The record-union., 1893-01-31

There are a few points which, if well
carried out, makes of plowing one of the
easiest as wen as the most pleasant parts
of the farm work, writes correspondent
of the Country Gentleman. The first
thing must be good team-one that can
be made to work right together, and not
be half their length apart; team quick
and easy to the bit. and that when you
strike stone do not turn back in the col
lar or lunge ahead, but steadily hold on
to their pull on your plow. Such team
as this can be driven as straight as line
can be drawn. Next to a perfect team
comes a good plow, and in this day one
cannot well go amiss, for the skill of
manufacturers has given US a first-class
plow, select of whom you may. To
many, and perhaps most, farmers the
team and plow in perfection would seem
TO be all that was required, and to take
the field and go ahead is ali right, and
line piece of plowing would be easily
done. But there are many things yet,
which if not needed would spoil the
whole OF the first two points. The man
ner of hitching to the plow and how you
handle 1t are of far more importance than
all other things combined. A short time
since | saw a farmer blowing, and TO
watch his emotions one would think
he was training for wrestling match by
the position he took with legs and arms.
becoming somewhat interested l went
into his field to see where the trouble lay.
lie had plow thSC was made to cut a
iurrow OF fourteen to sixteen inches, and
was using a SET of whillletrees that had
an eVener four feet two inches long. His
team drawing from center were calling
Tor that plow TO take furrow at least
twenty-tour inches wide, and to avoid this
he was running the plow rooted on to the
landslide to keep it somewhere near its
width Of furrow. Besides, his team were
as near the plow as possible and not hit
the wnif1letreeS with their heels, and to
get the depth he wanted he had hitched
his team next to the top notch of the
plOw cieYls, which put his plow on the
point at the first move.
Here were two mistakes that, if
remedied, would make such a difference
that this man could step in behind the
same plow and team and hardly realize
he was doing any work except to walk
along and start in at the end of his fur
row. His opinion of plOwing was that it
was the hardest work on the farm To
convince him to the contrary / sawed his
evener down to twenty-eight inches in
length, and let out his traces or tugs two
holes, making six to eight inches in
length. This gave us a chance to put the
Whifiletrees into the hole in the plow
clevis that drew from near the lower side
of the beam, and still get the depth
wanted. The shorter evener left his plow
to settle level to the ground, and the
draft at plow clevis leveled it in the other
direction. The look of astonishment on
the mans face when he cut his next fur
row showed something of what he
thought about a little study on the matter
OF how to hitch plow.
Hero * q oOo6 nutlina for orottir,r, roo5xr
to plow: Measure your plow from the
rear to mold-board to the width of land
side-this gives width of burrows it cuts;
use an evener twice the length OF this
measure. Set the wheel in notch that
gives the depth you want. Let your
team out in harness so their draft brings
the wheel just fairly solid to the soil, and
you are in shape, provided you have a
good team to do good work easily. Never
attempt to lay out land to plow without
measuring IL of first, and set stakes to
line your first burrows. Make yourself
believe, If possible, that straight furrow
or straight row of corn or potatoes will
grow a better crop, and you will become
an expert plowman. | would not plow
and 60 around 1t, especially to turn to
left, and with my team when the soil is
just turned up light and soft tread it all
down so hard that it is never narrowed
sufficiently to make it mellow again like
until you have put the earth furrow up
to the dead furrow. In starting a back
1urrow, the first two furrows should be
cut only about one-half the depth that
you intend 10 plow. This does away
with leaving a ridge across the field; do
the same with the last two sod burrows,
and your dead 1urrow does not leave a
ditch in the field, and when seeded down
you Will have smooth, even surface for
moving machine or reaper.
HORSE AND HARNESS.
The working capacity of the horse, saws
a horseman writing to the Philadelphia
IreSS, depends not little upon the har-
ness he wears. If his collar is ill-fitting.
producing gals, he will not pull as stead
lily and squarely as if he had whole
shoulders, and the pain, affecting first the
nervous organization, leads to general de-
Tangement, and the animal becomes in
capable of doing full work. One should
not buy a collar without first fitting it to
the horse. Take the horse with Won To
the harness-shop. No two horses have
shoulders exactly alike; in fact, the two
shoulders of the same horse are not ex-
actly alike. Hence, it is by mere chance
ii a decent fit is obtained without having
the horse along. The wise man will not
hesitate to try 200 collars if necessary to
get one that fits properly and if the
dealer has not a collar that hts well, will
have the back bone to say so and 60 else
where to buy.
Many collars are harder on one side
than on the other, such collars should be
rejected, no matter how well they fit.
The harder side will almost invariably
gall the shoulder. Many men select col
lars too small. When an animal is pull
ing hard its neck is little larger than
when in repose. They fit the collar
when the animal is standing quietly. and
therefore do not get it large enough
Walk beside and little in front of the
horse as it pulls heavy load up hill and
see how the neck swells out and fills the
collar. The collar, large enough when
the animal Is standing, is too small when
II Is at work. In such case the breath
ing OF the animal essential to the use of
lis full working capacity is interfered
with.
Half the farm harness in use is sunneces-
sarily heavy and cumbersome. Ii care
were taken TO select good leather al. less
weight would suffice. Carrying several
pounds of useless weight for an hour
may not amount TO much, but when it is
carried Tor years it becomes worth taking
into account OF, especially if it is in such
form as TO impede the motion of the mus
cles. Heavy breeching, back bands and
belly bands six inches wide are alto
gether too heavy in farm harness. Good
leather costs more in the start but it is
the cheapest in the end. 1t requires some
thing of an expert to tell good leather
from bad, from the leather itself. But
there are extraneous circumstances that
will nearly always enable one 10 detect
poor leather. The best leather is adorned
the least. When harness is full of gew-
gaws and silver-plated rings, and when
the leather is thlckly and highly pol
ished, beware Oft. That polish is TO hide
lack of quality. Gewgaws and silver
plating serve TO distract attention from
L.. .r-