98 



Report on Tbials of Plows. 



" Mr. Wood lays it down as a scientific principle that the lines 

 of draught of the mould-board should be as shown in A; that is, 



beginning at the point of 

 the share, draw a straight 

 line to the npper edge to 

 the mould-board behind, 

 that the straight line should 

 rest upon the external sur- 

 i'ace of the mould-board all 

 ^ the way up to the upper 



edge of the mould-board behind. This, he sa3's, is the line the 

 furrow follows. Now I assert that this is not in accordance with 

 the natural operations of the furrow as it rises and turns from its 

 horizontal to its perpendicular and inclined position. Practical 

 experience has shown me that the surface of the mould-board 

 should be a curve as shown by a straight line drawn from the 

 forward point on the lower side of the mould-board diagonally 

 to the upper end. This line will be one inch above the surface 

 in the middle. Lines drawn at right angles in this line will be 

 one-quarter of an inch above the surface. The furrow will follow 

 the curved lines indicated in cut B. 



" The time and money 

 I have expended on the 

 plow are equivalent to 

 $5,000. The advantages 

 the public have derived 

 can be estimated by hun- 

 dreds of thousands, while 

 my returns have not ex- 

 ceeded $1,000. Plowmakers have paid to Jethro Wood sums that 

 should have come to me, the real inventor of the improvements. 

 This was done in consequence of improper laws passed by Con- 

 gress in his favor. 



"In Mr. Jefferson's letter to Sir John Sinclair, in 1798, you 

 will find Mr. Wood's mould-board described. In Ransom's His- 

 tory of Agricultural Implements, Johnson's Encyclopedia of 

 Agriculture, and in'the English journals since 1800, you will see 

 that Robert Ransom invented a cast iron share as early as 1785. 

 He also invented the process of chilling the point of the share. 

 A farmer in Suffolk, England, made, in 1790, cast land sides. 

 ]Mr. Newbold, of Orange county, in this State, made cast plows 



