THE WISCONSIN FARMER.



one mould-board fixed at the side; then, after
centuries had passed, with a variety of trifling
improvements, a wooden mould-board faced
with 1him trot j afperwakds, a1 irt* nMauld
board; and, sht,h present ifplement wit
all its convenient appurtenances, and mould-
board of hard steel!

  Isn't it wonderful how slow and tedious the
improvement of so simple and universal an im-
plement? And even yet it is rather rare to
find a plow the curve of whose mouldboard is
just what it ought to be for the purpose it was
designed to answer; so little has been under-
stood by practical men of the principles of
mechanical philosophy.

  And then of the best modern plows, how
many varieties there are !-each designed for
some particular use. With most English farm-
ers, the wheel plow appears to take precedence;
others prefer the swing plow, and in this agree
with their Yankee cousins.

  John prides himself on the superiority of
his plow and won't acknowledge, even after
fair trial and being badly beaten, that Jona-
than is even with, much less ahead of, him.
The trial, in 18.57, by a committee, of which
Col. Johnson of New York was a member, con-
vinced all who witnessed it that the Yankee
plow was the best; but John has a very short
memory and to-day stoutly denies that such a
conclusion ever was legitimate! Still, many
of the English plows are of excellent construc-
tion, and it is not unlikely that we may gain a
useful hint or two from some of them. One
thing we shall never like, however; they are
chiefly of iron, and very heavy. We shall il-
lustrate a few of the best models, after dime,
in the FARMER.

  But see! here are also steam plows, of va-
rious patterns. Let us mount this new levia-
than of the soil and look down from it upon
the old crooked stick used by the proud and
classic Virgil, and so make him feel our supe-
riority ! A long stride, good fellow of the old-
en time, between tl4s mighty qngine with its
hedge of sharp steel shares, and that antiqua-
ted concern which you thought in your pride



was so great an affair as to entitle it to poetic
description, thus:
    " Of eight fat Mg a fastened beam prepare
    Odtap odd ths bhasdae an hr  e
    !  ddisksfortrhltt"f
But then, let us 'count the years since' then.
Almost two thousand! Now the laugh is oa
t'other side, and we'll quietly get down with-
out fnrther comment.

  Of the style and working capacity of the
English steam plows we have talked at length,
(see report of the Great Trial under the aus-
pices of the Royal Ag. Soc. at Farmingham, in
November No.), and need add nothing further



now-except that we have ordered engravings
of some of them, and one of these days shall
be able to give the farmers of Wisconsin a bet.
ter idea of their construction than is possible
with words merely.
  In the matter of
              CLOD CRUSHIERS,

We incline to think John may be ahead.  His
soil, as a general rule, needs more knocking to
pieces than the richer and more friable soils
of the New World, and he is, moreover a great
deal better farmer, and would work his soil
more thoroughly than the American, though
it should not need it half so much. These cir-
cumstances may account for the universality
of the use of such implements in England, and
for the other fact, of superiority. Crosskill's
still stands without a rival. It consists of a
series of independent iron rings upon an iron
axle-upon the extremities of which wheels
may be placed when it is desired to remove it
from the field-each ring having its edge notch-
ed, and bearing flanges upon both of its flt
sides, the outer end of which is flush with the
edge at the bottom of each notch. This crush-
er won a gold medal, worth $185, at a late tri-
al by the Royal Ag. Soc., and is probably one
of the best implements in use in this or any
other country.
           THE ENGLISH IIARltOWS

  Are likewise deserving of approval. They
are usually of all iron, and consist of a series
of light harrows-two, three, or four-linked
together. The teeth are lighter and more riu-



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