236 POWER AND THE PLOW 



no energy is wasted in preparing for the next working movement. 

 Furthermore, soils vary in their resistance to the plow, even in 

 the same field, and to a much greater extent than grain before 

 the harvester. To cut a furrow of uniform depth and width 

 requires, therefore, an easy means of varying either the effec- 

 tive power, or else the speed of travel. It would not be easy 

 to adjust the gait of a team to the amount of effective work 

 being done upon the soil by an independent motor, nor will a 

 small cheap gasoline engine work efficiently under a wide 

 range of load. 



On the whole, the argument is strongly suggestive of possible 

 lines of development for small farms. Incidentally, this school, 

 through its organ, La Genie Rural, proposes "moto-culture" 

 as a term to designate the new methods of tillage that are being 

 introduced. Owing to the confusing and poorly descriptive 

 terms we now use including "power plowing," "mechanical 

 plowing," "steam plowing," "gasoline plowing," and "traction 

 plowing," "mechanical tillage," "power cultivation," etc. 

 some short, comprehensive phrase such as "moto-culture" 

 deserves wide employment in designating the whole field of 

 mechanical power in relation to the soil. 



