The indirect assistance given by the Imperial Government to Agriculture in Upper Canada dates from a much earlier period than the encouragement given to Agricultural Societies by the Provincial Government; for we find among the donations of George III. to the U. E. Loyalists the old English plough. It consisted of a small piece of iron fixed to the coulter, having the shape of the letter L, the shank of which went through the wooden beam, the foot forming the point, which was sharpened for use. One handle, and a plank split from a curved piece of timber, which did the duty of a mold-board, completed the rude implement. At that time the traces and leading lines were made of the bark of the elm or bass-wood, which was manufactured by the early settlers into a strong rope. About the year 1808 the “hog-plough” was imported from the United States; and in 1815 a plough with a cast-iron share and mold-board, all in one piece, was one of the first implements, requiring more than an ordinary degree of mechanical skill, which was manufactured in the province. The seeds of improvement were then sown, and while in the address of the President at the Frontenac Cattle Show in 1833, we observe attention called to the necessity for further improvement in the ploughs common throughout the country, we witness, in 1855, splendid fruit at the Paris Exhibition. In a notice of the trial of ploughs at Trappes, the _Journal d’Agriculture Pratique_ makes the following reference to a Canadian plough: “The ploughing tests were brought to a close by a trial of two ploughs equally remarkable--to wit, the plough of Ransome and Sims, of Suffolk, England, and that of Bingham, of Norwich, Upper Canada. The first is of wood and iron, like all the English ploughs, and the results which it produced seemed most satisfactory, but it appeared to require a little more draught than the Howard plough. Bingham’s plough very much resembles the English plough; it is very fine and light in its build; the handles are longer than ordinary, which makes the plough much more easy to manage. The opinion of the French labourers and workmen who were there, appeared, on the whole, very favourable to this plough.” The following extracts from Mr. Hogan’s book are as truthful as they are eloquent:--