148 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



space left between the lines which inclose the center of the field, 

 (<:, c, z,etc.) 



Commence the work by plowing this small space, commencing 

 at the stakes last set for the first furrow, and throwing the earth 

 from the center, as it is difficult, especially in an irregular field, 

 to get evenly started in plowing toward the center. After this 

 piece (which need not contain more than a square rood) has been 

 plowed up, reverse your direction and turn your furrow against 

 the outside of it, and so continue until you reach the boundaries 

 ef the field. 



The stakes set at «, <?, ^, ^, etc., will be useful as guides, 

 enabling you to so regulate the width of the furrow on the different 

 sides that you will come out even at the end of the work. 



I am aware that this plan is open to the objection that it is 

 unusual, but I feel confident that any farmer who will try it will 

 find its adoption easy, and that it has all the advantages claimed 

 for it. 



In fields with parallel sides, the center piece may be larger, and 

 be plowed in " lands," — or in a single land against a back fur- 

 row, but this cannot be quite so neatly done in a piece of any 

 other shape, though it is not impossible, after one furrow has been 

 thrown outward. 



I have concluded to say nothing of the manner of plowing in 

 ** lands," "ridge and furrow-plowing," etc., not because the sub- 

 ject is not important, but for the reason that, after a careful search 

 through hundreds of pages that have been published about it, I 

 have failed to find any thing of importance that I had not already 

 learned in practice, and that will not form a part of the very 

 early practical education of any young farmer who needs the 

 knowledge. 



There are so many topics which demand attention in a hand- 

 book for general use, that only the more important can claim 

 much space. 



On one point, both practical experience and common sense 

 fully agree. That is, that (as was stated under the head of 

 " Fences") the fields should be so arranged as to make the furrows 



