AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 287 



On the whole, although it Avould not be possible to give 

 general rules nut liable to many exceptions, on tlie shape and 

 position of the furrow slice, which should be cut and dis- 

 posed of acc(,rding to the views of the cultivator, the nature 

 of the ground, tlie proposed crop, &c., we are inclined to 

 believe that Sir John Sinclair's nnaxim will appV to most of 

 our New England uplands. That eminent agriculturist 

 says that ' the point which ought to be referred to, w hen 

 determining between the merits of different specimens of 

 ploughing, is the angle of forty-five degrees.' That is, other 

 things being equal, the nearer the furrow slice comes to 

 forming an angle of forty-five degrees with the horizon, the 

 more perfect the specimen of ploughing. But another maxim 

 of the same writer is equally worthy of attention. ' Dry 

 soils being deHcient in moisture 02tght to he tilled fiat, as any 

 sort of drainings which the furrows might afford would be pre- 

 judicial rather than advantageous. In Kent, dry land is left 

 as level as if it were dug with a spade. The moisture is thus 

 equally diffused and retained under the surface of the earth.' 



The following is extracted and abridged from an address 

 delivered before the Middlesex Society of Husbandmen and 

 Manufacturers ; by Elias Phinney, Esq. 



' In May, 1329, the field having lain three years to grass, 

 and the crop of hay so light as to be worth not more than 

 the expense of making, with a view of ascertaining the quan- 

 tity of vegetable matter upon the surface, I took a single 

 foot square of g'-een sward, and after separating the roots and 

 tops of the grasses from the loam and vegetable mould, it 

 was found on weighing to contain nine ounces of clear vege- 

 table substance, giving, at that rate, over twelve and a quar- 

 ter tons to the acre. This convinced me of the importance 

 of taking some course by which this valuable treasure might 

 be turned to good account. That a great part of this mass 

 of vegetable matter is exposed to useless vv^aste, by the usual 

 mode of ploughing, cross ploughing and harrowing, must be 

 obvious to any one. In order therefore to secure this, as 

 well as the light vegetable mould at and near the surface, 

 which is liable to waste from the same causes, I had two 

 acres of the green sward of this field turned over with the 

 piough, as smoothly as possible. After removing the out- 

 side furrow slices into the centre of the plough land, and 

 thereby effecting the double purpose of covering the vacant 

 space in the middle and preventing ridges at the sides and 

 ends, the field was rolled hard, with a loaded roller, by 

 which the uneven parts of the furrow were pressed down 



