. The story of agriculture in the United States. oard of the colonial plow was coveredmore or less completely with strips or old scraps of sheetiron, a horseshoe, or the discarded blade of a hoe. Oftenthe farmer in making his moldboard selected a sectionfrom a tree trunk in which the grain was winding. Thishe hewed into a curved shape as best he could. Thelandside was also of wood, but it was shod with share was of iron, sometimes with a hardened steelpoint. The colter was of iron, edged with steel. Thewooden beam was usually straight, and the handles,rising nearly perpendicular to it
. The story of agriculture in the United States. oard of the colonial plow was coveredmore or less completely with strips or old scraps of sheetiron, a horseshoe, or the discarded blade of a hoe. Oftenthe farmer in making his moldboard selected a sectionfrom a tree trunk in which the grain was winding. Thishe hewed into a curved shape as best he could. Thelandside was also of wood, but it was shod with share was of iron, sometimes with a hardened steelpoint. The colter was of iron, edged with steel. Thewooden beam was usually straight, and the handles,rising nearly perpendicular to it, were made from thecrooked roots of the white ash. One will readily see that deep plowing and goodcontrol of this plow were impossible. But we mustrealize that the colonial farmer cultivated much landthat was newly cleared. The soil was easily workedand the fields were for the most part small. About the year 1790, Charles Newbold of New Jerseybegan to work out the idea of a cast-iron plow. Hesucceeded in making one, which was patented in THE STORY OF THE PLOW 137 All the parts, except the beam and handles, were cast inone soHd piece. This plow was ridiculed by the farmersof that time. They declared that it was not practicaland even persuaded themselves that it was worse thanuseless, because the ironcertainly poisoned the soil!They said it made the weedsflourish, while good seedwould not sprout in the fur-rows turned by it. Newbold Charles Newbolds Plow was persistent and spent The first cast-iron plow to be pat-^ , . , ,, , en ted in the United States. $30,000, which was all he had, to introduce his invention, but without the problem of the proper shape of themoldboard of a plow was being studied in a most carefulmanner by a Virginia planter — Thomas man is most often thought of as a patriot and astatesman; he was also a student, a scientist, and aphilosopher. Moreover, he took great interest in agricul-ture. During his travels in Fran
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
