23 
PLOWS. 
Plates XVI and XVII. 
$ 134 In the construction of their plows the proprietors have spared neither cost or efforts 
to make them superior in points of utility and workmanship ; and they hazard nothing in 
saying that their patterns, as well as their machinery, expressly invented and used by them 
in their construction, are superior to that of any similar establishment in the world. 
Thirty years' experience and observation in the making and using the cast-iron plow, as 
well as practically testing their own plows with those of nearly every other manufacturer of 
any note in this country, enables them to judge of the relative merits of all, without preju- 
dice ; and they are enabled to say that their assortment comprises the best patterns and 
styles now in use, and that when the qualities of the materials used and workmanship, 
together with the cost of both, are considered, their prices are lower than those of any other 
manufacturer for corresponding sizes and weight. 
$ 135. The machinery used in the construction of their plows produces a perfect uniform- 
ity in all the several parts of the wood work of the same size and number of plow, which 
facilitates their operations and enables all parts of the wood work to be repaired or replaced, 
if worn or broken, equally as readily as the points and other parts of the castings ; and what 
is most important of all, it secures a positive uniformity in the operation of their plows 
when new, or with repairs of wood or iron work, which can be applied by any farmer at 
home. 
The best of Worcester county (Mass.) white oak is used in their stocking, and which has 
no equal in strength or durability. The metal of which the castings are made, is chiefly the 
Charcoal Salisbury iron, with a proper mixture of other kinds, which produces fineness of 
grain and hardness, without increasing the liability of breaking by use or accident, and 
enabling all those portions which are most exposed to wear, as the edges and wings of the 
points and bottoms of the land sides to be chill-hardened, or tempered harder than tempered 
cast-steel, more than tripling their durability, and working more easily ; also, always 
remaining sharp until worn through and worthless, besides maintaining a uniform action in 
working to the last moment. 
All their plows are cast with facing, the sand scale removed by acid, and all the wearing 
surfaces ground to a bright polish, which insures their operating as well in the first or 
second furrow, as they ever will, and with much greater ease to plowman and team. These 
bright portions of the castings are covered with a semi-transparent blue varnish, which pre- 
vents oxydation during transportation to any part of the world, and for any length of time 
before being used. 
§ 136. Although the modern plow is vastly improved over those in use fifty or thirty, or 
even twenty years ago, no cessation of efforts of inventors seems perceptible, and they are 
as constantly introducing their productions to the public. Of all these inventions, more than 
ninety per cent are worthless and soon forgotten, from the fact that they prove to be either 
no improvement, or as is often the case, actually objectionable, as compared with previously 
introduced and popular plows. The chief cause of this disappointment arises from the want 
of a proper knowledge of the philosophical and mechanical elements which combine to 
make a good plow, in the form of its working parts, as well as in the construction for the 
application of the propelling and guiding forces for the successful operation of the commonly 
supposed simple implement, the plow. 
§ 137. The first thing in order, in making a good plow, is the requisite form and size of 
the working parts in the ground, which should be such as is required for the soil and work 
to be done, as a plow that is best for turning under green sward would be illy adapted and 
unsuitable for the fine pulverizing and working old broken and stubble iand ; also on 
the selection of materials much depends, as the plow best adapted for clayey, gravelly 
and sandy soils is made of cast-iron, while the same form and material is found useless in 
the rich prairies of the west, where alone the best of cast-steel is used, and of a form which 
actually increases the resistance instead of avoiding it, in order to force that fine metal, to 
scour and prevent clogging. 
When all these points are gained, the plow is but half completed, the most important be- 
ing the proper stocking of the same, so that the force of the team shall be most effectually 
applied, and secure the utmost ease to both plowman and team, and cause the plow to move 
through the ground with the steadiness of a boat upon the water, at all times maintaining 
its course and size of furrow, for which the plowman, like a pilot, has set and directed it, 
requiring little or no care or effort, except when encountering impediments in its course, or 
during its turnings at ends of furrows. 
§ 138. From the complicated structure of plows and the manner in which circumstances 
require the application of the force to operate them, many misconceptions and theories have 
arisen as to the proper construction to effect their desired operation. 
It will be admitted that all plows have a right line of draft when in operation, and which 
is an imaginary line extending from the center of the resistance upon the mould-board of the 
plow to the point of draft of the team, which is at the connection of the traces to the hames 
of horses, or the staple of the yoke with oxen. Were it not for considerations of conve- 
nience, a straight bar or beam, firmly attached to that point on the mould-board, and extend- 
ing to the point in the hames or staple by which to propel it, would answer all purposes, 
perhaps better than the present form of beam. 
