INVENTOR OF THE MODERN PLOW. 37 



structing, using and vending to others to be 

 used," the plow which he had invented. No 

 doubt some members of Congress in refusing 

 to continue the patent for a third term, acted 

 from conscientious motives. But in point of 

 fact, the period was occupied in a series of 

 struggles calamitous to the inventor, to the 

 history of which we must now turn. These 

 struggles were unlike those in the lives of some 

 other great inventors, notably, Goodyear and 

 Howe. It was not a warfare for existence, the 

 wolf of poverty staring him in the face. The 

 broad fields which he had inherited from his 

 father were adequate immunity from the sad 

 fate too frequently allotted to inventors. 

 But no benefactor of mankind in the domain 

 of mechanism ever experienced more iniquitous 

 treatment than Jethro Wood did. 



Before the year 1819 closed, his mission as 

 an inventor was an accomplished fact. The 

 popular name given his implement, " The Cast 



