PLOUGHING. 129 



the depth to which the soil has been stirred, and it would seem 

 strange, if, in a section so liable to suffer in this way as our 

 own, any farmer should fail to avail himself of deep ploughing. 



FRANKLIN. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



Good ploughing may truly be said to be the very ground- 

 work of successful husbandry, and without it no man can real- 

 ize such results as ought to satisfy his reasonable expectations. 

 There is now little or no difference of opinion, among those 

 who have examined the subject, as to what constitutes good 

 ploughing, viz. : — a thorough disintegration, or breaking up of 

 the soil to a sufScient depth to afford the roots of the different 

 crops ample room to spread in pursuit of nourishment and 

 moisture. There i? far more danger of falling short of, than of 

 exceeding, the requisite depth ; and there is no doubt that a 

 large portion of the land cultivated in New England, might be 

 made to produce greatly increased crops, by deeper and more 

 thorough ploughing than it now receives. 



Your committee are willing that the axe, the real pioneer of 

 civilization, should take precedence of the plough; but they 

 claim for the cattle the second place in the respect, the grati- 

 tude and the affection of every true farmer. And they are the 

 more anxious that its rights should be distinctly acknowledged 

 and honored now, inasmuch as a machine has been invented 

 which, it is claimed, will do the work of the plough more 

 thoroughly and cheaply, and which, in the progress of events, 

 threatens to crowd it from its position. "We are not prepared 

 to say that such a consummation is not devoutly to be wished, 

 because it must be conceded that every real improvement in 

 agricultural implements is a rich gift to the whole people. To 

 such a degree of perfection has the plough been brought that it 

 may be safely left to defend itself, by its own intrinsic merits, 

 against any mere pretender to superior excellence. And when 

 the day shall come for it to retire from active service, it can 

 look back upon many centuries of honorable usefulness, and 

 17* 



