Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 379 



be an advantage to them. If they are pnrsuaded to try it once, and 

 from any cause their crop is not so much improved as they hoped and 

 expected, they immediately lay all blame to the deep plowing, and 

 declare it a humbug and a nuisance. They judge too quickly. 



To expect an old, impoverished farm or field, that has been botched 

 for half a century, to respond at once to better culture, and produce 

 equal to one that has always been well tilled, is about as reasonable as 

 to suppose that a recently emancipated negro, fifty years of age, after 

 one year of the opportunities of freedom, ought to be as intelligent, 

 cultivated and useful as the man of the same age who has had all the 

 advantages of society, education, culture, experience and liberty. 

 But even those who know something of the philosophy of deep cul- 

 ture and its advantages do not practice it. Why is this ? I think the 

 reason is because plowing is very hard work. Deep and thorough 

 preparation of the ground for the seed never will be generally prac- 

 ticed by the old system of plowing. It is too hard work. Often the 

 seasons are such that plowing cannot be done at the proper time — 

 they are either too wet or too dry. When a few days of favorable 

 weather comes, and puts the ground in condition, as much of it as 

 possible must be hurried over, and the quality of the work is almost 

 always sacrificed to the quantity. These hindrances to deep plowing 

 can only be overcome by the use of machinery, and by machinery, 

 too, that will do the work easier, faster, cheaper and better than it can 

 be done at present with the same amount of power. As every farmer, 

 be he rich or poor, must have a plow, the price of the machine should 

 not place it beyond the reach of the poorest. The time must soon 

 come when we will look back on our slow, imperfect and laborious 

 system of plowing as we now look back on flails, sickles, scythes and 

 fanning-sheets. 



1 have placed before you a circular, with illustrations of a plow 

 which I know will do good work without the aid of hard human labor, 

 and which, I think, combines the elements of strength, durability, 

 cheapness and adaptability to any strength of team or condition of 

 soil, so perfectly as to be worth your consideration for a short time. 

 The plows being made of different forms and sizes, the machine 

 admitting the use of from one to five, and any of them detachable with- 

 out affecting the work of those remaining, you will readily perceive 

 that it can be adapted to any power and to any soil. The plows, also, 

 when detached, can, in five minutes, be changed for use with handles 

 and a team hitched to the point of the beam, like any other common 

 two-horse plow. The attachment that holds the point of each beam 



