Page 24 and Page 25

Page 24:

Plough

The reason that the ground always was so wet and hard to work with was because it didn't get plowed during the fall like they tend to do nowadays. There simply wasn't enough time to plow during the fall, where the primary concern was to harvest as much as possible and get the threshing done in order to get the crop to market for sale. The motivation was to get enough money to be able to pay the hired help their wages, which were due by November 1st. As well as paying the local merchants for everything that you had bought on credit during the summer months. Plowing during the Spring was always a terrible undertaking, partially because the permafrost was barely gone and partially because water kept pooling everywhere. As the plow cut through the ground water would fill the furrows, forcing people to wear long boots when they were plowing. The plow itself wasn't heavy at all since it was primarily fabricated out of wood, with the exception of the blade which consisted of a small triangular shaped piece of iron. This in turn was attached to the wooden frame in a most ingenious manner via the help of several wooden wedges. The plow was made up of a long pole with the animals attached to the one end and lead to an axel at the other end, the kind you might find on a wagon. The axel had two wheels attached to it, with the left wheel at about 16 inches in height and the right wheel at about 22-24 inches in height.

Page 25:

Harrow

The right wheel went down into the furrow which made the plough level. On this axel is where the front of this axel rested and it was secured there by an iron bracket. It should be understood that when the plough had to come out of the ground, the worker was required to lift the entire contraption up as well as putting it back when the plow needed to reenter the soil. Either one of these two actions were very cumbersome and took quite a while to accomplish. The harrows were constructed much the same way as the ones the old farmers used to use, but they aren't in use much anymore. They consisted of two half harrows with three points on each one, or six points with four teeth on each. Those teeth were made of wood and couldn't penetrate the ground well, especially when there were a lot of root for them to snag on. Until the years between 1840-1845 such a plough and harrow was the only tool that a peasant had access to when working their soil. It is of course possible that other had access to better equipment, however the abovementioned tools was all I ever knew. I always thought that the reason for my parents' poverty was that my father was a veterinarian and spent so much time away from home