FARMS. 93 



resort, then, to such machinery as will enable us to carry on 

 our business economically and profitalily. 



Perhaps the time has not yet arrived when we can equip our 

 farms with all the intricate implements which constitute a part 

 of the outfit of an Englisli farmer. We can, however, employ 

 with advantage the improvements which have been made by 

 the skill of our own people. In all the smaller tools, there is 

 no doubt that we are far in advance of any other nation. Our 

 shovels, and spades, and forks, and hoes, and rakes are light, 

 well-balanced, and, when carefully made, very strong and dur- 

 able. No American farmer would think it possible to carry on 

 his farm witli the implements used in most parts of Europe. 

 At the recent International Exhibition at Hamburg, the steel- 

 tined pitch-forks exhibited by American manufacturers, were 

 examined with fear and tremljling by the German farmers, who 

 considered them dangerous instruments, when compared with 

 their own clumsy, and by no means formidable wooden forks, 

 used by them in their hay-fields and farm-yards. We need 

 not complain of our smaller agricultural tools, when compared 

 with those of any other nation. 



Perhaps the same may be said of our ploughs, upon the con- 

 struction of which we have devoted so much time and skilful 

 attention, during the last quarter of a century. It is a fact 

 worthy of notice, however, that the American, who claims to 

 have the best plough that can be made, is by no means the best 

 ploughman. In this respect, many other people excel us ; the 

 Italian somewhat, even with his rude implement, and the 

 Scotchman very considerably, with his model plough for heavy 

 lands. That straight and even furrow, so characteristic of the 

 farming of the latter, is but little known to us. And we would 

 suggest that for ploughing our heaviest and strongest lands, the 

 length of our ploughs from heel to point should be materially 

 increased, and with it the length of the mould-board ; believ- 

 ing as we do, that a plough thus constructed is more easily 

 handled by an unskilful laborer, than one which is shorter, 

 lighter, and more difficult to control. 



Not so much in our [)lougli, however, may any improvement 

 be made for the benefit of those deficient in skill, as in those 

 implements employed for pulverizing and cleaning the land. 

 These are very important to the farmer who is engaged in rais- 



