82 PRINCIPLES OF RURAL ECONOMICS 



Farm implements. There were few changes in agricultural 

 implements until after 1833. The plow and harrow were al- 

 most the only tools not driven by human muscle. The wooden 

 plow with an iron share was still in use, though sometimes the 

 wooden moldboard was protected by strips of iron. In 1798 

 Thomas Jefferson wrote a treatise on the proper form of a 

 moldboard of a plow. A year earlier Charles Newbold of 

 New Jersey had invented a cast-iron plow having the share, 

 moldboard, and land side all in one piece. It did not come 

 into general use at once because some one invented the 

 absurd doctrine, which farmers seem to have believed, that 

 the cast-iron plow poisoned the land so that crops would 

 not grow. Jethro Wood of New York, a correspondent of 

 Jefferson, took out patents for cast-iron plows in 1814 and 

 1819. He had designed a moldboard resembling somewhat 

 those now in use. 



Agricultural societies. Though there were few significant 

 inventions of agricultural implements during the period from 

 1776 to 1833, there was the beginning of an interest in ag- 

 ricultural improvement which promised well for the future. 

 Agricultural societies were founded in South Carolina in 1784, 

 in Pennsylvania in 1785, in New York in 1791, in Massa- 

 chusetts in 1792. In 1810 an exhibition of agricultural prod- 

 ucts was held in Georgetown, D. C., and another in Pittsfield, 

 Massachusetts. In 1816 a somewhat larger exhibition was 

 held in Brighton, Massachusetts. These were the forerunners 

 of the agricultural fairs which have since had such a large 

 development. 



Improvements in live stock ; the horse. During this period 

 there were new importations of improved live stock, particularly 

 Shorthorn and Hereford cattle, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and 

 New York taking the lead. The famous sire of American 

 trotting horses, Messenger, was imported from England to 



