1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



185 



upon men's minds, some using the wedge acting 

 vertically, others laterally ; but it existed in the 

 minds of plough-makers in too vague and misty a 

 form to be of much practical benefit. No one had 

 as yet grasped the idea of combining the two 

 wedges in the same implement, nor had they any 

 idea of the curves by which this could be effected." 



In the beginning of the last century, a plough 

 was introduced into England from Holland, known 

 as the "Rotherham plough," which was a great 

 improvement on anything that had preceded it. 

 This plough was rejected by the celebrated Jetheo 

 TuLL. It was not until near the beginning of this 

 century that men began to think that the true 

 principles involved in the construction of the 

 plough, might be so ascertained and described 

 that any good plough-maker should be able to fol- 

 low them. Before this period, the old writers 

 complain that, when the makers of good ploughs 

 died,theirartdied with them. Authur Young says, 

 "a very ingenious blacksmith made ploughs of 

 iron, and yet when he died no one else could make 

 them." The report says that Thomas Jefferson 

 "was the first to discern that the plough should 

 consist of two wedges, one acting vertically and 

 the other laterally, which should be so blended in 

 the curve surface that the furrow should rise and 

 turn over smoothly and continuously, and that it 

 is impossible to over estimate the value of this 

 contribution to agricultural science. 



The first intimation of any idea, on Mr. JeflFerson's 

 part, the report states, of improving the plough, is 

 found in his journal of a tour in Germany, made 

 in the year 1788, when he was American Ambassa- 

 dor in France. In passing through Lorraine, he 

 frequently alighted to observe the teams and im- 

 plements of the farmers who were engaged in 

 ploughing by the wayside. * * * Stopping for 

 a night at Nancy, the capital of the ancient dutchy, 

 he made an entry in his journal, from which the 

 following is an extract. "Oxen plough here with 

 collars and hames. The awkward figure of their 

 mould-boards leads one to consider what should 

 be its form. The ofiices of the mould-board are to 

 receive the sod after the share has cut under it, to 

 raise it gradually and to reverse it. The fore end 

 of it, therefore, should be horizontal, to enter un- 

 der the sod ; and the hind end perpendicular, to 

 throw it over; the intermediate surface changing 

 gradually from the horizontal to the perpendicu- 

 lar. It should be as wide as the furrow, and of a 

 length suited to the construction of the plough." 

 There can be no doubt whatever that Mr. Jefferson 

 is solely entitled to the honor of inventing the 

 first mould-board plough on mathematical princi- 

 ples. He made descriptions and drawings and pre- 

 sented them to the celebrated David Rittenuouse, 

 of Philadelphia, who demonstrated that they were 

 founded on mathematical principles. 



James Small, of Scotland was the first inventor 

 of the cast-iron plough, and it is used to this day 

 in many of the best cultivated districts in Scot- 

 land. 



In 1785, Mr. Robert Ransom, of Ipswich, Eng- 

 land, obtained a patent for making ploughshares 

 of cast-iron. 



The first cast-iron plough ever made in America 

 was invented by Charles Newbold. Mr. New- 

 bold spent more than $30,000 in perfecting and in- 

 troducing his plough and then abandoned the 

 business in despair, as the farmers had in some 

 way imbibed the strange notion that the cast-iron 

 plow poisoned the land, injured its fertility and 

 promoted the growth of weeds. 



In July, 1814 Mr. Jethro Wood, of Scipio, N. 

 Y., obtained a patent for a cast-iron plough, in which 

 he had made such improvements as to fairly in- 

 troduce it to general use. 



In 1842, Messrs. Nourse, Rl-ggles & Mason 

 introduced their famous "Eagle No. 2," which the 

 committee say "retains its popularity to the pres- 

 ent day." 



In 1845, Gov. Holbrook, of Vermont, began to 

 assist Mr. Nourse in improving his ploughs, and 

 ultimately the Governor "devised a system by 

 which if the longitudinal lines are carefully laid 

 down upon the pattern, the vertical lines will 

 be sure to come right." Thus Mr. Jefferson's 

 plough has been perfected, and under the skilful 

 iiands of the Governor, won the great prize of 

 1867 at Utica. 



Many other men besides those named "de- 

 serve honorable mention," as improvers of the 

 iron plough, and among them J. Butcher, of Dur- 

 ham, N. Y., John Mears and James H. Conklin. 

 Daniel Webster believed in deep ploughing, and 

 he made a plough to go a foot deep, and turn a 

 furrow two feet wide. This plough was made in 

 his own work-shop on his farm at Marshfield, — 

 much of the work being done by his own hands. 

 The principles on which he constructed this great 

 plough were substantially the same as those 

 adopted by Mr. Jeflierson, but Webster gave greater 

 length, proportionately, with more twi;t or over- 

 hang at the rear end, so as more surely to invert 

 the sod in deep ploughing. Mr. Webster told Gov. 

 Holbrook that "when he had hold of the handles 

 of his big plough, with his oxen in a field just 

 cleared of bushes and shrubs, and heard the roots 

 crack, and saw the stumps go under the furrow 

 out of sight, and observed the clear, mellow sur- 

 face of the ploughed land, he felt more enthusi- 

 asm over the achievement than came from his en- 

 counters in public life at Washington." This 

 mammoth Webster plough is fully illustrated in 

 the report by engravings. 



The foregoing is but a meagre abridgement of 

 of the excellent Histortj of the Plough contained 

 in the report. In another paper, we propose to 

 speak of some of the objects to be accomplished 

 by ploughing, and what kind of an impiement is 

 best adapted to that purpose. 



— Mixing hen feed with a strong suds of common 

 soft scap is recommended both as a preventive and 

 cure of gapes, by S. C. Hall, in Rural Xew Yorker. 



