligent persons, and great success has followed 

 their efforts. The United States may safely challenge the 

 world, to exhibit better specimens of farming tools than they 

 now furnish, and their course is still one of improvement. 

 There are numerous competitors for public favor, in every 

 description of farm implements ; and an intelligent farmer 

 cannot fail to select such as are best suited to his own situa- 

 tion and purposes. 



The best only should be used. There has been a " penny 

 wise and a pound foolish" policy adopted by many farmers, 

 in their neglect or refusal to supply themselves with good 

 tools to work with. They thus save a few shillings in the 

 first outlay, but frequently lose ten times as much by the 

 use of indifferent ones, from the waste of labor and the ineffi- 

 ciency of their operations. A farmer should estimate the 

 value of his own and his laborer's time, as well as that of his 

 teams, by dollars and cents ; and if it requires thirty, ten, or 

 even one per cent, more, to accomplish a given object with 

 one instrument than with another, he should, before buying 

 one of inferior quality, carefully compute the amount his 

 false economy in the purchase will cost him before he has 

 done with it. Poor men, or those who wish to thrive, can ill 



