Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1871-12-15


turtles ago. 1t may not be uninteresting |
or useless 10 turn back moment to histo
ry and see. In the time OF uesiod, eight |
hundred and fifty years before Christ, we
find plows described which consisted OF
the beam inserted into an upright stand
ard, the foot of which was shod with met
al, while into the upper part were inserted
handles to guide 1t. But little later than
this age, the Hebrew Prophets lived who
tell us of "bcating the swords into plow-
shares y and the plows of their nation
and time, as well as those of the Egyptians,
are described similarly TO the Greek pows
mentioned by Hesiod. Another five hun
dred years pass, and we find Virgil, at the
beginning of the Christian era, giving mi
mute directions how TO bend the young
elm so that the branches shall grow into
the form OF the ''crooked plow." The Ro-
mans added TO these branches, "grown in
TO shape" two wooden mould-boards, so
as TO turn a broken furrow each way also,
sometimes, the Golfer or knife, which was
attached to the beam to cut the sods
and roots in advance of the share; some
times, too, the little wheel al the end of the
beam for guide. But nothing more elab-
crate than these wooden mould-boards,
and "grown handles" or pins inserted in
to the uprights for handles, was used any
where in the world for almost eighteen
hundred years subsequently; and in the
regions where were most SIX illed and enter
prise, there was often great scarcity of e.
ven such rude implements. In l6l7, in
the colony of Virginia, the Governor
wrote 1--WE did suffer for want of skill
full husbandmen, and means to set their
plows on work having as GOOD ground as
any man can desire, and about forty bulls
and oxen, but they wanted men to bring
them to labor, and iron for the plows, and
harness for the cattle. Some thirty or for
ty acres we had sown with one plow."
More than thirty years after this, a resi-
dent gives the whole number of plows
owned by the colony as only one hundred
and fifty. The Secretary of the Massachu-
sets Board of Agriculture, in historical
sketch, says that twelve years after the
landing Of the Pilgrims the farmers about
Boston had no plows, and were compelled
to break up the bushes and prepare for Gull
tivation with their hands, and with rude
and clumsy hoes or mattocks. In 1857
there were but thrty-seven plows in the
colony Of Massachusetts Bay. 1t was the
custom, even 10 a much later period, for
any one owning pillow TO go about and do
the blowing for the inhabitants over a con-
siderable extent Of territory. A town of
ten paid bounty to any one who would
lNt,., CN
pose ofgoins about in this way. 1t required
three men to do the work driver,
strong man to hold the pillow, and another
to press down the beam.
Al the same period, the plows used by
the French settlers of Illinois were even
more rude. They were made OF wood,
with small point of iron tied upon the
wood with straps of raw hide. The beams
rested on an axle and small wooden
wheels, the whole drawn by oxen yoked
to the plows by the horns, a straight yoke
attached by raw leather straps being used
for the purpose. Few of this generation
probably have ever seen this old French
rig, yoke and all, but IN ny of us, who
think ourselves yet young men, used to be
| plows. They were made by nearly every
blacksmith about the country strips of
iron, or steel, or pieces of old saws, being
nailed to the mould-board and the land
side to prevent wearing away. The first
| patent for a cast iron plow granted in this
country was to Charles Newbold, of Bur-
ington, New Jersey, in 1907. This COM
bined the mould-board. Landslide and
share, all cast together. 1t could not, how
ever, have been the first iron plow used
here, for a cast-iron mould-board had been
invented in Scotland some fifty years be-
fore, though wrought-iron shares were in
exclusive use as late as 1875. The intro
duction of these improved iron plows was
very slow. Many farmers claimed that
they poisoned the land and spoiled their
crops! Once fairly started, however, they
spread rapidly. Results told. Men for
merly did not like much better than now
to throw away hard labor. Some of the
best minds in the country gave thought to
the subject. Jefferson wrote a somewhat
elaborate treatise on the form of the mould
board, discussing 1t on scientific principles
Practical men and mechanics took ii up,
and, as the result, we have now so great O
variety of excellent patterns, adapted to
all sorts of soil and uses, that, so far as the
common pillow Is concerned, there seems
little chance Of further improvement
Some four hundred patents have been is
sued from the Office at Washington, for va
rlous devices and improvements in thi'
ono article. II is estimated on good author
, ity, that no less than ten million dollars
year in the work of teams, and one million
dollars in the cost Of plows, and untol'
millions in the increased value of crops
( have been saved to the country through
! these improvements.