246 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



THE EVOLUTION OF FARM MACHINES, WITH SOME 

 SUGGESTIONS AS TO THEIR USE. 



BT GEO. P. SMITH OF SUNDERLAND. 



This paper will not attempt to discuss primitive forms of 

 the plow and other implements of husbandry, but Avill begin 

 by inquiring into Avhat means the American farmer had at 

 the beginning of the nineteenth century of preparing the 

 soil for his crop and for cultivating and harvesting it. 



He had a kind of plow, made mostly of wood, perhaps 

 with the natural twist found in the trunk of some tree for a 

 mold-board. The local wheelwright was called upon to help 

 him out with the wood-work, and the blacksmith furnished 

 a steel point and more or less armor plate for the land side 

 and mold-board. The earliest form of the plow used in the 

 prairie soils of the west was made of old saw blades. The 

 farmer also had a harrow, probably a V-shaped frame with 

 straight teeth ; a cultivator of wood frame, of about the same 

 shape, with teeth something like a duck's foot. For har- 

 vesting there was the scythe, sickle, hand rake, and possibly 

 a large rake, sometimes called a bull rake, for gathering 

 after the cart. 



The Plow. 



The plow might be considered on slight thought to be a 

 very simple implement, but on further consideration it will 

 be seen to be quite complicated. Extremely elaborate calcu- 

 lations have been employed by inventors to determine the 

 correct form of the mold-board, which may be considered as 

 two wedges at nearly right angles to each other, joined by a 

 curved surface. The problem has engaged the minds of some 

 of the most able men known in American history, — such 

 men as Thomas Jefferson, Daniel Webster and Frederick 

 Holbrook. 



