WAY-SIDE HINTS. 119 



spring all is turned under by a plow, which, so far as 

 I have observed, is peculiar to that island, and which 

 works ten inches in depth, and requires a team of 

 four horses for its effective use. 



I must have a word or two to say here in regard 

 to American plows, which, from the fact that they 

 have received occasional commendatory prizes from 

 foreign committees, have been counted by the san- 

 guine superior to all other implements of the name, 

 and gushing orators have lavished brilliant periods 

 upon our superiority to the world in this branch of 

 agricultural mechanism. Nothing surely can exceed 

 the best American plows in their adaptation to present 

 American needs. They are light, compact, strong, 

 and in rough lands are by half more manageable than 

 the best English implements. But supposing a great 

 reach of well-tilled and perfectly cleared field, and 

 the improved iron Scotch plow will lay a far more 

 true and even furrow with one half the expendi- 

 ture of manual force. Under such circumstances, the 

 great weight of the Scotch implement., added to its 

 carefully adjusted poise, counts in its favor. We shall 

 gain nothing by denying this and by exaggerating 

 the value of our wooden framework, which has been 

 suggested at once by the cheapness of timber material 

 and by the exigencies of a rough country. Nor have 

 I any manner of doubt that as our culture ripens into 



