45 



rules by which committee and ploughmen should be guided do 

 not seem to be correct and definite enough to meet the case. 

 One of the rules of the society is, that "only double ox 

 teams shall have drivers." I think it well to adhere strictly 

 to that rule in the future ; but as the ploughmen all come ex- 

 pecting to plough Avith a driver, and with one exception were 

 not prepared to plough at all without a driver, it did not 

 seem best to enforce the rule. Then again, these teams of 

 three or more horses are practically double teams, and should 

 be required to do the work of double teams, but the rules only 

 required them to do the work of single teams, that is, to 

 plough six inches deep, and though all the work was well 

 done, there was none of it good, practical, everyday work, 

 because it was uot economical ; it is not economy to use a 

 double team and two men to do work that can be as well done 

 with a single team and one man. 



The team, driver, ploughman and plough, which took the 

 first premium, each and all of them did as artistic work as I 

 have ever seen. The team, driver and ploughman which 

 took the second prize, seemed to do as good work as the first, 

 but the plough they used was not in condition to make as 

 handsome work as the other. These were both four horse 

 teams. The team with three horses abreast worked well and 

 were well handled, but the ploughman failed to do artistic 

 work in two respects. The first was taking more land than 

 his plough would at all times turn well over to its place, the 

 sod doublino' down and leavinsr cavities which it would take 

 considerable harrowing to fill up. The other respect, of no 

 practical importance except the very important one of good 

 looks, was that he did not straighten the crooks made when 

 cutting out the lauds, but continued to plough as crooked as 

 the copy set for him to work by. 



Perhaps he thought it best to imitate the copy as exactly as 

 possible ; at any rate I can thank him for doing it, for it gives 

 me an opportunit}^ to say that ploughing out the centres of 

 lands after the}^ have been marked out, looks to me like 



