INVENTOR OF THE MODERN PLOW. 51 



which the court sat, and all so near that the 

 rattling of the wheels was distinctly heard on 

 the steps of the Court House. 



" Similar difficulties had met Jetliro Wood in 

 Ais suits; so his son resolved to strike at the 

 root of the evil by securing a reform in the 

 laws. He accordingly went to Washington, 

 where he remained through several sessions, 

 always working to this end. Clay, Webster, 

 and John Quincy Adams, all of whom had 

 known Jethro Wood and his invention, aided 

 his son powerfully with their votes and counsel, 

 and he succeeded in securing several important 

 changes in the patent laws. 



" Then he returned to New York, and com- 

 menced suit to resist encroachments on his 

 right, and the wholesale manufacture of his 

 plow by those who refused to pay the premium 

 to the inventor. The " Cast-Iron Plow " was 

 now used all over the country, and formidable 

 combinations of its manufacturers united their 



