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History of Technology 3: The Plow 112 Views


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Description:

Buckle up. We're going to plow through the history of the plow. ...Hey, stop booing, that joke was just asking to be told.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

So we've talked about the slow transition from hunting to farming and [Girl and boy talking in a room]

00:07

we've hit the process of domesticating plants and animals and if you miss

00:11

either of those videos well your loss they were amazing seriously we're

00:15

expecting the academy award now anyday well like any good series these days [Girl and boy on stage as audience watches and cheers]

00:22

we're going to go one step further and make it a trilogy and who's the star of

00:26

our third video oh it's the plow well we're not talking about the plows that

00:30

pile up snow on our driveways right after we shoveled ha, jerks! [Snow plow drives into a woman]

00:34

we're talking about the plow that turns over soil and makes it ready for seeds

00:38

well plows are one of the most important and fundamental tools in Agriculture's

00:42

technological history and different societies have been improving them for [Two guys inspecting a plow up close]

00:46

thousands of years. Well here are a few reasons we should all care about plows

00:50

number one they have feelings you monster number two plows let people [Boy plowing a field]

00:55

plant way way bigger fields of crops that means larger populations of people

01:00

can live in the same place which in turns means you guessed it cities so yep [A road with trees either side and a crop city population road sign]

01:05

plowing the earth makes fields more productive but it also has some unintended [A mechanical plow plowing through a field]

01:10

environmental effects like erosion and degradation man nothing in the world is

01:15

ever purely good except candy.. shut up Dennis alright moving on once folks [Boy eating candy and tells girl to shh]

01:21

hooked animals up to plows the amount of human labor that went into farming

01:24

took a steep dive but as any old-timey farmer can tell you driving an ox thats

01:29

pulling a plow is still no cakewalk protip modern plows work [Man reading a book in a deserted field]

01:35

a lot like ancient ones but there have been nifty improvements along the way like

01:39

making them out of metal and hooking them up to giant tractors much less you [Girls discussing how much they miss ancient plows]

01:44

know but some farmers and gardeners today think

01:48

plowing does more harm than good why well first and foremost plows break [People on a street protesting that plows are bad]

01:52

up the tough compacted layer of soil on the surface over a season of getting

01:58

walked on rained on and baked in the sun that dirt is usually pretty hard new

02:02

little baby seedlings wouldn't have a chance while plowing also mercilessly [Hardened soil with the sun beaming down]

02:06

kills most of the weeds, oh poor weeds it either slices through their roots or

02:11

turns them under a layer of soil not a great time to be a baby seedling [plants beginning to grow from seedlings above the soil]

02:16

but it's not all bad news crops need lots of delicious nutrients

02:20

like nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus plowing can help bring those nutrients

02:24

closer to the surface where plants can get at it mmm yum nutrients and some kind [boy playing pacman]

02:30

of plows lead deep furrows in the fields long shallow ditches that keeps crops

02:34

from being around in wet climates when the growing season is over some farmers

02:38

plow their crops back into the soil to help supply next year's nutrients YUM [Two people stood outside a Plant Yum store]

02:43

decomposed plant matter.. err nothing like it actually that doesn't sound any good at

02:49

all we'll take Taco Bell over that any day [Boy telling a girl they should try a new fast food place]

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