14 



PLOWING-DOUBLE TEAMS. 



Sacred history c«arnes us back to tlie antideluvian world, 

 when this important fertilizer was probably used in its 

 rudest formSj and its usefulness but imperfectly under- 

 stood. But as we come down to a later period in the 

 world's history, we must believe that a more ponder ouSy 

 as well as perfect model was used, since the sacred 

 historian informs us that ^^ Elijah found Elisha plowing 

 with iivelve yoke of oxen." We may trace its use and 

 history farther in the settlement of " Canaan" by the 

 children of Israel ; from thence, though Egypt to Greece 

 and Rome, where Cincenatus returned in honor from 

 the battle field to follow the plow, and Cato, among the ^ 

 proudest of her sons, and bred a farmer, left his legal 

 pursuits daily to toil with his servants in the field. 

 From Rome we follow the plow to Erittain, and thence 

 to our own happy and glorious New England, where its 

 best specimens have been invented and manufactured, 

 and where amid our sterile hill-sides, and rock-bound 

 coasts some of its noblest triumphs are being won. 

 Following its deep-cut farrow, civilization, intelligence, 

 commerce, social order, Christianity, and the inherent 

 rights of man, have all flowed on in its broad track, 

 scattering peace and plenty on every side, until New 

 England with its garnered treasures of knowledge, re- 

 sources, and power, exerts to-day an important influence 

 upon the interests and destiny of the whole civilized 

 world. Such, in brief, are some of the influences and 

 results that have followed the proper use of the plow ; 

 and yet, judging of the future by the past, its mission 

 for good is scarcely half ace omplished. Millions upon 

 millions of acres, even upon our own land, are ready 

 ?>nrl wnitino: for its approach, as though the earth groaned 



