32 



AgricuUural Exhibition. 



Vol. VI. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 AgricuUural Exhibition. 



Mr. Kditor, — I am glad to see it an- 

 nounced in your last number, that the Phila- 

 delphia Aijricultural Society will hold their 

 annual exhibition at the Rising Sun, on the 

 29th and 30th of September next. Since the 

 last meeting of the Society, 1 have not ceased 

 to grieve for the disappointment which was 

 then felt on account of the total failure of the 

 ploughing match ! and is it a fact that Penn- 

 sylvania is so far behind the Eastern States, 

 that it is not possible to get up a ploughing 

 match in this part of the country] True, it 

 is said the land which had been selected was 

 unsuited to the purpose, and that those who 

 came to the trial were unprepared, as it was 

 not understood that each sliould bring the ne- 

 cessary apparatus; but this is not all — there 

 was not a plough upon the ground that was 

 suited to the purpose of turning whole land 

 in a dry season. Is it asked, in what were 

 the ploughs defective] I answer, they were 

 too wide in the share, or wing, for ploughing 

 whole land — they cut too much: the points 

 were too wide, and their beams too short. If 

 one of them had been fitted up with a narrow, 

 sharp share — say about 8 or 9 inches wide, 

 with the point narrow and perfectly sharp, 

 and a foot of chain attached to the beam to 

 prevent its being lifted out of the work by 

 the draught of the horses — which ought to be 

 prevented from going steam-pace, as is too 

 much the custom — she would have entered 

 the land, never fear ; and in the hands of a 

 good workman would have been considered 

 worthy a premium. 



A great deal has been said in the papers 

 about a plough that was sent from a maker in 

 Market street, Philadelphia, to compete with 

 the English ploughs at the agricultural exhi- 

 bition at Cambridge, and they have gone so 

 far as to declare that it received the encomi- 

 ums of the Society ; but the fact is, it was 

 never brought into competition with the Eng- 

 lish ploughs at all, for it was found perfectly 

 impotent — it was tried on an adjoining field, 

 where it drew a good deal of notice, but it 

 was quite inefficient until it had been fur- 

 nished with a coulter; and all that was ever 

 said in its favour was, " after that, it did bet- 

 ter;" even the "noble President" could make 

 nothing of it. 



But I fear it is a fact, that " the worst part 

 of our agricultural operations in this part of 

 the country is our ploughing," and I guess it 

 will be long before we are able to cope with 

 6ome of our distant friends in this particular; 

 nevertheless, that is no reason why the at- 

 tempt should not be made and the question 

 decided, and I sincerely hope the committee 

 of arrangement will determine on making 



another exhibition of the skill of our plough- 

 men, who will now be able to come better 

 prepared to wipe away the stigma which 

 rests upon them since the abortive attempt 

 of the past year: is there no such machine 

 in this part of the country as a dynamome- 

 ter] 



But let the proprietors and manufacturers 

 of the difl'erent ploughs act liberally, and of- 

 fer, as a premium, the plough which is de- 

 clared to be the winner, as is done in Europe: 

 they could well af!brd to do so, for the eclat 

 will be worth to them many times the value 

 of the plough in the way of advertisement. 

 Now let our young ploughmen look out and 

 do their best; to them we old folks look for 

 improvement. But if the weather be hot and 

 dry, and the land a hard lay, they will do lit- 

 tle with ploughs such as those which were 

 exhibited the last year, and no disparagement 

 either to ploughs or ploughmen — in that case, 

 let them narrow the width of their shares and 

 points, and lengthen the beam if necessary, 

 and my word for it they will go. In my 

 opinion, the best ploughs in the world are the 

 American ; they only need to be fitted for the 

 work they are required to perform. 



I have just seen an account of a ploughing 

 match against time for a bet of $100, between 

 two farmers of Lincolnshire, England, on the 

 farm of Mr. C. Popplewell, of Canwick, who 

 undertook to find a man who should with one 

 pair of horses and a single-furrowed plough, 

 turn up two acres of fallow land within eight 

 hours, to the satisfaction of two impartial 

 judges. The plough was started at six in the 

 morning, and the two acres were completed 

 before one in the afternoon, being within 

 seven hours, to the perfect satisfaction of the 

 judges. The furrows averaged a depth of 

 seven inches, and the share measured only 

 six arid a half inches broad in the icing. The 

 ploughman's name was William Prescolt. I 

 repeat, our ploughs are too wide in the wing 

 of the share — they cut too much. 



An Old Ploughman on the Shelf. 



Scliuylkill County. 



We are authorized to say, the Society have it in con- 

 templation to institute a second exhibition or meeting 

 in tlie l?[iring, to be held nt some convenient place on 

 the western side of the Schuylkill, when and where 

 they consider it probable that more attention would be 

 paid to a trial of ploughs than is likely to be rendered 

 at the general exhibition in the autumn ; the land, too, 

 might be expected to be in a more favourable condition 

 for the trial, which if got up on a grand scale, would 

 add much to the interest of the meeting. They would 

 strongly recduunond to the notice of the manufacturers 

 of ])li)iighs, the Kuropcan custom mentioned above, of 

 presenting to the winner a now plough o^that descrip- 

 tion which gains the premium ; a cheap mode, they con- 

 sider, of advertising and bringing into notice the maker 

 of the best plough. — Ed. 



