The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-06-04
THE pLoW.
What le AneIents Knew About this
Useful Inlpiemsnt.

Useful Inlpiemsnt.
The plow is, par excellence, the EN-.
blem of agriculture, and its history,
both authentic and NEUROLOGICAL, pos
sesses a peculiar interest. The period
at which man first began to comminute
the soil for the purpose Of making It
produce suBtenance for himself and his
hOeks is so remote as to be lost IN the
obscurity of the past but that it was
at an early period is clear. 1t is also
generally admitted that the OK and COW
we're in this age used as native farmers,
and it is asserted that men and women
captured in war and reduced to slavery
were employed IN 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 agri-
culture.
The earliest plow was pointed stick.
which the primitive man used to break
up the soil. This was slow and labo-
riOus process, aud one day the thought
came to one wiser than his fellows that
the forked limb of a tree might be made
efficient for this purpose. Acting upon
this thought, he formed plow by cut
ting q forked limb from a tree and
sh rpening one of the prongs, so that If
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 it
into the ground. Tnis, the first plow,
proved a great success, and was 70 ar
while thought to be the ne plIts ultra
of improvement in that line. In the
course of time, however, some inge-
NOUS laborer began to question the per
feotion of this implement, and finding
limb of somewhat different shape, he
constructed an improved pillow. The
fogies shook their heads and muttsred
humbug," but the progressive men
. lopted it, and it ultimately superseded
the earlier devices. Ages went by he
fore the fOrked stick plow was succeeded
By another, composed of several pieces of
wood held together by mortises and
pins. This was improved from time to
time, untillit approached as near perfec-
ton as it was possible for ploW COM
posed wholly of wood.
The Romans were probably the first
to use iron in the construction of the
plow. The plow that Cincinnatus fol-
lowed was a rude affair, with no iron in
it except the point and share. The
Greeks have a myth which is interest
ing in this connection. PrOsperine,
daughter of Ceres goddess of agricul-
turel, was abducted by Pluto while she
was in the forest gathering flowers, and
was installed as queen of the lower re-
gious. Ceres, inconsolable at the loss
of her daughter, wholly neglected the
agricultural interests in her search for
the missing goddess. The result was
that the whole earth eventually became
a barren waste. Jupiter and the other
gods implored 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 and
pes suaded him to permit Prosperine to
revisit the earth and remain eight
months each year, and then return and
spend the other four with him. Ceres
consented to this arrangement, and at
o ace returned to Olympus. Before
going, however, she instructed Tripto-
lemus of Eleusis in the art of agricul-
ture, and giving him her own chariot,
drawn by dragons, commanded him to
travel over the whole earth and distrib-
ute seed corn to its inhabitants. Trip
tolemus was the inventor of the pillow.
The Greeks held two feasts a y, ar in his
honor, one on account of the distribu-
tion of seed and the other because he
invented the pillow, 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 RomaLs 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 compresslng the subsoil.
1t may be predicte d that before many
ars, some Yankee Triptolemus will
revolutiOnize the ploT by constructing
one that shall combine the functions of
both the plow and the harrow, and pos
sibly other and valuable adjuncts not
now anticipated. With all due respect
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 might
meet the demands of this progressive
and utilitarian age. Some attempts in
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 Ameri-
can genius and perseverance know no
such word as failure" and it is conf
IDENTIFY expected that success IN this de
partment of mechanical invention will
Oon be achieved.