HOW TO REGULATE THE PLOW. 275 



It is quite easy to follow this action of the plow, in the 

 mind; and as the farmer follows his plow in the field and 

 watches the furrow slice turn and fall into its place, he can 

 very readily perceive why the plow is formed in this man- 

 ner and how it completes its purpose. But this* is not all. 

 It is the mere beginning of the knowledge of the plow ; for 

 the farmer himself has to guide it; to hold it to its work, 

 and to handle it so that its proper purpose is made effective. 

 A vast amount of poor plowing is done, and although Amer- 

 ican plows are the best and the most easily handled of any, 

 yet as a rule, the average plowing is a wretched piece of 

 work, and quite sufficient to explain why the American far- 

 mer produces smaller crops than any other civilized farmer; 

 and this, notwithstanding our excellent climate and fertile 

 soils. 



To do good work, the plow should be attached to the 

 traces so that the sole rests on a line which meets just be- 

 hind the point of the share, with another line which is a 

 continuation of the line of draft as shown by the direction 

 of the traces. If this latter line touches the line of the sole 

 of the plow too far behind the share, the plow will run too 

 deeply; if the point of intersection of the two lines is ahead 

 of the point of the share, the plow will run too shallow, or 

 out of the ground; and the plowman will have to raise the 

 handles to keep the plow down to its work. In either case 

 the plow will not run right, and the labor of plowing will 

 be increased. So that the first thing to be looked to in us- 

 ing a plow is to fit the draft right. 



The draft being properly regulated, it will run evenly ex- 

 cept so far as the inequalities of the soil and any obstacles 

 it may meet with, as stones; hard clods; or previously ill- 

 plowed parts of the land. It is very rare indeed that these 

 interferences do not exist in any field; and where they do, 

 special pains must be taken to remove or overcome them. 

 The plow must be run at an even depth, the furrow must 

 be of even width ; and the furrow slices must lie over at the 

 same inclination; before the land can be said to be well 

 plowed. If the relation of the condition of the soil to the 



