Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-09-06
Flowing.
Sir. you don't know how to plow.


" What ! me do you mean don't know
how to plow, that have been, man and boy,
fifty years following the plow ?"
Yes, Sir. I mean you | do not dispute
the length of lime you have tolIowed the
plow, but you have never got to it yet
You don't know how to plow.
Sir, do you mean to insult me?"
Not at all, [ only meant to assure you Of
the fact.
This is specimen of conversation with
an old farmer, not great way from New
York, who felt insulted because we told
him that he did not know how to plow--
Let us see if he did. He was at work up.
on piece of ground that might be termed
sandy loan, though it was once clayey
loan, but nearly all the clay had been wash
ed out of it, because it never had been plov
ed more than four or five inches deep in the
world, and was bedded upon subsoil of al
most pure clay, into which a,sub-soil plow
had never entered, and which was never
turned up by the common plow, because the
owner said that would spoil the land.
guess know, for have tried it and
| wouldn't give cent for one of your new
tangled plows."
!, And yet he felt insulted when told that
he did not know how to plow.
There seems to be general impression
that everybody knows how to plow; that
even the farmers boy or anybody's boy, as
soon as his head gets above the plow-handles,
instinctively understands the business per-
I.fectly. Now | hazard the assertion that not
one farmer or farna-taborer an ten knows
hoaO properly to perform THIS operation" ,"
Certainly if he only plows four inches
when he might plow fourteen, he does not
know how to plow. fhe plows all his hill
sides up and down, he does not know how
to plOV; for every furrow should be drawn
absolutely leUel.
"What crooked, long rows or short rows
How field would look v'
Let us look. You had better look at
your soil in the field than in some brook OF
river floating down to the sea.
: Why such burrows would look like drunk
en- mems paths"
Let them look, SO that they are not. II
you know how to plow, you won't get drunk,
e nor plow your land on purpose to wash away,
because some old granny tells you that you
$ must plow straight. Making crooked plow-
, ing that is, in and out sometimes three
: burrows in one and sometimes three feet
t apart.
d If you know how to plow, you never vii
II pow clay land in a wet time, or when it is
baked so that it will turn up in Jumps a.
y hard as brick-bats.
. No good plowman ever plows his heaC
n lands while turning the team. That i
IS work to be done after the other is finished.
St when | see farmer constantly ridin!
le upon his plow handles, that it may rot 2
r too deep, or lifting and pressing forward
u to force it into the ground, or running
le upon the wing, or landslide, to govern th
~ width Of bis furrow, am led to think
r does not understand regulating the draft"
IL If such man knows how to plow, b
Cd don't know what good plow is, or he woul
ly get one.
If a man plows loose, friable soil in Il
ok fail, or if he does not plow stiff clay SO ;
n to let it freeze, it is because he don't kno
m how to plow; for one will blow away in vii
l ter, and the other will disintegrate and b
,e- come friable.
Perfect plowing consists in stirring an
an thoroughly pulverizng all the soil to gi
| en- depth. To effect this, the furrows mu
ed be parallel, of even width and depth, an
all not too far asunder."
I'D And the plow must be adapted to Il
De- work to be done. The idea of a univers
ng plow is one of the most ridiculous fallaci
all ever argued in favor of by farmers.
he man ever did argue SO, that knows how
ny plow. There is scarcely farm of "a hu
en- dred acres that does not require doz
I'D, different kinds of plows. A frst-rate $
lad plow is not good stub5le-turning plo,
ON and neither Of them are fit to nlow amo