60 



&!)c -farmer's ittontljln bisitor. 



From the JN. Y. Agriculturist. 



History of the Cast Iron Plough. 



First Improvement of the Plough in Europe. — Al- 

 though Fnzlieihert, in 1532, Heresbach, in 1570, 

 Worlidge, in 1577, and Tull about 1703, wrote 

 more or less on ilie subject of plou^lis, we can 

 fiml no record of any decided improvement in 

 them till Joseph Foljumbe, of Yorkshire, Eng- 

 land, got out a patent for one in 1720. His first 

 whs made in the town of Rotherham, and hence 

 iis tiaine, '■ Rnlherham plough," which it has ever 

 since borne. Previous to this, the plough was a 

 great, heavy implement, consisting almost en- 

 tirely of wood, and was of exceedingly rude con- 

 struction. It required from lour to eight horses 

 to draw it, and even then, it did its work ill a 

 very slow and imperfect manner. 



The Cast Iron .Mould Board. — To James Small, 

 of Berwickshire, Scotland, belongs the high hon- 

 or of the invention of the cast iron mould board, 

 anil the improvement of its shape for stiff, clayey 

 soils. This was about the year 1740. In general 

 construction, his ploughs were like the Rother- 

 ham; ami they are still considered as a standard 

 for the elements of good plough-making. 



Mr. Small was extensively engaged in the 

 manufacture of ploughs and other agricultural 

 implements, in Berwickshire, till his death, in 

 17113 ; and did much (lining his life-time to spread 

 his improvements throughout Great Britain. 



The Cast Iron Share. — The next most impor- 

 tant improvement in the plough, was the inven- 

 tion of the cast iron share, by Robert Ransome, 

 of Ipswich, England. This he patented in 

 17.-5. In 1803, he obtained a second patent for 

 case-hardening or cold-chilling the point and 

 edge of the share. This makes that part uf the 

 share as hard as steel, and adds greatly to its du- 

 rability. This, also, was a very important im- 

 pro\ enient. 



The Cast Iron Landside. — A plain farmer of 

 Suffolk county, England, constructed the land- 

 side of the plough, of cast iron, soon after the 

 invention of (he share by Mr. Ransuine. 



The Cast Iron Plough Complete. — Thus about 

 the year 1790, the body or skeleton of the plough, 

 comprising the mould hoard, landside, and slime, 

 made of cast iron, in three distinct parts, was weli 

 known, and in use in Great Britain. Wrought 

 and cast iron beams, handles, and all other parts 

 have since been frequently substituted for wootl, 

 particularly in Scotland. 



Improvement of the Cast Iron Plough in Ameri- 

 ca. — Without any knowledge of these improve- 

 ments of the cast iron plough in Great Britain, 

 about 171)0, a highly enterprising ingenious per- 

 son, of Burlington, New Jersey, by the iKime of 

 Charles Newbold, took up the plough with ihe 

 view of improving it in the United States. On 

 the 17th of June, 1797, he obtained a patent for 

 the cast iron body or skeleton, in one piece, com- 

 plete. Subsequently, he made his plough with a 

 cast iron mould board and landside, and attached 

 to it a wrought iron share, edged uilh steel. In 

 the year 1800, he repeatedly spoke of still further 

 improving his plough, by substituting the cast 

 iron .-bare. But having spent upwards of $30,- 

 000 in his improvements and efforts to introduce 

 ii into use in the United States ami elsewhere, 

 without a corresponding return, he became dis- 

 couraged and gave up ilie business. 



Mr. Jefferson, late President of I he United 

 Slates, constructed a mould board on scientific 

 principles, in 1798, and wrote an elaborate article 

 on the subject. 



Peter T. Ciirtenius kept ploughs for sale in 

 the city of New York, as early us 1800, the 

 shares and mould boards of cast iron, in separate 

 pans. Who the manufacturer of these was, we 

 are unable to learn. 



In 1807, we believe, David Peacock, of New 

 Jersey, obtained a patent for a plough, the mould 

 board ami landside of cast iron and in separate 

 parts, the share of wrought iron, steel edged.— 

 He copied Mr. Newhold's plough in pari, for the 

 privilege of which he paid him $1000. Robert 

 Sniiib, of Buckingham, Pennsylvania, obtaii ed a 

 patent for a cast iron mould board, probably a> 

 early as 1804 to '(>. This is said lo have been 

 constructed on mathematical principles, and was 

 highly approved of. Mr. Smith wrote a good 

 article on the construction of ploughs. 



In 1814, Jetbro Wood obtained a patent for a 

 plough, the mould board, landside, and share in 

 three parts, and of cast iron. He was familiar 

 with Neu hold's and Peacock's ploughs ; of 

 which bis was a bungling imitation, and not near 

 so perfect in form nor construction, as the old 

 Rotherham plough, that had been in use in Great 

 Britain, at least 84 years before. 



It is said that the cast iron plough, in three 

 parts, viz — mould hoard, landside, and share, was 

 in use in Virginia previous to 1814, and that 

 Wood was aware of it ; and that, through the 

 Encyclopaedias and other works, be also knew of 

 the improvements in Great Britain. In any 

 event, it is perfectly plain that be never ought to 

 have bad a patent conferred upon him for the 

 cast iron share, nor for any other improvements 

 in the plough, lie constructed nothing original 

 in all he undertook. His only merit, so far as 

 we can learn, was to assist in bringing the cast 

 iion share into more general use, sooner ihan it 

 might otherwise have been done. 



Edwin A. Stevens, of Hoboken, New Jersey, 

 took up the plough in 1817, and for nearly four 

 years devoted his ingenious talents to its improve- 

 ment. He often tested it with an accurately ar- 

 ranged dynamometer, and in various other ways, 

 and against the best ploughs within his reach, 

 and at length, succeeded in making it so perfect 

 that it found great favor with the public, ami has 

 been a standing model for most of the best 

 ploughs since manufactured in the United 

 States. 



Mr. Stevens patented his plough on the 23d of 

 April, 1821, and was the first in this country lo 

 make use of the processor cold-chilling the base 

 of the landside and lower edge of the share, 

 which was also embraced in his specification for 

 a patent. 



In 1819, Josiah Dutcher, of New York, com- 

 menced improving the cast iron plough, and lias 

 continued to do so to the present day. lie 

 lengthened and improved the shape of the mould 

 board, and the method of fastening it to the 

 beam ; lengthened the share and added the shin 

 piece; increased the width of the landside, and 

 improved the manner of fastening it to the mould 

 board, by lapping il outside and lengthening it to 

 touch the share. He lias also considerably im- 

 proved the prairie plough. 



Mr. Davis, of the District of Columbia, Mr. 

 Bergen, of Long Island, and Mr. Moore, of Ithaca, 

 New York, and several others, whose names we 

 have not been able to ascertain, are entitled to 

 more or less credit for their improvements in the 

 plough. 



Air. Joel Nonrse, of the firm of Ruggles, 

 Nourse, and Mason, of Boston and Woieester, 

 Massachusetts, has done much in the construc- 

 tion of superior new ploughs, of many different 

 kinds and sizes, and in their general improve- 

 ment. The new dial clevis, and self-sharpening 

 plough, of ibis eminent agricultural implement 

 manufacturing firm, are among the most impor- 

 tant improvements in the plough which have 

 been made within this century. 



Rapid Travelling. — The distance from Pad- 

 didgton io Didcot, in England, was recently run 

 by aii eight-wheel locomotive engine, with eighl- 

 feet driving wheels, in 51 minutes and 38 sec- 

 onds. The distance is 53 miles. The lime 

 marked was from a state of rest to a stale (if rest. 

 The highest speed was between 75 and 7'5 miles 

 an hour, and many miles wtie performed at an 

 average velocity of between 67 and (58 miles an 

 hour. The Weight carried was 50 tons. 



A freight train, consisting of filieen carriages 

 w eighing 1 15 tons, performed on the same road, 

 77 miles in 2 hours ami 2G minutes, including 17 

 minutes losl in six stoppages. The engine had 

 seven-feel driving wheels, sixieen-iuch cylinder, 

 and twenty-inch stroke. 



PruminoTrf.es. — It is now a well established 

 truth, that, when a young tree is in a vigorous 

 state of growth, and the. wood full of sap, just 

 previous to its having made any hard wood (say 

 in June or July, in most parts id' the United 

 States,) any branch may be taken off, without in- 

 jury. Therefore, at this stage of existence of the 

 trte, pruning may be safely performed, giving its 

 top that ,-hape it is intended to assume when it 

 attains its lull size. 



Young America and Old Europe—- Statistics 

 and Finance. 



The financial position of the three great com- 

 mercial countries of ihe world, is at present a 

 matter for deep consideration. When the peo- 

 ple of the old world have experienced such a 

 revolution in political affairs, and when the mo- 

 narchical governments still in existence are 

 threatened with overthrow, it intimidates capital- 

 ists and turns their attention to investments in 

 securities beyond the influence of such political 

 changes. They look in vain to the present gov- 

 ernments of Europe for such security ; and even 

 the republics which will rise out of the ruins of 

 monarchies, will be for a time very unsettled — 

 without national credit or national resources suf- 

 ficient to command it — and they must depend 

 upon this country for such investments as will 

 relii if them of all anxiety and apprehension. — 

 It lias ever been a matter for much speculation 

 among financiers on this side of the Atlantic, 

 what has heretofore constituted the security of 

 loans made to European governments ; and the 

 result of the revolution in France has disclosed 

 one act, at least, connected with this question, 

 and which is, that the people, after all, control 

 the financial as well as the political affairs of the 

 governments under which they live. 



We find that the government of Louis Phi- 

 lippe, as recent as November last, negotiated a 

 three per cent loan of $50,000,000, wilh the 

 Messrs. Rothschilds. Shrewd observers of the 

 political movements in that country, long before 

 thai time, predicted a revolution in Ibe govern- 

 ment before the lapse of many years, and nearly 

 every one agreed upon the certainly, almost, of a 

 revolution upon ihe death of Louis Philippe, an 

 event which might transpire at any moment. In 

 the face of those things, the Messrs. Rothschilds 

 loaned the government fifty millions of dollars, 

 at three per cent interest, at about seventy-five 

 per cent on par, while the same house was so 

 suspicious of the credit of the government of ihe 

 United States that loans bearing six per cent in- 

 terest were not considered worth taking. If these 

 capitalists have fears of a republican form of 

 government, where Ilie people have a voice in all 

 the financial and political iiiovemetils, they exhi- 

 bit less foresight and knowledge of human na- 

 ture than we have given them credit for, and 

 they have yet lo learn that the only solid, sub- 

 stantial, safe and permanent form of government 

 is a republic, founded upon a consiitulion similar 

 to that of the United Slates. They have this to 

 learn; but they have been so blind upon this 

 subject that they will have to pay dearly for their 

 knowledge. There is one chance left for the 

 Rothschilds and oilier great capitalists of Europe 

 to redeem themselves from the error into which 

 Ibey have fallen. The government of the United 

 Stales will soon be in the market for a loan of 

 sixteen millions of <iollars,and ii would be well for 

 European capitalists to secure every fraction of 

 this loan. Recent events have satisfied all sensi- 

 ble men that loans made lo the government of 

 the United Slates are safer than to any other ex- 

 isting government in the world, and what is 

 more, it is ihe most profitable investment of the 

 kind that can be made. 



We annex a statement showing Ihe debt, pop- 

 ulation and extent of territory of each of ihe three 

 most important countries in the world : — 



Debt and Population of the United Slates, Great 



Britain and France. 

 1317 nnd '48. United States. Great Britain. Prance. 

 Ag'gatedebt, £100,000,000 £3,935.000.000 5 1, 013, 1 65.000 

 Population, 22,000,000 29,000,000 35.000.000 



Extent ul' Terri- 

 tory— acres, 1,230.000,000 12-K3S3.000 173,703,000 



In pulling down the debt of the United States 

 we have included ilie loan authorized by the bill 

 just passed, and other contingencies growing out 

 of the settlement of the terms of the treaty re- 

 cently ratified by our government, and believe 

 that the whole will he covered by the figures 

 named above. The immense difference in the 

 indebtedness and extent of territory of the three 

 countries named, must slrike every one with as- 

 tonishment ; and ihe internal resources of each 

 differ as much as the three items above given. — 

 The exietit of territory of the United Stales, t'iv- 

 i'II In the table, does not include Texas, New 

 Mexico, or California, Oregon, or any of our 

 Western frontier; the accession of these sections 



