far as you please along the side A, at a right angle to the headland, and measure another 34 feet, and set another pole, d, and so on to the

end of the side A. Now start your horses and plough exactly down the line of the poles c, g, keeping them always in line, and allowing the cord which connects the horses, or the yoke of the oxen, to knock the poles down. As soon as it (d) is ploughed over, stop the team, and take the pole once and a quarter the width of the ridge, and at right angles to the line of poles, and there set it firmly into the ground at d'; go back to the beginning of the furrow, and take the first pole c, and carry it once and a quarter the width of a ridge, and at right angles to the line of poles, and fix it at k; start your plough again, and when you plough over the next pole, e, treat it like d and c, and set it at e', and so on. Return on the back of this furrow, and continue to plough till you arrive at the end of the quarter ridge made on one side by your first furrow and the fence on the other. You will thus have ploughed half a ridge. Return to the line of feering poles, and plough down from k to s, and back as before; as the poles are ploughed down, reset at the distance of a ridge. See diagram. This method leaves an open furrow for surface drainage, etc., from h to r, from b to t, from n to v.

Of course this method of ploughing cannot be followed on new, stumpy or unbroken land; it is suited to subdued and open land, even to that which is very stony, but not to ledgy land. Ledges are as invincible by the plough as stumps.

A land is that portion of ground marked out by natural limits, by the eye of the ploughman, or by stakes, which is to be ploughed through before starting afresh. Its width and the method in which it is to be ploughed depend on circumstances, but it should not be wider than 30 feet.

It would seem to the uninitiated that the length of the furrow, the width of the slice, the area of land, were of no particular consequence to team and ploughman; but these things are of real importance, and the work must be broken with stopping, turning, etc., to insure its being done to the best advantage. Careful experiments have been made in England and tabulated, to show how the amount of land ploughed in a given time by a given force is effected by the width of furrow-slice and the length of furrow; it is upon these that the speed of the team, and consequently the amount of work accomplished, depends.

1

Inches.

9

10

Land ploughed in 8 hours at that speed.

P.

Speed per hour

in miles.

Distance walked in
8 hours.

Breadth of furrow-
slice in inches.

Miles.

Yards.

R.

8

and

1,284

3

1

8

440

FITTIN

NOTE, -The above is taken from "Stevens' Book of the Farm," vol. 1, p. 167.

In calculating the time necessary to plough a given area, remember that the team cannot be kept constantly at the same rate of speed; apart from the time lost in turning, allowance must be made for stops and rests and changing lands.

The next table shows plainly which length of furrow was found the best.

NOTE.

Stevens' Book of the Farm, vol. 1, p. 167.

In ploughing longer ridges a loss of time appeared, though not so much as in the short, but the ridge of 274 yards (or a medium one of 250 yards) gave the best average. Just look at the difference in one case, out of 10 hours work, 5 hours 11 minutes were lost in turning, whilst in the ridge of 274 yards there was a loss of but 1 hour 22 minutes in 10 hours work.

This is of the greatest importance, for you may thus lose or save one half the time you have to plough. Under the best circumstances ploughing is a difficult and slow process, needing every possible advantage; yet it is generally done as if it were susceptible of no improvement.

Breadth of slice and kind of land are the next considerations, and are decided by the character of soil and crop.

It should be the work of the best ploughman on the farm to set the feering poles and plough down the ridges the first two furrows; the rest of the ridge may be ploughed out by a less expert hand. The headland is left a ridge wide and ploughed last. The proper width for the ridge, in the opinion of experienced cultivators, is 15 feet; from open furrow to open furrow, 30 feet. By ploughing thus you will make all your furrows lie in the same way on the same side of each ridge.

Such care in laying out lands and ploughing will be ridiculed by most of our farmers, and pointed out by some of my readers as an evidence of the foolishness of my theories. Nevertheless it is wise; it saves time and labor, and pays well. The extra work, i.e.,

skilled labor, should be done by the head of the farm, and thus money be saved; there is no time lost in turning, no corners unploughed or half-ploughed, and the land is in the best condition for after culture.

Certain circumstances decide the best way of ploughing; for instance, on a hill-side all the furrows of each ridge are turned down hill; but the principle of the detailed plan will apply to all lands. The calculations of time etc., in the preceeding tables are based on ploughing Grass land.

Many farmers plough stubble land and sod in opposite ways; but it seems to me that their practice should be just reversed. The plough they use in stubble land has a somewhat convex mouldboard, and leaves the furrow-slice on its edge, where it is well exposed to the air and the harrow; but the plough they use in sod turns it down flat, the idea being that each sod should just fit into the place of the last, so as to leave no sign of grass, c, p. 574. No better method than this last could be devised to consolidate land, and it is the best for sandy lands or those where wheat is to grow; but for the general purposes of agriculture it is bad. Where the sod is thus inverted, the grass is turned over upon the subsoil, air is shut out from it, which can be neither ameliorated nor sweetened, and the sod will only decay after a long time, and the roots of the crop get nothing from the subsoil till they have penetrated the thick sod.

Plough such sods with a very concave mould-board, which will roll the sod into a pipe, double it on itself, d, p. 574 or leave it on its edge. To most lands it is important that the air should get into the sod to feed the roots, to sweeten the soil, to decompose the turf.

The Michigan plough answers this purpose admirably. It peels off a thin sod, which it rolls over on itself like a pipe, and then covers it with a quantity of under soil, in which the seed will be sown, e, 574.

On p. 574 are diagrams to show the appearance of the ends of these different furrows, where the sods e, are cut narrow and rolled upon themselves, whilst they are covered by the loam piled on them by the stubble plough, which follows on the same beam. As soon as the harrow runs over the field after this plough, it crumbles the furrow-slice of subsoil, down over the sod, and leaves plenty of fine earth in which to plant; whilst the sod is so doubled over as to be broken at the same time, that it makes a kind of pipe in the soil, a good opening for the circulation of air and gases, which gradually crumbles and settles under culture. When the ridge is ploughed

out, the plough should go down the open furrows and back, to lay a

b

d

new small furrow of subsoil upon the bottom edge of the furrowslice, thus:

be to turn the slice enough to loosen it from the earth, and thoroughly commingle the parts. Picture to yourself a field well ploughed, and you see how thoroughly the manure, which was spread before ploughing began, is turned into the subsoil, when all

*It will be observed that d and e are incorrectly drawn, as they should rep resent the left instead of the right side of the ridge; and the team would seem to be walking towards us.