24 PLOUGHING. 



PLOUeHING. 



DOUBLE TEAM WITH MICHIGAN PLOUGH. 



There were but four teams entered for this class of premiums ; 

 and the inquiry naturally arises why is it ? If the double plough is 

 liked as well as the common plough, \{hy were there not as many 

 competitors for the one as the other ? 



We have endeavored to collect information upon this point the 

 past season, from those Avho Lave used them. "We find that there is 

 much difference in opinion among practical men in regard to the 

 Michigan plough ; some speak in the highest terms of it, while 

 others, w4io have tried it, condemn it altogether. Upon one point 

 we have a uniform testimony from all parts of the county : — all 

 a'^ree that the labor in cultivating a crop upon tough grass land, 

 that has been ploughed with the Michigan plough, is much more 

 than it is where the common plough is used. 



The reason of this is obvious to any one who Avill notice the op- 

 eration. He will see that the grass roots are nearer the surface, 

 and in a more favorable situation to vegetate, than they are when 

 the common plough is used. 



Common sense, as well as Chemistry applied to agriculture, will 

 teach us that in ploughing grass land we want a plough that will 

 place the grass roots where they will soonest decompose. If the 

 mechanical effect of the double plough is better for pulverizing 

 the soil than the single one, yet if the chemical influence is not so 

 favorable, we had better use the single plough. 



On a stiff soil where there is but little vegetable matter, we think 

 the double plough may be advantageously used. But our impres- 

 sion is that the plough-manufacturers have increased their harvest 

 by its use more than the farmers have theirs. 



The land upon which the ploughing match took place was a rocky 

 loam, better suited to try the strength of the plough and the pa- 

 tience of the ploughman, than to exhibit the speed of the team'. 

 The soil where the rocks did not obstruct the plough, was stirred 

 nine inches deep. 



The Committee were pleased to notice, in these days *of fast 

 horses and faster young men, that some of the teajosters had wisdom 

 and patience enough to move steadily through their rugged path- 



