ON PLOWS. 41 



These plows at that time combined many good points, 

 and were decidedly in advance of the age. Mr. Wins- 

 low has proved himself to be an ingenious mechanic, 

 with a clear conception of what is wanted in a plow. 

 Let him persevere in his labour and construct one quar- 

 ter part as many plows as have been made by his broth- 

 er competitors, and we doubt not he will hold his own 

 in the race of improvement. 



Public attention, in this country, was first awakened 

 to the improvements in the construction of plows, by the 

 suggestions of Mr. Jefferson, who in 1798 published his 

 new theory of the construction of the mould board form- 

 ed upon scientific principles. Following up these sug- 

 gestions Mr. Smith, of Pennsylvania, in 1803 substituted 

 the cast iron for the wooden mould board. Since which 

 cast iron has been substituted for all parts of the plow, 

 except the beam and the handles. In 1823 cast iron 

 shares came into general use in this part of the country. 

 Since which Messrs. Wood, Tyce, Hitchcock, Hart, 

 Howard, Prouty, Nourse, Ruggles, and others, have so 

 varied and multiplied their structures, that they are found 

 in every part of our land. We have good reason to be- 

 lieve that more than two thousand of a single pattern of 

 one of these plows have been sold the present season by 

 one of the competitors on this occasion. 



In addition to the common plows for turning the sur- 

 face, each of these manufacturers has brought forward 

 the present year specimens of the sub-soil plough, by 

 which our lands are stirred and pulverized six or eight 

 inches deeper than the common furrow. Such an ope- 

 ration must necessarily produce an essential change in 

 our modes of culture.^ Those who have tried it speak 

 in high terms of its good effects. In England, it has 

 been for a considerable time in use and with marked 

 approbation. In the opinion of your committee the time 

 has arrived, when the attention of our Agricultural So- 

 cieties should be directed to subsoil plcwing, as well as 

 to surf ace plovjing ; and their exertions should be contin- 

 ued in these fundamental branches of husbandry, while 

 'there remains any room for improvement. 



