The Rural Voice, 1985-09, Page 22THE PRICE IS RIGHT
Demo NH849 baler $13,913
New NH892 harvester $12,541
3 NH489 haybines At Cost
New NH353 mixmill $ 6,336
New NH355 mixmill .... $ 7,869
New NH791 spreader $ 8,931
New NH770 hay head $ 2,200
New NH880W cornhead $ 2,000
New NH707 hay head $ 900
WANTED
NH822 cornhead
NH haybines
STANLEY FARM SUPPLY
Teeswater 519.392.6825
Bervie 519.395.2434
Huron County
Plowing Match
ly
Sulky Plow
Friday & Saturday
Sept. 13 & 14
at
NOTT BROS. FARM
(between Seaforth
& Clinton on Hwy. 8)
Friday: Instruction Day
Starts at 10 a.m.
Saturday: Starts at 9 a.m.
Events include log -sawing, nail
driving & the Huron Queen of
the Furrow Competition
NEW THIS YEAR
A Conservation Tillage Class
jointly sponsored by the Huron
Plowmen's Association & the
Huron Soil & Crop Improve-
ment Association. For more in-
formation, contact Graeme
Craig, R.R. 1, Walton,
887-9381.
20 THE RURAL VOICE
AGRICULTURAL FLASHBACK
"Without the plow,
there could be
no civilization"
With the 1985 International Plow-
ing Match just around the corner,
let's consider the ideal plowing
match. Ideal, that is, to J.
MacGregor Smith, a University of
Alberta engineer who in 1923 penned
a classic how-to booklet titled, simp-
ly, The Plowing Match.
Now Smith, whose writing talents
might have been better used compos-
ing novels about the Canadian West,
instead produced a series of booklets
such as Plows and Plowing and
Binder and Knotter Problems for the
Alberta farmer. But to stir true pas-
sion in the man's breast, one only had
to mention the community plowing
competition.
"Dazzled by the mechanical
achievements of the past century, we
are prone to overlook the debt we
owe to the humble plow," wrote
Smith in his introduction. "Perhaps
it would not be an exaggeration to say
that without the plow there could be
no civilization such as we have today
... it built cities and populated com-
monwealths, in short, all our modern
complex life has followed in the fur-
row of the plow."
If that beautiful paean to the plow
didn't convince his readers that they
should immediately organize some
sort of annual community plowing
match, Smith threw in a few more
benefits of the plow just to seal his
argument.
The good plowman, he noted, is
usually a good farmer. And a plow,
correctly set and used, saves valuable
horseflesh (tractors at this time were
still a luxury), and plowing properly
is the best method of covering bother-
some weeds.
Certain that he'd convinced his
readers of the benefits of a plowing
match, the writer wasted no time in
laying out a step-by-step plan of
organization.
To start with, plans should be
made at a winter meeting and "lively
committees and a good community
spirit" should be generated from the
start. One wonders what our writer
would think of the years of planning
by the county residents hosting
today's International Plowing Mat-
ches.
Another item to consider was that
each competitor be assured a
reasonable amount of space to test his
skills: half an acre for walking -plow
competitors; one acre for sulky
plows, and one and a half acres for
gang plows.
Also, Smith noted, it's important
to select competitors who aren't