NORFOLK SOCIETY. 467 



also, was early discovered in the growth of grass between the 

 furrows. Where one of the ploughs was used, scarcely a spire 

 of grass started, and the whole sod soon rotted ; but where the 

 others were used, the grass sprung up and grew with such 

 luxuriance, that by the time the corn was large enough to 

 weed, the interstices of the furrows presented the appearance, 

 in most instances, of young grain growing in drills. These 

 differences in the condition of the soil and the growth of grass, 

 of course, caused a corresponding difference in the labor of cul- 

 tivation, and in the growth and yield of the crop. The supe- 

 rior growth of the corn, from the first start to the harvest, marked 

 the operation of one plough, to a ftirrow ; the ease of cultiva- 

 tion corresponded to the growth of the crop, and even when 

 the land was ploughed the next year, the same difference was 

 plain in reference to the decomposition of the sod, and the 

 crop of oats which succeeded, showed a greater yield on the 

 same lot.* 



In ploughing stiff soil, the object of dividing it and exposing 

 it to the air, can be best accomplished by a narrow furrow- 

 slice. Such a slice, from its less weight, falls over and lies 

 more lightly, and at the same time cuts the soil into smaller 

 divisions and exposes more surface. Some have supposed that 

 it was quite as well to turn large or wide furrows, and attei.i^^t 

 to produce the requisite tilth afterwards with the harrow or 

 some similar implement. But the object is nearly impractica- 

 ble. If we attempt to work the furrows with a tool which will 

 penetrate through them, — as the cultivator or grubber, — the 

 vegetation will be brought more or less to the surface ; if the 

 harrow is used, it only lightens an inch or two of the surface, 

 while at the same time it packs more closely the under por- 

 tion. Road-makers know that the harrow is one of the best 

 implements they can use for solidifying the earth. 



The pulverization of the soil and the destruction of the vege- 

 tation, does not, as some persons suppose, depend greatly on 

 either the flatness or angularity of the furrow-slices. Some 

 ploughs turn the slice flat, and yet much grass starts in the in- 

 terstices ; others, as the most approved Scotch ploughs, give 

 the corner of the furrow-slice what is called a " high set," but 



* It may be proper to say, as an inquiry will naturally arise, that the lot alluded to 

 was ploughed with Prouty & Mears's 5^ plough. 



