No. 8. 



Dialogue between a Father and Son. 



243 



sion by pressing upon tlic handles — thus it is 

 ever on the poize, like a p;iir oi' scales, de- 

 mandino- of the ploughman incessant care 

 and labor, and performing badly at last. 



Frank — How linely the noble mould-plate 

 turns the furrow slice over, burying the weeds, 

 so that there is not one remaining on the sur- 

 face, and breaking up the land, so as scarcely 

 to require harrowing. 



Father — True — but this very excellent 

 quality shows that it is not well adapted to 

 the purpose of cutting across weedy fallows, 

 preparatory to harrowing or dragging; in 

 that operation, the furrow slice ought not to 

 be turned so completely over, for if it is, the 

 harrow cannot act upon so level a surface, so 

 as to drag over the clods to be crushed by the 

 roller ; the furrow should in this case be set 

 more on edge, but that you sea cannot be 

 done by this plough ; it requires one of a dif- 

 ferent form, with less curve in the mould- 

 plate. Still, however, every plough should 

 throw out a furrow wide enough to permit 

 the furrow horse to walk in it with ease, and 

 without which, it is not possible to plough 

 clean. 



Frank — Yes, I have always heard you say, 

 he is not a good gardener who does not keep 

 a good, wide, open trench in digging; and I 

 can now understand the advantage of a wide 

 and clean furrow in ploughing. 



Father — Nor is the plough which we are 

 now using suitable for hard or stony land ; 

 its wide wing prevents its entering a hard 

 soil, and during a hot and dry season, it would 

 be useless for a considerable portion of the 

 summer ; nor is it, for this and some otJier 

 reasons, the best for turning lay land, prepa- 

 ratory for immediate sowing; on such land 

 the furrow should be narrow, but with a wing 

 so wide, it would not be possible to carry a 

 narrow furrow, so as to place it in a proper 

 position for seeding. A person in England 

 has invented a plough, which for this work is 

 perhaps superior to all others; it is furnished 

 with three spare shares of different widths, 

 the narrowest being used for this purpose, 

 and it is said, a man has turned a furrow of 

 two hundred and fifty yards in length so 

 straight, that, by placing the head in it, 

 a person might sec from one end to the 

 other without any obstruction. By some 

 peculiar process at the time of casting, the 

 points and wings of these shares are case- 

 hardened on their underside, so that they 

 point and sharpen themselves ; the upper sur- 

 face being soft, wears away by working, 

 leaving the under part sharp as a knife. It 

 is said, they are casted on a bed of sand, 

 sprinkled over with powdered charcoal, which 

 converts the part coming in contact witli it, 

 into steel. VVith a narrow share, this plough 

 will penetrate a hard soil, when no other that 



I have ever seen, would even look at it ; but 

 its great length of waist, with its long beam 

 and handles, fit it ibr turning up a turnpike. 

 It has the quality too, of turning completely 

 the furrow slice, leavin«. it impenetrable to 

 the harrow— it is theretbre unsuitable for fal- 

 lowing land that is full of root weeds. 



So that we ought not to e.\pect to find any 

 one plough witii the difteront qualities of 

 all combined: but every intelligent and in- 

 dustrious man should keep a set of ploughs 

 for various purposes. It is the most impor- 

 tant of all implements, and is deserving our 

 most serious regard ; but let it be repeated, 

 there is one qualification which is necessary 

 in all, at all times, and in all places, namely, 

 that a furrow shall be left sulficiently wide 

 for the horse to walk in, and to receive the 

 next farrow slir*?, be that intended to lie at 

 an angle of forty-five degrees or at any other. 



Frank — At an angle of forty-five degrees! 

 pray what is that ■? and how am I to know 

 when it lies at an angle of forty-five degrees'? 



Father — I will show you — the circumfer- 

 ence of a globe, let the size be large or small, 

 is denominated three hundred and sixty de- 

 grees. Now, if we cut a circle of paper and 

 call the circumference three hundred and 

 sixty degrees; by folding in half, there will 

 then be just half the number of degrees re- 

 maining, namely, one hundred and eighty ; 

 if we fold this again, we shall find the num- 

 ber of degrees remaining to be ninety ; an- 

 other folding will give us a wedge-shaped 

 piece of paper which, if it be placed on one of 

 its straight sides on a flat surface, will show 

 you exactly what is an angle of forty-five de- 

 grees, if you cast your eye along the upper 

 straight edge, beginning at the point. 



Frank — I understand this exactly. 



Father — One very serious objection to the 

 general mode of ploughing in this country 

 arises from the hurry with which this most 

 important of all operations is performed ; it 

 is a cause of boasting, to be able to turn an 

 acre of land in the shortest possible time, 

 without, I fear, any regard to the manner in 

 which it is done; to this haste is to be, in 

 great part, attributed the in-egularities ob- 

 servable at the beginning of the furrows in 

 almost every field v.'e witness, occasioned 

 by the too sudden elevation or depression of 

 a plough of light and short construction, and 

 a desire to make the headlands as narrow as 

 possible; and I have never seen a plough- 

 man turn about to take up that portion of knd 

 which has thus been missed — as is always 

 done when proper time and attention are paid 

 to the work — trusting to the next turn when 

 he miffht take a deeper and larger furrow, 

 and wFth it cover the defect, thus leaving a 

 solid portion of the earth underneath a furrow 

 that lies too high, but which he thinks might 



