P6 HOW TO MAKE THE FARM PAY. 



To remedy these defects, a most important invention waa 

 made by Mr. F. F. Smith, of Illinois, in 1860, that of casting 

 plo^Y3 from molten steel in iron moulds, a process which was 

 adopted by the Collins Manufacturing Company, of Collinsville, 

 Connecticut, the same year. It was a process of casting cast 

 steel, and hence the plows are known as cast-cast steel plows. 

 {Fig. 34.) , 



Being cast to form, they will keep that form after receiving 

 the highest temper. They can, therefore, easily be duplicated 

 from molten cast steel. This process forms a hardened 

 cast steel plow that the quartz sand, found in many prairie 

 soils, does not scratch. The sections receive their temper 

 kindly, because the metal is " set" in the iron moulds into which 

 it is poured, and where it has no strain upon its fibre. They 

 do not warp in heating or in cooling, so that the parts are 

 duplicated perfectly. A cast-cast steel plow has all the ad- 

 vantages of cast iron, and hardened cast steel combined. 



The Collins plow, though a comparatively recent invention, 

 has rapidly gained popularity and favor, especially on the 

 prairie farms of the AVest. When tempered hard, it never clogs, 

 but clears perfectly in sticky soils, and hence its draught is light 

 and easy. So far as its form and mechanical finish are con 

 cerned, it is all that could be desired. {Fig. 85.) 



Among the advantages claimed for the Collins cast-cast steel 

 plow, are: First^ that it will last much longer than any other 

 steel plow. Sheet steel is often " cut through" after a short 

 wear in gritty soils: Second^ that it will scour in the most difii- 

 cult soils, where other plows fail, the extreme hardness ot the steel 

 preventing all scratching, atid the high polish enabling it to 

 shed the mould, however sticky it may be : Third, that it draws 

 one fifth lighter than other plows cutting the same width and 

 flepth : Fourth, that the share can be sharpened, or a new steel 



