92 HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN AND 



March last, 2900 lbs., and the owner estimates that they have 

 since increased 400 lbs. There were six yoke of fat cattle, but not 

 equal in excellence to those shown at some previous exhibitions. 



JOHN EDEN, Chairman. 



On Ploughing. 



The object of the ploughing-match is to exhibit, for public 

 benefit, the comparative excellence of our best ploughs and 

 ploughmen ; not to try the strength or speed of teams, but to 

 excite a commendable spirit of emulation and improvement in 

 the construction of the plough. Sixteen horse-teams were en- 

 tered as competitors. One eighth of an acre was to be ploughed, 

 and by a furrow at least six inches in depth. The work was 

 done well as a whole. In some of the work, the furrow was 

 not laid as smooth as it should be, and though all the lands were 

 ploughed to the depth required, yet there was a difference in 

 their depth. 



The Committee would recommend deep ploughing. By such 

 a mode of doing the work, a deeper soil is made, with a capacity 

 to absorb and retain more moisture than soils with shallow 

 ploughing. Lands most productive, and least liable to exhaus- 

 tion from crops, and least exposed to suffer by drought, are the 

 deep ploughed lands. This has been found to be true in Europe 

 as well as in this country. 



The Committee would suggest the utility of a trial of ploughs 

 of different construction ; not only such as are fitted for a smooth 

 turf soil and surface, but also such as are suited to a rough, 

 uneven soil, stalk lands and rugged surface, as much of the land 

 within our limits, and such as is ploughed, is of that character. 



The thorough well-performed operation of the plough consti- 

 tutes the first section in the corn laws of the farmer. What- 

 ever amendments may be made in the chapter, this section can 

 never be repealed. In this respect, the sober, intelligent, indus- 

 trious and successful farmer has the advantage of State officers, 

 cabinet councillors and political managers. These have been 



