460 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



eaving so much upon the ground as I saw re- 

 ;mining after the grain was tied into bundles. If 

 hese trials were fair examples of their usual 

 vork, the necessity for raking after reaping will 

 ^rove a considerable drawback upon the useful- 

 ness of the machines. It was wonderful to see 

 the self-raker cut down a very heavy barley crop 

 at the rate of an acre in 29 minutes, and claw it 

 from the machine and lay it in bunches ready to 

 be tied up ! 



The trial of plows attracted much interest, and 

 was going on through two days. The plow-field 

 presented to me an original scene. The judges 

 were composed of portions of the English, 

 French and Scotch population, — while to these 

 were added among the competitors and specta- 

 tors, the Irish and Italian. Of course, there was 

 a Babel of languages — but nearly all were mas- 

 ters of two tongues, the French and English, 

 and I observed that when two persons met, both 

 speaking English well, and became earnest, they 

 grew eloquent in French, — while those not car- 

 ing a snap for the decalogue, when they wanted 

 to give a peculiar unction to their expressions, 

 "swore worse than our army did in Flanders," in 

 pure English. How is this ? Has the French 

 language more power in the expression o^ feeling, 

 and the English in denunciation, that the com- 

 mon people resort to one and the other at will, 

 or did my imperfect knowledge of the French 

 fail to catch monsieur's vocabulary of oaths ? But 

 the queerest of all, was, when the impassable and 

 pertinacious Scotchman came in contact with the 

 lively and voluble Frenchman, both resorting to 

 common English ground, and discussing the 

 merits of their favorite implements. I shall give 

 no example — it would require the full power of 

 the ablest philologist in the land to do it justice. 



Nearly all the land in this region is a clay 

 loam, and therefore does not call for so extended 

 a variety of plows as New England soils. Still, 

 one form of plow will not do good work in all 

 places here. Most of their plowing is done in 

 the lap furrow form. For their grain crops they 

 plow in August and September, and leave it un- 

 til spring — then sow upon the furrow and har- 

 row afterwards. I suppose they must harrow 

 across the furrows, because the grain seems to 

 grow inclines, as though the seed had fallen into 

 the channels on the edges of the furrows. Most 

 of the plows of the country presented were the 

 Scotch — all iron and about ten feet long ! The 

 beam is short, curved and graceful ; the point 

 very long and slender, the handles some five feet 

 in length, ending in short wooden jiieces — some- 

 times of mahogany — for the hands. I saw sever- 

 al of them at work. They require a stout pair 

 of horses, who move very slowly, plowing only 

 one acre each day and that rarely more than six 



inches deep. A Scotchman at my side inquired, 

 — "How much is your average day's work ?" I 

 replied, — "With such a team, on similar land, 

 and with one of our plows adapted to the soil, we 

 should plow two acres at least, nine or ten inches 

 deep, being ten hours in the hooks ; and that in 

 a cool day and everything favorable, two acres 

 and a half were not an uncommon day's work." 

 The Scotchman did not say that he was incredu- 

 lous, but his nationality would not allow him to 

 yield. "Ah," said he, "but ye canna do it so 

 weel as we." 



The English and Frenchmen saw gracf s and vir- 

 tues in th° American plow that did not commend 

 themselves to the Scot. They clustered around 

 the neatly-made and symmetrical plows from the 

 house of Nourse, Mason & Co., and scanned 

 their work with evident interest and satisfaction. 

 Mr. HoLBROOK, of Vermont, was present, and 

 upon a call from the chairman of this department 

 of the trial, put several forms of his mould-board 

 "through their paces," and briefly explained, to 

 the members of the Board and spectators, the 

 principles upon which they were constructed, and 

 why the varying soils require differently formed 

 mould-boards. The gentlemen composing the 

 Board, and the intelligent farm-managers who 

 were present, gentlemen who own and direct the 

 affairs of large estates, but do not labor with 

 their hands, seemed to appreciate the force of his 

 remarks, and I subsequently learned that the 

 judges awarded to the Universal Plow their high- 

 est prize, though not as a plow coming in compe- 

 tition with others. 



Perhaps no part of this field trial proved so 

 satisfactory to our Canadian brethren as that of 

 the plows ; they did not hesitate to express in 

 warm terms their obligations to the States men 

 for coming so far, and contributing so much to 

 advance the cause they are striving to promote. 



Several threshing machines were on trial, all 

 working well, and one of which threshed and 

 cleaned up the grain from 100 sheaves of wheat 

 in 8i minutes. 



Three stump pullers were tested, and one of 

 them, introduced by Mr. George Kenny, of 

 Milford, N. H.,bore off the palm, and proved it- 

 self an implement of astonishing power. 



Yours truly, SiMON Brown. 



Ditching Machine. — The Executive Com- 

 mittee of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, 

 offer $500 for the best ditching machine for open 

 ditching. The party claiming the offer must ex- 

 hibit the practical working of the machine at the 

 same places and times with the steam plow, and 

 the Company above mentioned will transport the 

 machine over their road free of cost. 



