NMANA FARMER.
..*--   Vol. VII.] INDIANAPOLIS, IND., APRIL, 1858. [No. I.
The Plow.
Far back in ages,
The plow with wreaths was crowned;
The hands of kings and sages
Entwined the chaplets round;
Till men of spoil
Disdained the toil I
By which the world was nourished, !
And Wood and pillage were the soil j
In which their laurels flourished.
Now the. world her fault-despairs—
The guilt that stains her story. j
And weeps her crimes amid the cares !
That form her earliest glory.
The throne shall crumble,
The diadem shall wane,
The tribes of earth shall humble
The pride of those who reign;
And war shall lay
His pomp and sway;
The pomp that heroes cherish.
The glory earned in deadly fray.
Shall fade, decay and perish.
Honor waits o'er all the earth,
Through endless generations,
The art that calls thc harvest forth.
And feeds the expectant nations.
—W. C. Bryant.
As April ia the month, in .Indiana, for breaking up the soil, preparatory to planting, we will
begin a series of articles on the plow.
In this we shall not attempt to be very systematic, further than to make our matter correspond witli the season of the year in which
we write.
In our opinion, the steel plow is the best and
cheapest kind of plow used.
Farmers who use a number seven plow with
heavy horses, or a number six plow with light
horses, will do better to buy a number five
plow, adapted to run about three inches deeper,
and by deeper plowing make the draft equal to
a larger plow.
A plow that runs best at a depth of three or
frtur inches, cannot^be made to run well at a
depth of seven or eight inches. A plow mechanically adapted to run well four inches deep,
will be ground-logged or swamped, at a depth of
eight inches, and drag heavily upon the team.
Hence we arrive at this definition:—That plow
which runs lightest, end pulverises the earth best, at
the greatest depth, is the best plow.
Practically, a large plow may be run deep
with a small team, by setting it from the land,
and by cutting half or two-thirds its width.—
But a plow naturally inclined to run eight
inches deep, with width of share and board to
suit your team, is the only plow that should be
made, or sold, or bought, hereafter. In this we
do not allude so much to the pitch of the beam,.
as to the proportions of the share and board.
Such a plow run six inches deep, will not
pulverise so well. If run more than ten inches
deep, it will ground-log.
If you have to use a plow that naturally runs
too shallow, and drags when run deep, don't try
to remedy the evil by running shallow, but stick
it in as deep as you want it to run, and take a .
narrower kirf. If this does not remedy the evil,
burn it up; it is a curse to man and beast. A
curse to the team because it drags heavily, and
a curse to you because the diminished production of five acres of ground broken up with
such a plow is greater than the cost of a good
one. No man can afford to use a poor implement of any kind.
A good plow will not run well in filthy
ground. There is no labor applied to the farm
that pays better than the removal of grubs,
brush, stones, and stumps from the entire in-
closure, whether the ground be intended for
corn, small grain, or meadow.
When your ground is thus cleared, and ready
for the plow, see that your plow and gearing
are in good order. If the geariug may break
while you are plowing, repair it before you begin. You may prevent a new and substantial
plow from breaking, by tightening every nut
before you begin.
n*>*ss