12 TEAN9ACTION8. 



earth. The plow, in the earliest ages, was extremely rude 

 and simple, hardly more than a wedge, indeed, though in the 

 time of Moses, it was drawn by a yoke of oxen and had a 

 coulter and a share ; and among the Greeks and Romans it 

 became still more complicated and powerful, being furnished 

 with wheels. The ancients seem to have had nearly all the 

 varieties of this implement, which are known to this day, 

 though not in so great perfection. It is somewhat remarkable 

 that the plow now used in parts of France and Spain, is sim- 

 ilar to that in use among the Romans in the time of Christ, 

 and is called the Roman plow. It consists of a beam, a share 

 and a handle, and rather pushes the soil each way, than turns 

 the furrow, and on very light, sandy soils, serves at least, to 

 mellow them. The plow of Syria is very light and can easily 

 be carried in the hands. That of India is often drawn by a 

 man or woman. So is the plow used in some parts of Italy, 

 which, says Dr. Clark, only differs from the most ancient plow 

 of Egypt, as we see it represented upon images of Osiris, in 

 having a double, instead of a single coulter. The Irish plow, 

 even so late as the middle of the seventeenth century, was 

 drawn by the tails of horses, till parliament interfered to pre- 

 vent it. It was made of wood. " From want of a proper 

 mould board, it required the constant application of the plow- 

 man's foot to keep down the furrow slice ; as the plow ad- 

 vanced, it was only partially turned over, and without the as- 

 sistance of the foot, it did not occupy its proper place. This, 

 as may be supposed, was very laborious to the plowman who 

 had only one leg to hop upon, the other being constantly em- 

 ployed, as we have stated, in kicking — while his hands and 

 trunk had severe labor in 'pressing the plough downwards 

 towards the muzzle, contrary to its upward tendency." 



These instances are mentioned to show that many nations 

 still use plows, no better than those of the Greeks, sorne of 

 them being simple copies of the ancient plow. 



The Greeks usually plowed three times before planting-; 

 sometimes sub-soiled, and often mixed different kinds of soil, 

 as sand with clay. They composted with great skill, saving 



