OR, PLAIN 



The various processes of agri- 

 nlture claim our attention, ac- 

 cording to the season of the 

 year. The first of these opera- 

 tions is ploughing, which in all 

 countries takes place soon after 

 the harvest. In Great Britain, 

 the middle of October is the 

 most usual time for it to com- 

 mence. What incalculable wealth 

 does the world owe to that an- 

 cient but simple instrument, the 

 plough, 1. How much of beauty 

 and happiness does it impart to 

 the world every year ! Yet how 

 few and simple are its parts. The 

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689. 



houses are harnessed to the beam, 

 2 ; the ploughman holds and 

 guides the plough by the stilts, 

 or handles, 3 ; as the horses or 

 oxen pull the plough along, the 

 coulter, 4, severs the slice forming 

 the furrow from the ploughed 

 land- — the sock, or share, 5, cuts 

 into the subsoil beneath — and the 

 wrest, or mould-board, 6, made 

 of a slanting form, receives the 

 earth from the share, and turns 

 it over. 



The next process is sowing, 7. 

 The sower carries the seed in a 

 bag, or basket, 8, swung across his 

 left shoulder, and with his right 

 hand and arm, 9, he scatters the 

 grain as equally as possible over 

 the furrows, 10. Unless the seeds 

 are thrown with great care, they 

 will spring up in patches, or 

 12* 



TEACHING. 273 



stripes, and the crop be less 

 productive. When the sowing 



7 



690. 



has been completed over a part 

 of the ground, the process of 

 harrowing, 11, is commenced. 

 In large fields, a number of per- 

 sons engage in these useful oc- 

 cupations. The sower, 12, has his 

 hand full of seed, and his arm 

 is thrown back to acquire the 

 impulse needful for its dispersion. 

 The sower, 13, has just spread 

 his cast over the furrows ; the 

 field worker, 14, carries the seed 

 to the sowers, as they require it, 

 taking it from a sack, 15, which 

 serves as a store. The harrows, 

 16, then pass over the sown 

 land. The harrows, having a 

 number of wooden or iron points 

 that descend a short way into 

 the soil, break the clods into fine 



