Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 September 1880 — The Origin of the Plow. [ARTICLE]

The Origin of the Plow.

Itia of and wheeled I? employed hoe or “hack,” bnt drawn or oxen. Among our own Indiana, in the traditional lore of Bwepast, there are more or icre distinct traces of the shore trantition. Greek, Egyptian, Chinese severally poreeawd the germ, ao to ■peak, of the modem plow. The spur was, next tiwd with iron, the more efficiently to IUUUI the purpeee of the eemer or mm. Virgil lived at a time when the plow had reached a very Mgh atone of perfection. It wae Hbm cooetruetod with a wheel and m upward pngecting handle, like the beet near Msnton and Venice at the present day. Dr. Taylor ia unwilling to esaaada that tha plow wae the progenitor of tho vehicle er to-day; he assigns that honor to the sled, as is more prohoMy just. It- wenU mm be found that the introduction of rollers beneath tho tied would facilitate its titietion, Bnt as itrwas no* necessary that every part of the roller should rest on the gronnd, the diameter of the middle was reduced with obvious advantage. Slowly in this way the wheel, solid throughout and rigidly attached to the axle, come into exiataoee. The wheel and axle of Scythians revolved together. Even now somo of tho picturesque carts ofitaly and Portugal have drnmwheels fixed on axles which revolve in bearings like forks open below. From the rude harnessing of the yoke attached to the horns or withers of oxen at first, the advance to the present method was also gradual. Bnt it is easy to follow this and the other improvements in the plow and wheeled vehicles np to the their existing condition through the aid of recorded history.