The Grenada gazette., 1888-04-07
sLlp.sHoD FLOWING.
One Of the Most Prolific Causes of Failure
On the Farm.

On tho Farm.
An intelligent Scotch farmer who
visited the United States a few years
ago stated that he saw the best blows
and tho poorest plowing here that he
ever noticed in any country. l. was
his opinion that the good plow. were
the principal cause Of the poor 9low.
ing. He saw many small boy' and
many old men using plows. but they
did poor work with them. This boys
lacked in judgment and exper;snce,
and both the very yodng and the very
old lacked in strength to manage a
plow properly. In his country the
best men on the place did the blow
ing. He studied the occupation Of
holding the plow till he became MI ex-
pert. IN bis opinion as much skin was
required 10 handle plow property as
to use any Of the implements employed
by machanic. In Great Britsin a.
farm laboror takes great pains in
learning how to handle a plow proper.
", for the reason that an accomplished
plowman can command higher wages,
than an ordinary hand. The COM.
mon Scotch plow can not be managed
by boy or man of advanced age.
In riding about the country in car
or carriage one can see many exam-
pies of sovenly plowing. A strip Of
land rod wide at each end of nearly
every plowed field is left in very bad
conditions. The plow has run through
it, but it has not been put in condi--
ton to produce small grain, corn or
potatoes. Dirt has been drawn out on:
the grass so that scythe or moving
machine can not be used to cut it.
This strip Of land is rendered Of no
value for at least a year, and the
chances are that it will be nursery
of vile weeds. The furrows in no por-
ton of the field are straight, or of
uniform width and thickness. The
lands do not 'come out even.' The
furrows are wider at the ends of the
lands than in the middle. If the plow
is set at the end to turn furrow
twelve inches wide it is allowed to-
turn narrow one near the middle Of
the land. As this is the case an oval
shaped piece is left in the middle Of
the land after the two ends are plowed.
This makes the field look bad and
affords evidence that the plowing was
poorly done throughout the entire
field. The lack of proper care is ap-
parent even to one who sees the field
from distance.
A close examination of the field
will show that the plowng was very
poorly done. Most of the soil was
turned by the plow, but many of the
burrows Or parts of them were i'm
properly placed. Some of them lie
quite fiat, some of them are on theiu
edge, and others are so placed that
seed on them will not be likely to
germinate. An authority on plowing
writes as follows: "Furrow slices
should lie easily upon each other. noa
pressed hard together The ground
on being plowed should feel equally
firm under the foot at all places. for
slices in more upright position than,
they should be not only feel hard, and
unsteady, but will allow the seed to
fall between them and become buried.
When too fiat they yield considerably
to the pressure of the foot; and they
cover each other too much, atfording
insufficient mold for the seed. They
should lie over at the SAME augie, pro-
senting crests in the best posslb,e po-
sition for the action of the fulrows. ".
A good crop of small gram can NOT
be expected on land that was poorly
plowed, neither can large crop of
corn or potatoes. NJ amount of har-
rowing, rolling OF eulIivaiing can
make up for poor plowing. If tho
blowing was poor the crop will also.
be poor In most parts of the coun-
try farmers expect too much of their
plows. There was never a plow SO.
we'll made that it would do first class
work without good man at the ham,
dies. Excellent plowing is not lost
art, but an art that many farmers
have never mastered. Good plowing
Is the third essential to producing a.
large crop of corn. Chicago Times,