No. 1. 



Ploughs. 



21 



ing-enious farmer of Burlington, New Jersey. 

 Hi's was undoubtedly the first cast iron plough 

 ever used in the United States, and to him 

 should be awarded the honour of its intro- 

 duction, although thus far it has been gene- 

 rally accorded to .Teihro Wood of New York, 

 who had the shrewdness to get out a patent 

 for one in 1814. He undoubtedly derived 

 his idea from Mr. Newbold — who took no 

 interest in getting it into general use — or 

 from those of English manufacture, and was 

 never entitled to the least merit as the ori- 

 ginator or improver of the cast iron plough. 

 Mr. Newbold made his improvement with- 

 out any knowledge of the progress in the 

 same direction, in England. 



Mr. Peter T. Curtenius, of the city of 

 New York, kept ploughs for sale as early as 

 1800, the shares of which were cast iron ; 

 but whether these were got up by himself 

 or made from Mr. Newbold's patterns, I have 

 not yet been able to ascertain. These ploughs 

 were highly approved, as may be seen by 

 reference to an article on the subject, by 

 Col. John Smith, in volume first, page 173, 

 of the Transactions of the Society of New 

 York for the promotion of Agriculture, Arts 

 and Manufactures, the second edition of 

 which was published in 1801. 



Mr. Newbold's plough not having obtained 

 a general use, even in his own neighbour- 

 hood, the old wooden mould board and 

 wrought iron share still prevailing for many 

 years after the introduction of his complete 

 cast iron plough, others took up the subject 

 in part. 



Mr. Peacock, of New Jersey, made a 

 great improvement in ploughs as early, I 

 am informed, as 1805, by substituting the 

 cast iron for the wooden mould board. The 

 form of this, however, and the manner of 

 putting his plough together were very im 

 perfect. 



In the year 1808, Peacock's plough was 

 60 far improved as to be made share and 

 mould board both of cast iron; and in vari- 

 ous forms was extensively used in the vicin- 

 ity of New York, on Long Island, and in 

 New Jersey, under the name of the Peacock 

 plough. This was six years prior to the first 

 patent obtained by Wood. 



Mr. Edv/in A. Stevens, of Hoboken, New 

 Jersey, took up the plough in 1817, and for 

 nearly four years devoted his ingenious tal- 

 ents to its improvement. He often tested it 

 with a very accurately arranged dynamome- 

 ter, and in various other ways, and against 



on it — the beaai and handles partly as long as a row 

 of corn; and we well remember too, the introduction 

 of Peacock's plough, that opened a new era in the 

 practical part of a ploughboy's life.— Ep, 



the best ploughs within his reach, and at 

 length succeeded in making it so perfect 

 that it found great favour with the public, 

 and has been a standing model tor most of 

 the best ploughs since manufactured in the 

 United States. He informs me that he took 

 his idea of a cast iron plough from Mr. New- 

 bold's invention. 



Mr. Stevens patented his plough on the 

 23rd of April, 1821, and was the first in this 

 country to make use of the process of cold 

 chilling the base of the land-side and lower 

 edge of the share — a most important im- 

 provement — which was also embraced in his 

 specification for a patent. 



Mr. Davis of the District of Columbia, 

 Mr. Bergen of Long Island, N. Y., and Mr. 

 Nourse of Massachusetts, have improved the 

 mould boards and other parts of the plough 

 more or less, for particular purposes; and so 

 far as I can learn, have done the same inde- 

 pendent of any knowledge of each other at 

 the time. These gentlemen are consequently 

 entitled to more or less praise for their im- 

 provements. 



There are probably one hundred different 

 kinds of ploughs to be found in the United 

 States, each of which has its advocates, and 

 is entitled to more or less merit. To under- 

 take a description of these would be tedious, 

 I shall therefore content myself with a brief 

 summary of such as are best adapted to par- 

 ticular purposes. 



1. The Root Breaker. — This is a powerful 

 implement, made without mould board, some- 

 thing like a subsoil plough. It has a thick, 

 strong coulter running down from the beam, 

 locking firmly into the point, which is 

 wrought iron, steeled at the end. The ob- 

 ject of this plough is, to operate in newly 

 cleared forest land, for the purpose of cutting 

 up the roots of the trees and preparing it for 

 cultivation. It will sever roots three inches 

 in diameter with ease, and after once passing 

 over the ground, the common mould board 

 plough can work it freely. 



2. The Prairie Plough.— This, like the 

 one above, is used for breaking up a virgin 

 soil ; but as it is the thick fibrous roots of 

 grass centuries old that are to be severed, 

 instead of those of forest trees, its construc- 

 tion is entirely different. Those now most 

 approved, have their mould board and point 

 terminating flat and wide. The point is 

 of wrought iron, steel-edged, and must be 

 kept very sharp in order to work well. Like 

 the Root Breaker, it requires a powerful 

 team to move it. 



3. Sod and Slvbble Ploughs.— Among 

 the best we know for this purpose, are the 

 different kinds made by Messrs. Ruggles, 

 Nourse and Mason, of Worcester, Massa- 



