Ploughs and Ploughing. 



3^3 



writer has reason to know to his sorrow. There is a great deal 

 more bad ploughing about than good, and this is not altogether 

 the fault of the men, for there are whole districts where not one 

 farmer in twenty understands either the plough or the work it is 

 intended to do, although they may have been at it all their lives. 

 Some keep on working with the old wooden plough, which has 

 not been much altered since the days when Alfred was king of 

 the West Saxons, and any attempt to introduce a modern 

 improved variety, with chilled steel working parts, steel frame, 

 and wheels, is resented. Some who have tried a modern form 

 have not had the knowledge or the patience to adapt it to their 

 land or special work, and have thrown the implement aside and 

 returned to the good old historic methods. It is certain, 

 however, that, if our arable farming is to head the procession 

 of the world in the future as it has done in the past, modern 

 implements and modern styles of work must be adopted ; and 

 while some districts in these islands have put into practical 

 use most of what has been said above, there are other districts 

 where they have not yet learned the alphabet of ploughing. 



Primrose M c Connell, B.Sc., F.G.S. 



