Technical and Scientific Words* 
the goodly fields for inheritance, on which 
the renowned Van Tassel obtained those 
abundant crops that so dazzled Ichabod’s eye 
as he rode up to his Dutch cottage. We shall 
be pleased to hear from Mr. Meadows again. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Gent :—In soliciting subscribers for your paper, I 
get along very well in the country, except being met 
with the objections, ten thousand times repeated, of 
“ I don’t like so much hook farming, and so many hard 
words. I reckon the best way is to take hold with my 
own hands after all, and let chemicals, geolieals, and bo- 
tanicals go; and pints and physiolicals in cattle, take 
rare of themselves . I don’t understand them, and can’t 
ice what good they do plain hard working folks.” 
BM 
Now it strikes me, Messrs. Editors, as if such per¬ 
sons have about as much reason in their arguments, in 
persisting in not reading about, and adopting the scien¬ 
tific improvements in stock breeding and agriculture, 
as the Egyptian had, whom an acquaintance of mitts 
once found at work on the fertile banks of the Nile, in 
refusing to exchange his antiquated plow and team for 
one of more modern construction. 
I have often heard him recount the colloquy with 
great good humor ; although I suspect at the time 
of holding it, he got rather warm, and a little out of 
patience with his obstinate interlocutor. 
Landing from his boat one day, to visit some colossal 
ruins a little way back from the river, he came across 
a native plowman, laboriously following his profession, 
something in the following style. 
An Egyptian Plowing.—(Fig. 25.) 
Coming up, and accosting him as well as his broken 
Coptic would allow, he says : 
“ Well my friend, you seem to be working rather an 
ancient instrument here; pray have you never seen any 
of our new American plows ?” taking a book from his 
pocket, and showing him a handsome engraving of one. 
“ See its sharp pointed share, and long wedged turned 
mould board ; horizontal beam, with a coulter to it, to 
cut the sod in advance, and a wheel to regulate the 
depth of plowing; the iron clevis in the end, and a 
chain hooking into it, and stretching to the yoke, by 
which the cattle pull it along, with more ease than 
they can yours; at the same time turning three times 
the width and depth of furrow, and doing the work 
three times as well; and here is a dynamometer at¬ 
tached to it, which shows you every second if you 
please, just how much force is employed in draw¬ 
ing it.” 
The Egyptian stops, stares, scratches his head, and 
lifting up both hands in amazement, replies, thinking 
all the time his interrogator may have just dropped 
from the moon. 
“ America ! Mould-board! Coulter ! Wheel! Clevis ! 
Chain ! Dynamometer! Why these are all hierogly¬ 
phics to me, and I know nothing about such scientific 
terms. This is the plow my forefathers have used for 
3,000 years; I am no innovator, no book farmer, and 
know nothing of your technicals ; neither our priests, 
wise men, or magicians ever spoke of these things.” 
“ True my good fellow, 1 suppose not; but new 
principles have been discovered in soils and vegetation, 
and great mechanical improvements have been made 
in farming instruments within these 3,000 years, at 
least in my country; and our boys, no bigger than this 
youngster of a teamster, who is flourishing his whip 
on that obstinate mule of yours, would laugh at such a 
plow as I see here, and they are just as familiar with 
what you please to term book farming , and scientific 
terms, as they are with their bread and butter. And 
another thing, what a queer sort of yoke you have got 
there ; why, bless me, my friend, instead of those ropes 
round the necks of your cattle, which seem to me a 
little too much like the bowstrings of one of your own 
despots, sent here to strangle them ; if you would but 
just look at one of our easy setting yokes, and neat 
bows, into which the teams throw their whole weight 
and strength, bearing up nicely against their breast and 
shoulders.” 
“ I tell you,” says the Egyptian, “ I know nothing 
about such things, they are all hieroglyphics to me.” 
“ Hieroglyphics to you,” replies the American, grow¬ 
ing rather warm in his earnestness • “ well, it is about 
