AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS AND MACHINES. 395 
colters; they had plows with wheels and plows without wheels; they had broad- 
pointed shares and narrow-pointed shares; they even had what I have not yet seen 
among the moderns, shares not only with sharp sides and points, but also with high 
raised cutting tops. Were we well acquainted with the construction of all these, per- 
haps it would be found that the improvements made by the moderns in this implement 
are not great as many persous are apt to imagine. 
We think Mr. Dickson must have viewed the rural mechanism of the 
ancients by the light of modern implements; for, while it is true that 
the plow has been known and used trom the earliest period of ancient 
history, it is also true that with all the improvements the beginning of the 
present century found us with the rudest implements, made in the most 
careless manner, scarcely any two being made alike. For the most part 
the mold-board was hewed from wood, with old hoes, horseshoes, and 
thin straps of iron nailed thereon to prevent it wearing out. The land- 
side was wood, the bottom being covered with iron. The share was 
generally made of iron, with a hardened steel point. The beam was a 
Straight stick, and the handles were cut from the branches of a tree. 
There is no doubt that Ex-President Thomas Jefferson was the first 
to lay down the principles by which mold-boards could be made by any 
one with the certainty of having them all alike. This was done upon 
mathematical principles, as set iorth in a communication to the French 
Institute, by which the plow should act as two wedges; one acting ver- 
tically and the other laterally, and so blended in a curve surface that 
the furrows should rise and turn over smoothly and continuously. 
The second American who appears as an inventor of improvements 
was Charles Newbold, of Burlington County, New Jersey. His plow 
was the first cast-iron plow ever made in America, and was all cast in 
one piece by Benjamin Jones, of the same county, and cdn now be seen 
in the museum of the Agricultural Society of New York, at Albany. 
Mr. Newbold obtained a patent for -his plow June 17, 1797, which was 
signed by John Adams, President, and Timothy Pickering, Secretary of 
State. The following is the specification : 
The subscriber, Charles Newbold, of Burlington County, New Jersey, has invented 
an improvement in the art of plow-making, as follows, viz: 'Yhe plow to be (excepting 
the handles and the beam) of solid cast iron, consisting of a bar, sheath, and mold- 
plate. The sheath serves a double purpose, of colter and sheath, and the mold-plate 
serves for share and mold-board—that is, to cut and turn the farrow. The forms are 
to be varied, retaining the same general principles, and to meet the various uses as 
well as inclinations of those who use them. 
It is, however, but justice to state that Jethro Wood was the first to 
cast the plow in sections, so that the parts most exposed to wear could 
be replaced by others cast from the same pattern, by which means the 
iron plow became a success,.and for which he received a patent in 1819, 
(Pig. 1, Plate 15;) but his effort to introduce his plow into public use, 
coupled with the great expense of making and altering patterns for the 
purpose of correcting defects, and for furnishing different styles and 
sizes of plows, consumed a handsome fortune, and the life of Jethro 
Wood and that of his patent terminated at about the same period, he 
leaving his children in penury and want, and it was not till the session 
of 1870 that Congress considered his claim upon the public in a bill 
granting to his surviving daughters the sum of $20,000, which has not 
yet passed. 
Thus we have by Mr. Jefferson’s discovery the idea of making plows by 
mathematical rule, although his plow when constructed contained a 
number of defects. So, too, with the cast-iron plow of Mr. Newbold. The 
defects are already seen, but the two steps were thus gained which gave to 
others the principles by which our plows have been made so nearly perfect 
as they are. Next among American inventors came Peacock, Pickering, 
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