THE USES OF WOOD 



149 



iron point and wooden moldboard was probably five 

 thousand years in reaching that stage from the first use 

 of a plow drawn by animals. 



Plows made wholly of metal are in use, some of them 

 not having a particle of wood in their construction. But 

 wood is the principal material for the beams and handles 

 of most plows, and the yearly bill of plow lumber is very 

 large, and most of it is oak, both for handles and for 

 beams. The development of the plow has not stopped with 

 the practical perfection of the two-horse implement. 

 Patterns more pretentious are constantly coming into use. 



The harrow has always been associated with - the plow, 

 and apparently it goes back as far in history. Both are 

 m en tioned or 

 pictured in 

 very ancient 

 records. Iron 

 harrows were 

 in use three 

 thousand years 

 ago if ancient 

 chronicles are 

 correctly inter- 

 p r e t e d , and 

 wooden har- 

 rows are still 

 in use today ; 

 so it cannot be 

 said that metal 

 harrows have 

 ever superced- 

 ed those of 

 wood. Among 

 the southern 

 Appal achian 

 M oun t ai ns 

 farmers may 

 still occasional- 

 ly be seen har- 

 rowing their 

 steep fields 

 with a thorn 

 bush dragged 

 by horses or oxen, 

 not uncommon on 



"THE FOREMOST FILES OF TIME" 



So far as the use of wood is concerned, perhaps the_ elephant in the accompanying picture has the 

 advantage, but there is no comparison between the efficiency of the two machines. Civilization long 

 turned the brute down as a working force, ~ 

 International Harvester Company, Chicago. 



That sort of harrow was formerly 

 the frontiers in forested regions. 

 Some one of the many species of thorn (Crataegus) was 

 preferred because of its profusion of tough, pliant 

 branches which, by being dragged, pulverized and 

 smoothed the freshly plowed soil. 



Another sort of harrow was no less simple. It was 

 wholly of wood and was toothless. It consisted of a 

 log about ten feet long, dragged ' broad-side on, across 

 the plowed land to break the clods and level the inequali- 

 ties left by the plow. It was moved forward in the same 

 way as the roller, but it did not roll. This crude imple- 

 ment, like the thorn bush harrow, is not yet wholly 

 obsolete. It is called a "drag." In rural districts 

 it is used for smoothing roads, during the spring 

 repairs. The same drag may see service in preparing the 



early fields for oats, where a smooth surface is wanted. 

 Harrows of wooden frames and wooden teeth were in 

 use until comparatively recent years, and they may occa- 

 sionally be seen in the tool lofts and lumber sheds of 

 barns and granaries in central and southern states. The 

 teeth of such harrows were naturally the portion that 

 wore most rapidly, and the hardest woods procurable by 

 farmers were employed as teeth. The teeth-woods varied 

 with the region. Where yellow locust was to be had, it 

 was always used, but hickory, hornbeam, maple, beech 

 and even oak were employed. Wood was generally 

 cheap, and the farmer who made the teeth for his own 

 harrow could afford a new set every few days during 



harrowing 

 time. Supplies 

 were kept on 

 hand and were 

 t h o r o ughly 

 seasoned, ready 

 for instant call. 

 An English 

 traveler in 

 America, John 

 Woods, writing 

 about the year 

 I 82 i, concern- 

 ing a trip he 

 had lately made 

 thro ugh Illi- 

 nois, had this 

 to say of har- 

 rows : "They 

 do not gener- 

 ally use har- 

 rows, but when 

 they do, they 

 are made with 

 wooden teeth ; 

 nor have I 

 a n y w h ere in 

 America seen 

 iron-tined ones, 

 except in the 

 The place here designated was in 



and harnessed science. Photograph by courtesy of i. 



English Prairie." 

 southern Illinois. 



Agricultural implements are divided into classes accord- 

 ing to uses intended. Those in the first class prepare 

 , the soil for crops, and in this category belong plows and 

 harrows, rollers, and fertilizer spreaders. It is, perhaps, 

 not strictly proper to include the clearing and leveling 

 of land, though if implements for this work are in- 

 cluded, account should be taken of scrapers for improv- 

 ing the surface of uneven ground, and stump pullers for 

 clearing ground about to pass from forest to field, and 

 power skidders when land clearing is carried out on a 

 large scale. 



After the ground has been made ready for planting, 

 a long line of implements is available for the work 

 which follows. These include drills for small grains 



