FARM MACHINERY 35 



and several men to help him, Webster held the handles and 

 cleared his stump patch. Speaking of his work with this plow, 

 Webster is reported to have said : 



When I have hold of the handles of my big plow in such a field as this, with 

 four yoke of oxen to pull it through and hear the roots crack and see the 

 stumps all go under the furrow, out of sight, and observe the clean mellow 

 surface of the plowed land, I feel more enthusiasm over my achievement than 

 comes from my encounters in public life at Washington.^ 



Webster's plow, although no doubt somewhat exceptional by 

 reason of its massiveness, as became the man, is, in fact, only an 

 illustration of what was an everyday affair, for the blacksmith 

 shops were the plow factories of that time, and farmers were 

 accustomed to having their plows made to order. 



It must not be supposed, however, that inventors of the regular 

 type were unmindful of the needs of the farming class. The 

 Napoleonic wars, in particular, stimulated the demand of Europe 

 for American agricultural products, and our Patent Ofifice records 

 furnish ample evidence of the efforts of inventors to supply better 

 means of cultivating and caring for such products.^ Whitney's 

 cotton gin, patented in 1794, was only one of many devices 

 designed to promote the business of the farmer. At least two 

 patents for grain-thrashing machines were issued as early as the 

 year 1791.^ A patent for a corn-planting machine was issued in 

 1799^ and another for a grain-cutting machine in 1803.^ 



But the only one of these early inventions, other than the cotton 

 gin, which seems to have really foreshadowed its successor of the 

 present day, was a cast-iron plow invented by Charles Newbold 

 of Burlington County, New Jersey. Sometime between 1790 and 

 1 796, Newbold had a plow cast, under his direction, at the Han- 

 over furnace, in Burlington County, New Jersey. The plow was 

 cast all " in one peice," and on June 17, 1797, he was granted a 

 patent for his invention.^ He appears to have used this first plow 



1 N.Y. Agr. Report, 1867, p. 484. 



2 Eighth Census, Preliminary Report, p. 96. * Ibid. 



* U. S. Agr. Report, 1870, p. 401. 



* Eighth Census, Agriculture, p. xx. 



6 U. S. Agr. Report, 1870, p. 395 ; N.Y. Agr. Report, 1867, p. 448. 



