TILLAGE AND FARM MACHINERY 



109 



is soft and will not take on a sharp edge, yet it made 

 far better tools than did sticks. The next step was 

 made when it was found that by mixing tin ore with 

 .copper a much harder tool could be made, with a 

 better edge. This mixture is called bronze. Bronze 

 tools were used for untold ages until some clever 

 man found out how to make a fire hot enough to 

 smelt iron ore. When iron tools and weapons were 

 made, we have the beginning of all the wonderful 

 machinery in use to-day. 



The First Iron Tools. Iron tools were few and 

 costly at first, because the warriors needed all the 

 iron they could get for their weapons. But men 

 learned at last to make hillside furnaces for smelt- 

 ing iron ore, and then the farmer got a few iron 



i'lo. 57. Fut the soil in {/ood tilth with a u^.^/v muiuiL utfoiv juicing. 



