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Agricultural and Horticultural Society of Brussels. Vol. XII. 



were satisfied with the Bull plough. They 

 thought it superior to every other amono: 

 roots and stumps. It was easily drawn back 

 when it got fast, for it generally had no 

 coulter; the share but little slant, and a 

 short nose. 



" Hard gravelly ground, however, soon 

 dulls a plough share. Many of us had to 

 go far to a blacksmith's. While we were 

 gone, the team was idle at home. When 

 we arrived the shop floor would be partly 

 covered with plough shares, but first come, 

 first served, was the rule. From one-fourth 

 to half a day was often lost in this way. 

 But this was not all our trouble. The share 

 sometimes came back in a different shape — 

 it no longer ran like the same plough. It 

 often had too much or too little pitch, and 

 the share warped in hardening. A load of 

 dirt fastened on it," &c. 



Such was the state of things when Jethro 

 Wood introduced his plough. Its permanent 

 shape, and cast-iron edge, wrought a total 

 change in our condition, but not without 

 great opposition for a time. He told me 

 that all his friends, — with one or two excep- 

 tions, — endeavoured to discourage him from 

 trying " pot-metal !" and the same opinions 

 were prevalent when he proposed to dis- 

 pense with the old sheath or standard, and 

 substitute a projection from the upper edge 

 of the mould-board, to pass through the 

 beam. His language to me at that time 

 was, "I intend to make it as simple as a 

 skimming dish." For this improvement 

 alone, — whether it pass through or be fast- 

 ened under the beam — his name should be 

 immortalized, and no candid person can deny 

 him extraordinary merit, when he considers 

 that every plough, down to that time, had 

 been encumbered with a heavy sheath of 

 wood or wrought iron — expensive, and liable 

 to get out of order. 



In his first patented plough, nearly a dozen 

 screws were employed ; but in that of 1819, 

 not a screw was seen; and the ploughman 

 was rendered independent of the blacksmith 

 — avoiding long bills and great loss of time. 



The e.xercise of mind and amount of la- 

 bour to perfect these improvements, can 

 scarcely be appreciated by those who have 

 not been engaged in similar pursuits. It 

 was a new field, and everything had to be 

 learned by experiment. To discover and 

 procure the best materials for patterns, as 

 well as to prepare them, employed him for 

 a long time; and most men would have 

 shrunk from the difficulties that met him at 

 the foundries. Often he had to overcome 

 the awkwardness or unwillingness of the 

 moulders by presents, or by showing them 

 how to succeed with his own hands. 



I am satisfied that all his patented im- 

 provements were inventions of his own — 

 originating in his o\vn mind; and to avoid 

 encroaching on what others had invented, 

 he had every volume within his reach that 

 treated of ploughs — including several Ency- 

 clopedias, — carefully examined for that pur- 

 pose. 



To Jethro Wood's name belongs the hon- 

 our of rendering the plough that cheap and 

 efficient instrument that we now find it — 

 enabling us to cultivate our fields at less 

 than a quarter of the former expense, and 

 saving millions to the country. 



David Thomas.' 



Greatfield, Cayuga co., Twelfth mo. 10th, 1847. 



Exhibition of the Agricultnral and Hor- 

 ticultural Society of Brussels, October 

 1st, 1847. 



The middle of one salon was devoted to 

 the various kinds of grain, which were 

 shown in the straw; three rooms were com- 

 pletely occupied with samples of potatoes, 

 consisting of almost every known variety. 

 Some idea may be formed of the interest 

 the Belgians take in the cultivation of this 

 useful root, by the fact that there were more 

 than one hundred and eighty collections of 

 potatoes, among which I counted about forty 

 exhibitors of seedlings raised in 1846 and 

 '47, the particulars of which I will give 

 presently. Vegetables of every description 

 were numerous and generally fine, especi- 

 ally carrots, pumpkins, and cabbages. The 

 fruit was magnificent. I hardly know how 

 to express myself sufficiently complimentary 

 of the pears and apples, — finer, I believe, 

 were never before exhibited, certainly never 

 surpassed in quantity or quality. The inte- 

 rest was further increased by some speci- 

 mens of fine seedling pears, of which more 

 anon. This rich display entirely filled one 

 large salo7i and two ante-rooms. As for 

 flowering plants, of course, no one expected 

 to see the brilliancy of a spring exhibition, 

 that is out of the question at the end of 

 September; but in every other respect it 

 was splendid. The noble specimens of 

 palms, ferns, conifers, cacti, orchids, &c., 

 &c., were the admiration of every lover of 

 horticulture. 



Roses were neither numerous nor fine, 

 certainly not to be compared with those I 

 have seen exhibited in France, more partic- 

 ularly at the Chateau des Fleurs. Two 

 collections of well-known varieties, in small 

 pots, were all that were shown. General 

 collections of stove and greenhouse plants 

 were numerous, but of course this was not 

 the season to see them to advantage; among; 



