History of the Plow. 



35 



provements were enipirica,!, and were not at first guided by any 

 mathematical principles whatever. There can l)e no dou1)t Avhat- 

 ever that Mr. Jefferson is solely entitled to the honor of inventing 

 the first mould-board made on mathematical principles. We have 

 inserted this account of Mr. Jefferson's discovery in the chapter 

 on European plows, because his method was first published in 

 Europe. 



CHAPTER III. 



HISTORY OF THE PLOAV— Continued. 



The celebrated James Small, of Scotland, was the next great 

 improver of the theory and practice of plow-making. He was 

 the first inventor of the cast-iron plow, though the beam and 

 handle were still made of wood. He took the Rotherham plow 

 as the basis, and impi'oved it in almost every particular. 



He established his manufactory at Black Adder Mount, in Ber- 

 wickshire, in 1763, and died about thirty years afterwards; having 

 distinguished nearly every one of those years by some new 

 improvement in some of the parts. He left the implement at his 

 death so nearly perfect that to this day it is used in many of the 

 largest and best cultivated districts in Scotland, and prized more 

 highly than any other. The cut, showing Small's chain plow, 

 Fig. 28, gives his first eflbrts to improve the Rotherham plow, 

 which will be readily seen on a comparison of the drawings rep- 

 resenting; them. 



jF'iff. 28. 

 The plow as finally perfected by Small, and generally known 

 as the East Lothian Plow, has attained to so high a degree of 

 celebrity, and proved itself so advantageous to farmers, that we 

 propose to give its details very fully, from Stephens' Book of the 

 Farm. 



