ON PLOWING. 25 



ed from this expenditure? It is not sufficient that ic 

 affords an interesting and exciting spectacle for the time, 

 like any other game of hazard, but to justify the contin- 

 uance of such appropriations, there should result some 

 practical benefit. Having witnessed all the exhibitions 

 in this county, and many of those in other counties, 

 we may be permitted to testify as to their practical in- 

 fluence, and do say, without hesitation, that the premi- 

 ums offered for the improvement in the construction 

 and use of plows, next to those for the entire manage- 

 ment of farms, have been among the most beneficial ap- 

 propriations of the funds of the Society. 



Who that remembers the structure of the plows in 

 common use, thirty years since, and compares them 

 with the best approved structures of the present time, 

 will doubt on this subject? It is perfectly easy to de- 

 monstrate, that a saving of nearly one half the labor 

 may be made, by proper attention to the forms and fin- 

 ish ofthe plow used. The prominent points to be con- 

 sidered in the structure of the plow, are, the power re- 

 quired to draw it; the ease or difficulty of directing it; 

 and the manner in which it turns the furrow. The 

 power of draft can be ascertained with great precision, 

 by means of an instrument constructed for the purpose, 

 placed between the end of the beam and the chain by 

 which the plow is drawn. Actual observation shows, 

 that some plows will do the same work with about half 

 the power required by others. Suppose this to be so, 

 then one pair of cattle on a plow of best construction, 

 will effect as much as two pair on a plow of bad con- 

 struction; and at the same time will probably leave the 

 ground in better condition for cultivation. Take into 

 view also, that the plowman himself can manage the 

 team of one pair of cattle, without a driver, and that a 

 driver will always be needed with two pair of cattle, 

 and it is not extravagant to say, that in the ordinary 

 plowing of our fields, one half the labour may be saved, 

 by a proper attention to the structure of the plow and 

 the discipline of the cattle. Let any of our farmers who 

 have not been attentive to these improvements hereto* 

 4 



