59 



call it) is tipped with crimson, foretelling the scarlet 

 poppies, with which the grain fields will by and by 

 be splashed. Prunella (self-heal), also, is of a deeper 

 purple than with us, and a species of crane's-bill, like 

 our wild geranium, is of a much deeper and stronger 

 color. On the other hand, their ripened fruits and 

 foliage of autumn pale their ineffectual colors beside 

 our own. 



Among the farm occupations, that which most 

 took my eye, on this and on other occasions, was the 

 furrowing of the land for turnips and potatoes ; it is 

 done with such absolute precision. It recalled Emer- 

 son's statement that the fields in this island look as 

 if finished with a pencil instead of a plow, a pencil 

 and a ruler in this case, the lines were so straight and 

 so uniform. I asked a farmer at work by the road- 

 side how he managed it. " Ah," said he, " a Scotch- 

 man's head is level." Both here and in England, 

 plowing is studied like a fine art ; they have plowing 

 matches, and offer prizes for the best furrow. In 

 planting both potatoes and turnips the ground is 

 treated alike, grubbed, plowed, cross-plowed, crushed, 

 harrowed, chain-harrowed, and rolled. Every sod 

 and tuft of uprooted grass are carefully picked up by 

 women and boys, and burnt or carted away ; leaving 

 the surface of the ground like a clean sheet of paper^ 

 upon which the plowman is now to inscribe his per. 

 feet lines. The plow is drawn by two horses ; it is a 

 long, heavy tool, with double mould-boards, and 

 throws the earth each way. In opening the first fui 



