ON PLOUGHING. 97 



have not all been so much troubled as we have been 

 to find a cast-iron plough that would do the whole 

 work of cutting and turning the sod without the aid 

 of the foot of a wrestler. This amusement of wrest- 

 ling is now out of date, and the young may not take 

 our meaning ; but, in ancient times, the best wrestler 

 was always selected to hold the plough, because he 

 could actively handle his feet to aid the imperfect ma- 

 chinery bearing that appellation. 



Now we have grown lazier or wiser, and are desirous 

 of throwing all the hard work on to our hired men or 

 our machines, that we may not become too tired at 

 noon or at night to read our long-expected Cultivator. 



Ploughs for our plain lands require more length of 

 body than most of our cast-iron ploughs possess ; and 

 we believe one reason for making them so short was 

 a fear that long cast-iron mould-boards, or rather mould- 

 ers, would be too liable to be broken ; but, since they 

 are made of better metal than formerly, there is little 

 risk of breaking a long moulder with careful usage. 



Our lands that were in corn or potatoes last year will 

 this spring be laid to grass, for we need not, in tolera- 

 bly plain land, plant more than one year before seeding 

 down with broad-cast grain, not choosing to disturb 

 the buried sod : that is wanted at bottom to keep the 

 land light. Now how many times must we plough to 

 prepare our lands for spring grain and grass-seed ? 

 Shall we turn under all the corn-stalks, the sorrel, the 

 grass, and the weeds that lie on the surface ; then, by 

 a second, or cross-ploughing, turn all this matter up 

 again, for fear it might rot and turn to manure ? This 

 is what we all formerly practised, but can any one jus- 

 tify the practice ? 



We must not take the plough to the field in spring 

 till the ground is so dry as not to be made into bricks ; 

 yet we wish to begin as soon as it is fit, for the sooner 

 we harrow in our spring grain on suitable land the 

 better. Now we may begin to harrow our ground a 

 9* 



