The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1881-02-11

"ISc e&teut. mr. Dayiey nrSt nllcu D'S
silo in 1879, and this ycpr there were prob.
ably 20 built in the United States. The
success Of these 25 pioneers will no doubt
be the means of hundreds being built the
next season.
FACTS ABOUT THE PLow.-During a
recent lecture Charles Carleton Coffin said
In the Rhode Island An,ericum Of 1920
the writer describes the work Of the plow
that was in use in Massachusetts, called the
"Old Colony" plow. He says: "It had
ten-foot beam and four-foot laud side. The
burrows which it makes stand up like the
ribs Of lean horse in the month of March.
Six Of these plows cost me on an average
S5 each per annum to keep the shares and
coulters sharp, while the other parts cost
81 more, making Sc for each plow."
Tho implement in use on my father s
farm in my boyhood was of this description
made by the ncighboring carpenter and
blacksmith 1t required team of eight
oxen to draw it, with a man riding on the
beam to keep, it in the ground, another to
follow with mattock to improve its imper.
feet work.
The first cast-iron plows made their ap-
pearance about 1885. There was strong
prejudice against them on the part of the
farmers--a prejudice due wholly to ignor-
ance. 1t was said that cast.iron would
poison tho ground.
About the year 1910 plows made their
appearance which were constructed with the
best Inns of draft.
From that time to the present host ol
&C. 4. -.
to improve th;ss ibidEss6s !cf Sdsbshdrv
till at last wo have the gang plow on tn,
Western prairie, drawn by four horses, plow
ing five acres day, the plowmau no longer
walking, but rlding-a monarch driving hi.
team afield.
In 1866 the New York State Agricul
tural society conducted series of trials tc
ascertain what lines of draft offered the leas
resistance, and what form of plow would dt
the best work. In their report it is stateC
that improvements to that date had de-
creased the cost Of powing at least forty
two per cent. Since that report there ha.
been great advance in the economies Of
| husbandry.
1t is estimated that the improvement.
have decreased the cost of blowing not less
than sixty per cent. during the century,
The entiro acreage under the plow, in the
United States in 1878, is estimated ut 40,
600, 900 acres. If VIC assume that it cos
one dollar per acre to plow land, and if the
saving over former methods is even fift,
per cent, we find it equivalent to 10000, :
600. So much per annum which inven
tion is accomplished in this line of husbandry
The great want Of the agriculturist to. day
is the steam plow, or some method by which
plowing can be done more expedtiously
than with horses. l trust, however, that
no one in this audience will rush hurricdly
to invent plow to be driven by steam.
saw steam plow in Illinois, upon
which many thousands of dollars had been
expended, but which was 80 cumbersom that
it could not be made to work l saw stcan,
machine in California, in 1868, which cost
$40 900; by the aid Of horses it went once
across field and then vas thrown aside
| saw another in Minnesota, in 1870, which
had cost $25 900, and which after few
trials was broken up for old iron Two
gentlemen in England have spent each more
than quarter Of million dollars in the
attempt to produce steam pow which
would traverse the field, but have not sue.
ceeded. The steam plow in use in England
is draw1 by stationary engine using a wire
ripe. 1t is not so economical as horse
power, but larger acreage can be put in
per day.
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