26 3 



saturated clay akin in consistency to an unbaked brick. It merely 

 dries the surface and leaves a stiff unworkable clod. Except in 

 favored localities, the growing season here is so short that ploughing 

 once commenced has to be continued, rain or fine, until the crops 

 are in. The crops must be in early, or not at all. Hence, in the 

 drier districts, the advantage of having a .sufficient area of arable 

 land, to have half of it in fallow. There is no doubt in my mind 

 that where crops fail on new unexhausted land, it is chiefly owing 

 to imperfect tillage. The scarcity of rainfall is blamed, when it is 

 not culpable ; as the same ground, ploughed when it was in a 

 proper condition for ploughing, would have, it is safe to say, thrown 

 a much better crop with half the rainfall. When stiff soils are 

 ploughed, harrowed, and sometimes rolled wet, a solid impervious 

 face is presented to the rain, which does not sink into the ground, 

 but either lodges and drowns the young plants, or runs off the surface, 

 or is speedily evaporated, instead of being stored up underground 

 for the future use of the plants. As soon as the warm weather sets 

 in, the surface cracks in all directions, and the little moisture there 

 was in the soil is soon dissipated into the atmosphere, without 

 passing through the plant. 



Before commencing ploughing, the land to be broken up should 

 be carefully looked over. If there are any. slight rises they may be 

 "scruffed up with the plough and scooped into any depressions 

 that may exist ; or the leveller, shown in the accompanying illustra- 

 tions, may be used. The leveller may be made on the farm, all the 

 aid it will be necessary to invoke being that of the blacksmith to 

 make the iron nose and even this is not an absolute necessity, as our 

 hardwoods will stand a good deal of friction before wearing away. 



SERVICEABLE LAND LEVELLER. 



To make the leveller take two hardwood planks about 12 feet 

 in length, two inches thick and eight inches wide. Cut down one 

 edge with a drawing knife, plane or adze, so that it will be about 



