The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1874-05-28
THE PLOW.
What the Ancicnts Knew About TINS
Useful Implement.

soSSpS u peCullaf interest,". Inc Pellou
at which man first began to comminute
the soil for the purpose OF making 1t
produce sustcuauce tor hiEaself and his
locks is so remote as to be lost in the
obscurty of the past but that 1t was
at an early period is clear. 1T ls also
generally admitted that the OK and COW
were in this age used rs native farmers,
and it is asserted that men and women
captured in war and reduced to slavery
were employed i'll this way before the OK
was trained or the COW became accus-
toned to the yoke; for war, and its
offspring, slavery, are Older than agn-
culture.
The earliest plow was pointed stick,
which the primitive man used to break
up the SOIL This was slow and labo-
rious process, and one day the thought
came to one wiser than his fellows that
the forkcd limb of a tree might be made
efficient for this purpose. Acting upon
this thought, he formed II pIow by cut
ting a forked limb from tree and
sh rpeung one of the prougs, so that 1t
would penetrate the soil. 1t took two
persons to use this implement-one to
draw it, which he did by a bark or raw
hide trace, and one to hold and push 1t
into the ground. This, the first pIow,
proved a great success, and was Ior a
while thought to be the ne Plus Wtrd
Of improvement in that line. In the
course of time, however, some lnge-
nious laborer began to que. ton theper'
lection of this implement, and finding
limb of somewhat different shape, he
constructed m improved plow. The
fogies shook their heads and muttered
"humbug," but the progressive men
adopted it, and it ultimately superseded
the earlier devices Ages went by he,
ore the forked stickplow was succeeded
byanother composed of several pieces OF
wood held together by mortiscs and
pins. This was improved from time to
time. unlillit approached as near periec
tion as it was possible for plow con-
posed wholly of wood.
The Romans were probably the first
to use iron in the construction OF the
plow. The pillow that Cmclnnatus fol-
lowed WAS IL rude affair, with no IRON III
it except the point and share. The
Greeks have II mySh which is interest
inc in this connection. "rospcrlne, II
daughter of Ceres goddess of agricu'-
tureJ, was abducted by Pluto while she
was IN the forest gathering flowers, ana
was installed as queen OF the lower re-
oions, Ceres, inconsolablo at the loss
of her daughter, wholly neglected the
agricultural interests III her search Tor
the missing goddess. The result was
that the whole earth eventually became
barren waste. Jupiter and the other
gods inplorcd her to return to olympus
and resume her duties as guardian OF
agriculture, but in vain. She could
| think of nothing except her lost daugh,
ter. Jupiter now visited Pluto aud
persuaded him to permit Prospenne TO
revisit the earth and remain eight
months each year, and then return ana
spend the other four with mm. Ceres
consented to this arrangement, and nj
once returned to Olympus. Before
poiue, however, she instructed Inpto-
lemus of EIeusis in the art of agrcul-
ture, and giving him her own chariot,
! drawn bv dragons, commanded nm 10
| travel over the whole earth and dlStrlD-
ute seed corn to It's inhabitants. Trip
tolcmus was the inventor of the plow
! The Greeks held two feasts y, ar IN his
honor, one on account OF the olStrlpn-
tion of seed and the other because he
invented the plow, without which the
seed would have been of little use.
Little improvement seems to have
been made in the plow used by the
Greeks and Roma, s for over two thou
sand years, and indeed it was a most
clumsy affair, as recently as fifty years
ago being only a wedge, clearing the
soil and compressmg the subsolI.
1t may be predicted that before many
ars, some Yankee Triptolemus viii
revoIutioniae the plov by constructing
one that shall combine the functions OF
both the plow and the harrow, and pos
sibly other and valuable adjuncts no
now anticipated. With all due respec
to the great plowmakers, it must be ad
mitted that the mechanical idea EN-
bodied in the plow as now constructed
is imperfect, and it is time this was re
cognized and correct principles incor
porated in its construction, that it nigh
meet the demands of this progressive
and utilitarian age. Some attempts II
this direction have already been made
but they, like all first attempts to EN-
body a new idea, have been only par
tally successful. 1t is a recognized
axiom of modern times, that "Amcri
can genius and perseverance know NJ
such word as failure" and it is conf
dently expected that success IN tins de
partment of mechanical invention VII
soon be achieved.
New Explanation of the Aurora.