HAMPDEN SOCIETY. 227 



On Ploughs. 



The executive committee, to whom was referred the subject 

 of awarding premiums on ploughs, submit the following re- 

 port : — 



The plough lies at the foundation of agricultural progress, 

 and any improvement in its construction or use, diminishes the 

 cost of production, and is so far, beneficial to all who eat bread. 

 Good crops depend upon good ploughing, as good ploughing 

 depends upon good ploughs. The object of ploughing, is to 

 fit, or prepare the ground for seeding or planting, and the 

 plough that does the most towards accomplishing this prepara- 

 tion, at the same expense, is the best plough. 



With a view to the trial of ploughs, the committee had pro- 

 vided a dynamometer of the most approved construction, with 

 a stationary power for moving the plough, and other apparatus 

 for obtaining the weight of the furrow turned, which, altogether, 

 were deemed capable of giving, with nice precision, the 

 amount of work performed by each plough, and the amount of 

 team labor expended in performing it ; facts, which would at 

 once show the comparative economy of using the different 

 ploughs submitted to the test, and assist the committee in 

 coming to a correct decision in the premises. 



The ploughs submitted for premium, comprising not less than 

 ten different sizes, and adapted to different soils, were all of one 

 manufacture, from Messrs. Prouty & Mears, of Boston, and 

 constructed, as they claim, with a view to the " centre-draft " 

 principle. No other competitor appearing on the field, the com- 

 mittee were left to judge on the merits of these ploughs, by 

 submitting them to the test of the instruments provided for 

 that purpose, and by comparison with other ploughs called 

 good, but not offered for premium, and by following them in the 

 furrows for several hours on three several days, as their meeting 

 was adjourned from time to time, and with the further aid of 

 the considerable personal experience of several members of the 

 committee in plough-holding ; and witnessing their light draft, 

 easy holding, and excellent work, the committee were unani- 



