FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 91 



web of root and sod. Hence, results a grand process, called 

 " a breaking up,'' with four, five or six head of cattle, as the 

 case may be : with three men, one at the ox-head, one at the 

 plough-beam, and the third at the plough handle. Is there 

 any wonder that such a ploughing apparatus is an object of 

 aversion? It is impossible for any man to witness a 

 4< breaking up,'" of this kind, without being forcibly reminded 

 of the reflection made by a dry Dutch commentator on that 

 passage in the book of Kings, where it is said that Elisha 

 was found " ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen." " Well," 

 said the commentator, "it is no wonder that Elisha was 

 glad to quit ploughing for prophesying, if he could not 

 break up with less than twelve yoke of oxen." 



In fact the plough is the natural instrument of the farm- 

 er's prosperity, and the system of every farmer ought to 

 have reference to facilitating and increasing its use. Let 

 a rotation be adopted embracing two or three years succes- 

 sive ploughings, for deepening and pulverizing; the crops to 

 be succeeded by grain and grass for two or three years 

 more. The plough on its return every five, six or seven 

 years finds, in such case, the land mellow, soft, unimpli- 

 cated by root, and tender in sod. The consequence is that 

 a breaking up is then done with one yoke and one man. 

 The expense is comparatively small. There is nothing to 

 deter, and everything to invite, the farmer to increase the 

 use of that most invaluable of all instruments. It ought to 

 be a principle that our farming should be so systematized 

 that all breaking up should be done with one yoke of oxen 

 and one man, who both drives and directs the plough. 



Systematic agriculture also requires sufficiency of hands. 

 Although this is a plain dictate of common sense, yet the 

 want of being guided by it is one great cause of ill success 

 in our agriculture. Because we hear every day that " labor 

 runs away with profits in farming," almost every farmer 

 lays it down, as a maxim, to do with as little labor as possi- 

 ble ; and it almost always results in practice in doing with 

 less than he ought. Labor wisely directed and skillfully 

 managed, can, in the nature of things, resultin nothing else 

 than profit. The great secret of European success in agri- 

 culture is stated to be, " much labor on comparatively little 

 land." Xow the whole tenor of Massachusetts husbandry 

 from the first settlement of the country has been, little labor 

 on much land. Is it wonderful, then, that success should 

 be little or nothing, when conduct is in direct violation of 

 the principle on which success depends? 



