REPORT ON TRIALS OF PLOWS. 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



In presenting their REroRT on the Trials of Plows, held at 

 Utica, under the auspices of the New York State Agricultural 

 Society, the Board of Judges will not be required to spend much 

 time in insisting on the value of that implement, or in proving its 

 influence upon the welfare of society at large. 



It is so generally acknowledged, that it has passed into a maxim, 

 if not into an axiom, that the plow lies at the foundation of all 

 wealth, and is the basis of all civilization. Like other truths of 

 a similar character, which are received without hesitation and 

 without inquiry, it is believed that the real value of the imple- 

 ment is obscured by haze and mist in most minds, and that a few 

 remarks upon this subject will not be wasted if they serve to give 

 greater sharpness of delineation to this idea of its primacy among 

 agricultural implements. 



Its use dates back to a very remote antiquity. It is now gen- 

 erally admitted by Biblical critics that the Book of Job is the 

 most ancient writing contained within the canon of the Old Testa- 

 ment. Yet this ancient work begins with an allusion to it: "And 

 there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were 

 ploughing and the asses feeding beside them; and the Sabcans 

 fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the 

 servants with the edge of the sword, and I only am escaped alone 

 to tell thee." — Job i, 14, 15. In our History of the Plow we 

 have given copies of sculptures on ancient monuments which date 

 back four thousand years. 



It is certainly strange, in view of the importance and the anti- 

 quity of the plow, that its construction should have received so 

 little attention from scientific men, and the principles upon which 

 it acts should have been so little observed b}' those who habil.u- 



