l't<4 TRANSACTIONS. 



PLOUGHING. 



CHARLES H. FIELD'S REPORT. 



Ploughing must be considered the basis, or groundwork of all good 

 farming, and the sturdy ploughman we honor as the back-bone and 

 regulator of society. To him we award the double honor of causing 

 " two blades of grass to grow where, before, there was but one ; " 

 for, without a deep and thorough pulverization of the soil, combined 

 with proper culture, we cannot expect to see any great results in the 

 art of husbandry. 



What constitutes good ploughing? This question has been dis- 

 cussed with reference to the merits of deep or shallow ploughing, of 

 wide and flat, or narrow and sliced furrow, and of subsoiling or bring- 

 ing the subsoil to the surface until amid "confusion worse confounded," 

 many farmers are ready to repudiate all book- farming, and plod along 

 in the beaten track their fathers trod. Observation and experience 

 have, however, produced some practical results and we shall venture 

 to express our own views of some of the more important requisites of 

 good ploughing. 



A wonderful improvement has been made in the construction of 

 the plow. The ancient, crooked stick, tipped with iron, requiring 

 all the strength and ingenuity of the holder to even scratch up the sur- 

 face of the ground, has given away to the elegantly finished subsoil, 

 stubble and double or^Michigan plows — which seem almost like things 

 of life, so well adapted are they to the purposes for which they were 

 designed. It is a matter of the first importance that we select a 

 plow of size and construction suited to the soil we wish to culti- 

 vate. Next in order comes the team, which must be well fed, well 

 trained, and suflicient to overcome the draft with ease, moving strong- 

 ly and evenly in the furrow : and last, though not least, a careful and 

 experienced driver, who practices moral suasion, rather than too free 

 use of the lash or goad. In the use of single teams of horses or 

 oxen, it may be a matter of economy for the ploughman to manage 

 the team himself, though we are by no means a stickler for the old 

 proverb, — 



♦' He that by the plow would thrive, 

 Must himself both hold and drive." 



