176 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
HILDRETH’S IRON GANG PLOW. 
THE GANG PLOW. 
This implement we regard as a very use¬ 
ful one upon every farm. But though man¬ 
ufactured in various forms for several years 
past, they are still far from being in general 
use. This has resulted in part from an ig¬ 
norance of their utility, and in part from de¬ 
fects in their construction. Probably the 
main reason for their not being more widely 
diffused is in the fact that no person has held 
a monopoly of their manufacture, and there¬ 
fore no one has been interested in pushing 
their claims into notice. This is the case 
with many of the most useful implements, 
w r hile inferior articles have met with extra¬ 
ordinary sales, owing to the energy, ingenu¬ 
ity, and sometimes impudence of the manu¬ 
facturers. 
The “ gang plow,” as its name implies, is 
simply the arrangement of two, three or 
more small plows in one frame, or gang, so 
that two or more furrows may be cut at one 
movement of the team. Three plows are 
generally set together. In the old form 
there are three pieces of timber framed to¬ 
gether, side by side, and a single plow set 
into each. A pair of handles is placed upon 
the frame to guide it, and wheels are ar¬ 
ranged to regulate the depth. This form we 
have used, and would certainly have one of 
them, if we could get no better, for all light 
plowing, cross plowing, plowing in seed, &c. 
We have recently found a better one, how¬ 
ever, which we are prepared to recommend 
as decidedly superior to any thing else of the 
kind we have yet seen. We refer to the 
“ Iron Gang Plow ” illustrated above. Af er 
thoroughly examining its construction, and 
putting it to the practical test with our own 
hands, we are so highly pleased with it that 
we take pleasure in calling special attention 
to its claims, not so much to benefit the 
manufacturers as our readers, though the in¬ 
ventor, Mr. Hildreth, certainly deserves a 
“benefit” for the many ingenious improve¬ 
ments he has added to various farm imple¬ 
ments during a dozen or twenty years past, 
especially so, as he seems more intent upon 
going on improving rather than to stop and 
reap the benefit of his labor. 
The iron gang plow is wholly constructed 
of iron. The frame which is triangular or 
three-cornered, is of cast iron, but firmly 
bound with a heavy wrought iron strap to 
guard against accidental fracture. This 
frame is supported by three wheels; one of 
them running in the furrow, acts as a com¬ 
plete guide, and the implement requires no 
holding. A boy, able to drive the team, can 
use it as well as a full grown man. The 
axle of the forward wheels is attached by a 
pivot or bolt, so that the plow can be turned 
around readily. There is a very simple ar¬ 
rangement for raising or lowering each 
wheel, so that it will cut any depth, or the 
plows can be raised up in driving from field 
to field. 
The plows ‘are so attached to the frame 
that upon striking a fast stone a simple bolt 
will first give way, and thus save the plow. 
There are several other ingenious and valu¬ 
able arrangements, showing the skill of the 
contriver which we have not space to de¬ 
scribe minutely. We confess to being un¬ 
usually pleased with this implement and its 
performance, and it will we believe give 
general satisfaction. It will come in good 
play upon summer fallow or grass and clover 
fields turned over to prepare them for wheat. 
Wheat can be sown directly upon such 
fields, and the gang plow will do the triple 
work of stirring the ground, covering the 
seed and turning under the weeds. 
As the three plows cut from 25 to 30 inches 
in width, a single team will go over four to 
six acres a day unless it is desired to make 
the final plowing quite deep. This imple¬ 
ment is well adapted to plowing in grain 
sown broadcast. It is also made with a 
sowing apparatus to scatter the seed in the 
furrow which is said to work finely, though 
not having seen this apparatus in operation 
we can not speak from personal observation. 
Without the seed sower the implement is 
sold at $20 to $25. We believe they are not 
yet on sale generally, and those desiring to 
make further inquiries will need to address 
the manufacturers as noted in our advertis¬ 
ing columns. 
Never grow a bad variety of anything, if you 
can help it It takes the same room, and wants 
the same attention as a good one. Never buy 
cheap seed. 
Never waste animal or vegetable refuse. The 
very soap-suds from the laundry are rich manure. 
A BEARISH MOVEMENT IN THE PORK- 
MARKET. 
“ Old Settler,” a correspondent in the 
Prairie Farmer, gives all pork-eaters a stump¬ 
er in the following questions : 
First—Why was it that the Jews, the chosen 
and favored people of God, were forbidden the use 
of the hog, if he is healthy food for man 1 
Secondly—Why did Christ, the great doer of 
good, deprive the Gallileans of two thousand of 
their hogs by turning them headlong into the 
lake, if they were fit food for man 1 
Thirdly—Why is it that scrofula, that dire dis¬ 
ease, in its many forms, that is sweeping its thou¬ 
sands from our midst yearly, derives its name 
from the hog, unless that his use for food origi¬ 
nated that disease in man 1 
Fourthly—Why is it that the Jews are free 
from scrofula, though living in every civilized 
country the world over, if it is not by abstaining 
from the use of the hog, as being unfit food for 
man. 
Whether this is a bear’s argument to bring 
down the high prices that prevail for this 
flesh we are unable to say. We should nor 
be surprised to learn, however, that Spring 
pigs were enormously dear in “ Old Set¬ 
tler’s ” neighborhood, and he was setting a; 
trap to bring them down. We give a Bull’s 
response to his triumphant interrogations. 
First—For the same reason that coneys, 
hares and other animals, now eaten, were 
forbidden to the Jews. The object was, by 
special enactments to make the Jews differ¬ 
ent from other people, to separate them by 
their dietic habits and domestic usages from 
the heathen tribes around them. It was also 
designed probably in these arbitrary distinc¬ 
tions between things clean and unclean, to 
foreshadow the eternal distinctions between 
right and wrong. 
Second—For the same reason, that God in 
his Providence is now destroying neat cat¬ 
tle by the murrain in some parts of Europe, 
in immense numbers. For the same reason, 
that the Almighty deprives men of their 
property in other forms. Other things be¬ 
side pork "may be idolized, and so become 
perilous to the souls of men. 
Third—It may have been from a thousand 
and one other reasons. There is some doub 
about the fact assumed. But if true it may 
hhve been because swine themselves had tin 
disease, or some thing like it, or it may have 
been because of a superstitious notion that 
swine’s flesh had some thing to do with tin 
disease. A certain weed is called snake 
root from the fabulous idea that it will cure 
the bite of poisonous serpents. As a mattei 
of fact, the root is no better for that purpose, 
than it is for curing the itch or measles. 
Fourth—The fact assumed is doubted, li 
is difficult to show that among people num¬ 
bering six millions, no one ever died of this 
disease in the course of eighteen centuries, 
especially when they all hate pork-flesh so 
much that they would be morally certain to 
call it by some other name, if they thought 
scrofula smelt of bacon even in its origin. 
Will “Old Settler” try again. Meanwhile, 
we beg leave to assure him that Spring pigs 
are 18 cents a pound live weight—not a 
ceiit less. 
