128 THE BUSINESS OF FAEMING 



whether moved by horse, steam or gasoline 

 power. 



Most farmers want to plow deeper, and many 

 are deluded into believing that they are plowing 

 deep enough, for they never measure with a rule 

 the depth they are plowing, and to attempt to 

 measure the depth of plowing with the eye is de- 

 ceptive. It takes power to move any plow five 

 or more inches in depth through our soils of to- 

 day, for they are closer and more compact than 

 they were when filled with organic matter. 



Plowing for the seed bed is done mostly in the 

 spring of the year, when horses have just passed 

 through their period of winter rest and are un- 

 used to the hard work required for plowing. They 

 are in that period which the farmer calls "soft." 

 Their muscles are relaxed and need to be tough- 

 ened, and instead of preparing the horse for this 

 hard, laborious work, by a practice of lighter 

 work, he is put to the plow early in the spring and, 

 it being the "rush season," when the spring plow- 

 ing must be done quickly so that the seed may be 

 planted in due time, the horse is pushed to his 

 limit. And to relieve his burden, the farmer 

 raises the devices upon his plow that regulate the 

 depth of plowing, and shallow plowing becomes 

 the rule upon the average farm. 



Eecently the author went into a field where a 

 farmer had two light horses, neither weighing 

 over 1200 pounds, hitched to a common walking 

 plow. He was attempting to plow a stiff soil, 

 deficient in any loosening matter. It was cold, 

 compact, and within less than a depth of three and 

 a half inches, had not been broken for a long 



