Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1906-01-04
Genesis Of the Pl0w.

Genesis OF the Pl0W.
1t is astonishing how long it took
the human race to invent any decent
falm implements. For many centu'
ries after he emerged from barbarlsm
and had learned to live by agricul-
ture, instead of fret by hunting and
then by raising focks, be went along
in the crudest way, making little or
no improvements from age to age.
His first need, of course, was some
thing with which TO stir the soil, and
for this purpose he fashioned d stick +,
which he himself drew. Long after
ward, when beasts were trained for
burden and draft, the stick was en-
larged and drawn by them. At that
point, however, agricultural inven-
ton stuck. The people who figure
in the Bible, covering period OF
some twelve centuries, had nothing
better by way Of plow than this
forked stick. Solomon, with all his
wisdom, seemed to have no inventive
talent and allowed his people to
continue scratching mother earth
with this rude implement. They
were great in philosophy, could write
magnificent poetry ard wind off pro-
verbal wisdom by the volume, but
not a man in Judea ever produced
anything to help along agricultural
progress. Even the Greeks, so in
genious in other respects, failed la
mentally to help their farmers with
tools to save time and labor. The
same story comes from all the other
early nations, the Assyrians, Baby
lonians, Egyptians and every country
of Asia. Cyrus, the great Persian,
with all his conquests, did nothing
for soil culture. 1t was at a COM
paratively recent period and only in
limited sections that they got far
enough along to shoe their plowlng
stick with iron, and this was the best
they did through all the centuries
down to little more than 100 years
ago.
Some improvement was ma de IN
Great Britain during the eighteenth
century in the form of plows, but the
primitive instrument remained In
common use, generally made by tn e
farmer himself. 1t is not generally
known that Thomas Jefferson invent
ed a plow which he described as hav'
ing tbe"moldboard of least resistance. y
It did not come into general use, how
ever. but is interesting as showing the
ingenuity of that many'sided man.
The first American patent on a plow
was granted to Charles Newbold, of
New Jersey, in 1897. 1t was cast
iron affair and a good stagger in the
right direction, but Jethro Wood laid
the foundation for the modern plow.
He gave it it's present form and made
it of cast iron, patented IN 1919.
About twenty years later plowmak-
ing became extensive, and finally
John Deere, the pioneer inventor,
brought the plow to its present per-
fected state. The original cultivator,
like the original plow, was hooked
stick, which in time developed into
the hoe, and this remained the COM
mon cultivating implement until the
nineteenth century was well advanced
Early in the last century Jethro Tull
originated, in England. the horseshoe
system of cultivation, ard in 1856
George Esterly took out patent Oh
a straddle.row, two-horss corn cult
Y stor. That was the beginning OF
tn e present almost endless variety o.
thi 9 class of farm implements. The
earliest demonstration of successful
reap, er was made by Cyrus Hall Nc
Cormick, in Virginia, in the summer
of 1881, and this was the great fore
runner of all the modern reapers
IF the United States had done moth
ing more, Its contributions to agri
cultural invention would have en-
titled it to high rank as an interna
tionaE benefactor of civilization ant
progress.