MECHANICAL DIVISION OP SOILS. 81 



The limner will lind in the best agricultural ware-houses, 

 ;ill tin- implements necessary to his operations, with such de- 

 \\ill enable- him to judge of their merits. Great 

 attention has been bestowed on this subject for several years 

 by skilful and intelligent persons, and great success has fol- 

 lowed their efforts. The United States may safely challenge 

 the world to exhibit better specimens of farming tools than 

 she now furnishes, and her course is still one of improve- 

 ment. There are numerous competitors for public favor in 

 every description of farm implements ; and an intelligent 

 farmer cannot fail to select such as are best suited to his own 

 situation and purposes. 



The best only slioidd be used. There has been a " penny 

 wise and pound foolish" policy adopted by many farmers in 

 their neglect or refusal to supply themselves with good tools 

 to work with. They thus save a few shillings in the first 

 outlay, but frequently lose ten times as much by the use of 

 indifferent ones in the waste of labor and the inefficiency of 

 their operations. A farmer should estimate the value of his 

 own and his laborer's time as well as that of his teams, by 

 dollars and cents ; and if it requires one third, one tenth or 

 even one hundredth more of either to accomplish a given ob- 

 ject with one instrument than with another, he should before 

 buying one of inferior quality, carefully compute the amount 

 his false economy in the purchase will cost him before he has 

 done with it. Poor men or those who wish to thrive, can ill 

 afford the extravagance of buying inferior tools at however 

 low a price. The best are always the cheapest ; not those 

 of high or extravagant finish, or in any respect unnecessarily 

 costly ; but such as are plain and substantial, made on the 

 best principles and of the most durable materials. To no 

 tools do these remarks apply with so much force as to plows. 

 The improvements in these have been greater than in any 

 other instruments, the best saving fully one half the labor for ^ 

 merly bestowed in accomplishing the same work. 



HARROWING. 



The object of the harrow is three fold ; to pulverise the 

 land, to cover the seed, and to extirpate weeds. Unless the 

 land be very light and sandy, the operation should never be 

 performed for either object, except when sufficiently dry to 

 allow of the crumbling down into a fine mellow surface un- 

 der the action of the harrow. There are several varieties of 

 harrows in use ; the tri angular and the square, both some- 



