52 FARM MACHINERY 



be realized, thus not only increasing the yield an acre, but 

 at the same time permitting a larger area to be tilled. 



THE PLOW 



84. The development of the plow. The basic tillage operation 

 is that of plowing, and for this reason the plow will be consid- 

 ered first. Some of the oldest races have left sculptural records 

 on their monuments describing their plows. From the time of 

 these early records civilization and the plow have developed in 

 an equal proportion. The first plow was simply a form of hoe 

 made from a crooked stick of the proper shape to penetrate and 

 loosen the soil as it was drawn along. The power to draw the 

 plow was furnished by man, but later, as animals were trained 

 for draft and burden, animal power was substituted and the plow 

 was enlarged. 



The records of the ancient Egyptians illustrate such a plow. 

 At an early time the point of the plow was shod with iron, for 

 it is recorded that about 1,100 years B.C. the Israelites, who were 

 not skilled in the working of iron, "went down to the Philistines 

 to sharpen every man his share and his coulter." In the 

 "Georgics," Virgil describes a Roman plow as being made 

 of two pieces of wood meeting at an acute angle and plated 

 with iron. 



During the middle ages there was but little improvement over 

 the crude Roman plow as described by Virgil. The first people 

 to improve the Roman model were the Dutch, who found that 



more perfect plow was needed to do satisfactory work in their 

 soil. The early Dutch plow seems to have most of the funda- 

 mental ideas of the modern plow in that it was made with a 

 curved moldboard, and was provided with a beam and two 

 handles. The Dutch plow was imported into Yorkshire, Eng- 

 land, as early as 1730, and served as a model for the early 

 English plows. P. P. Howard was one whose name may be 

 mentioned among those instrumental in the development of the 

 early English plow. Howard established a factory, which re- 

 mains to this day. 



James Small, of Scotland, was another who did much toward 

 the improvement of the plow. Small's plow was designed to turn 

 the furrows smoothly and to operate with little draft. 



