282 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



have been appointed to make the necessary ar 

 rangements, and we doubt not they will make it 

 an occasion worthy the reputation of that ancient 

 and time-honored old town. It is expected that 

 the citizens, generally, will contribute to the ex- 

 hibition, which will be free and open to all who 

 may choose to attend. 



THE SOD AND SUBSOIL PLOW. 



One of these plows, from the warehouse of Rug- 

 gles, Nuurse, Mason & Co., of Boston, was in op- 

 eration on the fiirm of II. F. French, Esq., of Exe- 

 ter, last Monday. Many of our best farmers were 

 present, and with one voice pronounced it a de- 

 cided improvement on any breaking up plow 

 they had ever seen. It is the same implement 

 known in many places as "<Ae Michigan double 

 plow."" It is like an ordinary sward plow, with 

 another smaller plow set in the beam, forward of 

 the larger. The forward plow cuts a shallow fur- 

 row, turning the sod merely, while the other turns 

 the rest of the furrow upon the inverted sod. 

 Both plows may be guaged to any desired depth. 

 Upon Mr. French's land, a sandy loam, the for- 

 ward plow turned four inches, and the large plow 

 seven inches, making a clean furrow of fully eleven 

 inches depth, and fifteen inches width, by re- 

 peated measurement. The land when plowed had 

 the appearance of finely pulverized old ground, no 

 vestige of sward or grass roots being visible. It 

 is found that no greater strength is required to 

 draw the double plow, than the common plow, 

 the splitting of the furrow-slice lessening very 

 much the friction upon the mould-board. Four 

 oxen were abundantly sufficient to do the work as 

 above stated. The plow used was the Eagle, No. 

 35. The advantages of such a plow, in effectual- 

 ly subduing witch grass, in lightening the labor 

 of planting and hoeing, and in turning over mead- 

 ows in order to lay them down at once to grass, 

 are obvious from the facts already stated. — Exe- 

 ter Ntws Letter. 



Remarks. — We have several times seen these 

 plows in operation, as well as examined their pe- 

 culiar make. The curve of the skim-plow, or 

 forward mould-board, is such as to turn directly 

 upside down the turf which it cuts up. The turn 

 of the rear mould-board is very beautiful, and be- 

 ing constructed upon strictly mathematical princi- 

 ples, offers the least possible resistance to the earth 

 against which it is pressing. Although curving, 

 as a whole so as to roll the subsoil over and com- 

 pletely c^iver the turf which the skim-plow had cov- 

 ered, it is in fact a series of straight lines upon 

 which the soil moves easily away until deposited 

 where desired. A stick with a straight edge may 

 belaid along this mould-board, in various ways, so 

 that the light will scarcely be admitted under it, 

 strange as it may seem. The adjustment of the 

 forward mould-board to the beam is one of extra 

 strength and convenience, by which various depths 

 of work are easily and expeditiously secured. 



The forward mould-board overturns the entire 

 sod as wide as the working of the rear mould, and 



so places it in the channel previously made, as in 

 no case whatever to be brought to the surface by 

 the harrow or other implement of after cultivation. 



The rear mould-board takes up the under soil 

 and sifts it over the inverted sod, entirely filling 

 the surface, and at the same time disintegrating 

 and mellowing the earth so thoroughly that the 

 plowed land requires little or no harrowing to fit 

 it for the reception of seed, and in free loams the 

 use of the harrow or other instruments, as pul- 

 verizers, is dispensed with. 



The draught of the plow is remarkably light, 

 considering the great amount of work and the 

 thorough pulverization effected by it. 



COMPARISON BETWEEN OX & HORSE 

 LABOR FOR THE FARM. 



Some time ago we published a communication 

 containing the experience of Mr. Geo. Dewy, of 

 Hanover, upon this subject. Thef^ractical value 

 of that article found for it a place in nearly every 

 agricultural journal in the country. In a late 

 number of the Wisconsin and loxoa Farmer, we 

 find another calculation arriving at similar results. 

 It is well worth the consideration of the farmer. 

 We are well aware of the attraction that a fine span 

 of horses has for the young f;irmer. The motion 

 of the horses is more congenial to young blood or 

 to fast blood. The movement of cattle is general- 

 ly slow and sleepy compared to the life and ener- 

 gy of the movement of the horse. Then a fine 

 span of horses has a more noble appearance, es- 

 pecially when taken from the plow and driven to 

 the street. It is pleasant too, once in a while to 

 be able to convert the spirited plow team, into a 

 spanking pair for the pleasure carriage. But the 

 advantages in favor of the use of oxen for farm la- 

 bor are such as renders it difficult to dispense with 

 them. The pros and cons may be summed up in 

 three propositions. 



1. The yoke of good oxen, with good care will 

 do as much work annually as the span of horses. 



2. The oxen improve in value, or at least do 

 not diminish, until at the close of their labor they 

 are still as valuable for beef as when at five or six 

 ytars old; while the horse is, at twelve, material- 

 ly depreciate in value, and in a few years more be- 

 comes a burden, only to be thrown off by the axe. 



3. The first cost of oxen and fixings is less than 

 that of horses, and the annual cost of keeping, 

 and the general wear and tear is less by one third 

 or two fifths. 



Under these considerations quite a profitable 

 difference in favor of the use of oxen is cyphered 

 out. 



The writer whose statement we exhibit, as- 

 sumes the cost of a good pair of horses to be $200, 

 and their harnesses $25, making $225, the inter- 

 est of which at 7 per cent makes $15,75. It 

 costs to feed, for grain, $68,50, and for hay, 

 $48,00. making the entire annual cost $132,25. 

 A yoke of good oxen, yoke and chains cost $110, 

 which at 7 per cent interest is $7,70 : — grain to 

 feed costs $34,35, and hay $48, making the an- 

 nual cost of a yoke of oxen $89,95. 



tVt these rates per annum the account is kept 

 for ten years with the same set of animals. 



