History of the Plow. 33 



vcrl icnl sections of the mould-board are either concave or convex, 

 accordino; as the soil is too lio^ht or too still'. The vertical sections 

 of Mr. Jefferson's would be all rectilinear, which are not as favor- 

 able for good and easy plowing as curves. 



The straight diagonal line, m d, used as the generator of Mr. 

 eTctferson's twisted surface, should have been a curve instead of a 

 .straight line. 



Tile reception of the front edge of the mould-board into a cavity 

 ill the posterior edge of the share, and secured by a single screw 

 nail, suggests great weakness where great strength is required. 

 The connection of the tail of the mould-board with the handle, 

 by two screw nails, is quite too weak a connection, and would of 

 itself condemn the plow in modern markets. 



Mr. Jefferson seems to have confined his attention solely to the 

 mould-board, overlooking the sole, the land side, the position of 

 the beam and cutter, with reference to the plane of the land side 

 altogether. It will be seen, as we advance, that these points are 

 all of radical importance, and that no perfection of the mould- 

 board can compensate for their defects. 



At the conclusion of his paper he says that, having satisfied 

 himself that the plan that he has laid down is the best, he pro- 

 poses in future to have his mould-boards made of cast iron. This 

 is the first allusion that we have met with in an American author 

 to the use of cast iron for the plow. If we are correct in this, it 

 adds greatly to his credit. 



The first of any idea, on Mr. Jefferson's part, of improving the 

 plow, which Mr. Randall finds among his papers, is contained in 

 his journal of a tour in Germany, made in the year 1788, when 

 he was American Ambassador in France. In passing through 

 Lorraine, along the banks of the Meurthe, he frequently alighted 

 to observe the teams and the implements of the farmers who were 

 engaged in plowing by the wayside. Some of the plows thus 

 examined were more remote from the improved forms of the 

 present day than those traced in the hieroglyphics of early 

 Egypt. 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 plow here with collars and hames. The 

 awkward fig-ure of their mould-boards leads one to consider what 

 should be its form. The offices of the mould-board are to receive 

 the sod after the share has cut under it, to raise it gradually and 



