INTRODUCTION. xxv 



The manufacture of these articles has long been an established industry in Massachusetts and 

 some other States, having been commenced before the Revolution. The shovel manufacture was suc 

 cessfully introduced at an early period at Easton and Bridgewater, in Massachusetts, where the Messrs. 

 Orr, before mentioned, were instrumental in establishing it by the use of the tilt-hammer. In 1788 

 the iron-plate shovels made at Bridgewater were deemed superior in workmanship to the foreign article 

 which they undersold. The Easton shovel manufactory commenced on a small scale nearly sixty 

 years ago by the late Oliver Ames made in 1822 about 2,500 dozen annually. The proprietor in 

 1827 took out a patent for improvements in the manufacture, which contributed to give his wares a. 

 high reputation, and greatly to extend and perfect the business of his establishment In 1835, Oliver 

 Ames & Sons had large manufactories at Easton, Braintree, and West Bridgewater, which employed 

 nine tilt-hammers, and were capable of making forty dozen spades and shovels per diem, each shovel 

 passing through the hands of twenty different workmen. They now run twenty-six tilt-hammers, 

 and produce two hundred and fifty dozen per diem In 1822 three factories in Plymouth county, 

 Massachusetts, made from one to two thousand dozens each per annum. In 1831, it was estimated 

 that about 5,000 dozens of shovels, worth 835,000, were made in New York State annually. It was 

 computed that Litchfield county, Connecticut, at the same date made shovels and spades to the value 

 of 86,500, hoes worth 87,150, pitchforks to the value of 820,000, and scythes valued at 856,000. A 

 steel shovel and spade factory in Philadelphia consumed annually about fifty tons of American steel. 

 The sheet-iron shovel was patented in 1819, and cast-steel shovels in 1828. The first American 

 patent for. improvement in hoes was registered in 1819, and for cast-steel hoes in 1827, by C. Bulkley, 

 of Colchester, Connecticut. But cast-steel hoes were made in Philadelphia by at least two manufac 

 turers in 1823. In Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where scythes, sickles, hoes, shovels, and other hardware 

 was made in considerable amount previous to 1803, Messrs. Foster & Murray carried on the manufacture 

 by steam-power in 1813. On account of the fall in the price of iron and steel, superior steel hoes were 

 made in Pittsburg in 1831 for about 84 50 per dozen, or one-half the price of iron hoes ten years 

 before. Socket-shovels were made at nearly the same price, which was about one-third their former 

 price. Two large establishments in that place in 1836 made annually about 1,600 dozen steel hoes, 

 fSUOO, dozen of shovels and spades, 950 dozen steel and other hay and manure forks, and 600 dozen saws. 

 .Four establishments in 1857, in addition to nearly half a million dollars worth of axes, made 32,000 

 dozen of hoes, worth 8208,000, and 11,000 dozen of planters hoes, worth 894,000, besides picks, mattocks, 

 vices, saws, &c. The Globe Sickle Factory, in the same place, produced a superior article of, sickles to 

 a greater value than all the other factories in the United States. The Steel spring pitchfork was intro 

 duced by the late Charles Goodyear, by whom it was patented in September, 1831, at which time, and 

 for several years previous, he was engaged with his father, Amasa Goodyear, in the manufacture and sale 

 of hay and manure forks, and other hardware. Their store in Philadelphia is believed to have been 

 the first in the United States for the sale of American hardware exclusively; but the failure of the busi 

 ness during the commercial troubles of that period led the junior Goodyear to abandon it for the new 

 manufacture of India-rubber goods, with which his name will be ever associated in the annals of industry. 



A firm in Philadelphia now manufactures eyeless or solid axes, hoes, picks, shovels, &c. The 

 instrument is made solid, while the handle with which it is to be worked has upon the end an iron socket 

 through which the pick, &c., is put, and kept in its place by an iron wedge. The handle does not 

 become loose, and will answer for any number of tools of the same size, and the blow is rendered more 

 etfectual. Many of these tools have been exported to California, where they are prized by the miners. 



There can be no doubt that our agricultural tools, such as hoes, forks, rakes, &c., are in most 

 respects superior to those in common use in Europe. An English gentleman, who has spent some 

 time in this country, says: &quot;For lightness and finish, combined with strength and durability, American 

 forks and hoes are superior to all others.&quot; 



Dr. Hoyt, alluding to the great international exhibition in London, in 1861, says: &quot;Among the 

 minor implements of agriculture, we were both surprised and gratified to find a collection of American 

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