History of the Plow. 89 



year, five dollurs each to keep the shares and coulters Rb for work, 

 and the wear of the other parts could not be less than one dolhxr 

 more — six dollars per year for each plow." It was the merit of 

 Wood that he was more successful than any of his predecessors 

 in driving out the cumbrous forms of the plow above described, 

 and in forming a taste for lighter, better and cheaper implements. 



There Avere sold in the city of New York of Wood's plows, in 

 the year 1817, 1,550; in the year 1818, 1,600; in the year 1819, 

 3,600. We are informed that the sale largely exceeded the last 

 mentioned number in the year 1820, but we cannot obtain the 

 exact figures. These sales very largely exceeded the sale of any 

 other plow then in existence. 



The first use that we have been able to ascertain that was made 

 of the dynamometer in this State was at a trial of plows at Mount 

 Vernon, New York, on the 20th of November, 1820. The width 

 of the furrow was ten inches, but the depth is not stated. The 

 poAver required by Henry Burden's plow was two and a half hun- 

 dred weight; by George Woodward's, two and a half hundred 

 weight; by John C. Stevens', three and three quarters hundred 

 weight; by Jethro Wood's, three and a quarter hundred weight; 

 and George Nixon's, three and a quarter hundred weight. 



It is alleged that Mr. Wood not only made no profits by his 

 efforts to improve the plow, but that he actually lost large sums 

 by his enterprise. His daughters have repeatedly applied to 

 Congress and to the State Legislature for compensation, but hith- 

 erto the application has been unheeded.* 



It is evident that Mr. Wood had no claim as the inventor of a 

 cast iron plow, because he had been anticipated in this by New- 

 bold and by several others. He could not claim the vertical 

 straight lines, as he had been anticipated in these by Jeflferson 

 and Small. He could not claim the' straight transverse line, d b, 

 Fig. 64, for Col. Pickering had laid down this line long before 

 him on theoretical grounds, and Jefferson, without any theory, 

 had adopted it in practice. Mr. Wood's claim must therefore 

 rest on the straight lines hf and b I, which, we believe, fairly 

 belong to him. 



In the year 1817, Mr. Edwin A. Stevens, of Hoboken, turned 

 his attention to the plow. He had seen Newbold's plow, which 

 first drew his attention to the subject. He made a mould-board 



* Since writing this Report, the N. Y. State Legislature appropriated two thousand 

 dollars to the heirs of Mr. Wood. 



