Esther M. Lederberg
Zocha (Hake or Hook plough)

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Lithuanian peasants used the Zocha (Hake or Hook plough): a piece of wood in the shape of a hook, the actual cutting edge being covered by iron. Iron was expensive. For example, peasant houses in Russia rarely used iron nails, as iron was expensive. Usually wooden nails (dowels) or dovetailing was used. Similarly, windows made not of expensive glass. This should not be surprising. During the period of the thirteen colonies that became the United States, iron was expensive and antique early American furniture, houses, and tools rarely used expensive iron.

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