128 



MECHANICS, 



air is not desirable, and where it becomes more important 



to bury com- 

 pletely all veg- 

 etable growt*!* 

 on the surface. 

 If furrows arc 

 cut wider in 

 ]3roportion to 

 their depth, 

 The Inclined Cutter^ Laying Flat Furrows. thev will be 



more likely to be laid flat. For example, if the plowing 

 is six inches deep, and the furrows are a foot wide, the 

 sod wull generally dispose itself in a horizontal or flat 

 position, and this result will be the more certainly secured 

 by giving the form to thfe cutter already described. Lap- 

 ping the furrows is the common practice in England, but 

 is less necessary for this country, where the moisture of 

 rains dries more quickly, and the severer frosts efiect a 

 ready pulverization; and especially is the practice less 

 needed in thoroughly drained land. 



The Committee for the trial of implements, appointed 

 by the New York State Agricultural Society, enumerated 

 the following desirable qualities in plows, which every 

 farmer maj^ find useful to examine when he is about to 

 purchase. 1. Pulverizing power. 2. !N"on-liability to 

 choke in stubble. 3. Lightness of draught, considered in 

 connection with pulverizing power. 4. Ease of holding. 

 5. Durability. 6. Cheapness. 7. Excellence of mechani- 

 cal work. 8. Excellence of material. 9. Thorough inver. 

 sion and burial of weeds. 10. Even distribution of wear. 

 11. Regularity or trueness of turning and carrying the 

 furrow-slice in sod. 



OPERATION OF TLOWING. 



The expert plowman so adjusts his implement that it 

 will 'cut a furrow of just such width and thickness as 



