PLOUGHING. 123 



good old village of 1818 into the city of '54, and turned the 

 wooden instrument of that date into the beautiful and useful 

 one of to-day ; and, in turn, the city has turned us and our cat- 

 tle pens from our first love (the common) into the barn yard 

 belonging to the new farm ; but, they having kindly permitted 

 us to take our flocks and fatlings with us, we will not complain. 



This morning your committee, encouraged by the past, start- 

 ed sixteen well-fed, well-trained strong teams. Fourteen ox 

 and three horse teams had been previously entered for the trial. 

 Sixteen promptly made their appearance. One of the delin- 

 quents came forward seasonably and stated that one of his 

 oxen had been lamed, and it was impossible for him to fulfil his 

 engagement. All the teamsters displayed a remarkable degree 

 of skill. No noise, no whipping, was heard. Every ox and 

 horse seemed to understand the arduous duties imposed on 

 him ; and to say that the skill and dexterity of the ploughmen 

 were in the least behind any former year, would be doing injus- 

 tice to their real merit. 



The field on which the trial was had to-day was a favorable 

 one. The soil for the first five or six inches is a gravelly 

 loam, with a clayey, loamy subsoil, and of about the same 

 character as a large majority of our YF orcester county hill 

 lands, and should, in the judgment of your committee, be 

 worked to a much greater depth than any single team is able 

 to plough. And your committee would recommend that, in 

 coming years, a portion at least of your premiums be offered 

 to any team suitable to turn the furrow from eight to ten inches 

 deep, whether with the Michigan, subsoil, or other plough, 

 rather than as heretofore offered only for single teams, which 

 are never able to plough deeper than from five to seven inches, 

 and this for no length of time. Your committee all agree that 

 the day has passed when we should encourage shallow plough- 

 ing, certainly of such soil as was ploughed to-day. If Mother 

 Earth yielded her productions spontaneously to the inhabitants 

 of the garden of Eden, she is not so indulgent now ; for she 

 must be continually stirred and vexed by the plough, and more 

 deeply and thoroughly tilled and cultivated, or her children 

 will want. And your committee know of no instrument in use 

 that equals the Michigan plough for thorough cultivation and 



