DEERE, JOHN 0804-1886), Amerkan manufacturer and fnventor of the steel plow, was born at Rutland, Vt., on Feb. 7, 1804. He attended Middlebury college for a short time, but left at the age of 17 to become an apprentice to a blacksmith in Middle bury. He established his own smithy in 1825. Eleven years later he moved to Grand Detour, Ill., where he opened a shop in part nership with Maj. Leonard Andrus. Here he began experimenting with the use of steel, instead of wood, for plowshares, and in 1837 he manufactured the first steel plow, moulded over a log. By 1846 the output of his small establishment was about i,000 plows an nually. The next year he went to Moline, Ill., where he founded his own firm, incorporated in 1868 as Deere & Company. He con tinued as president of the company until his death at Moline.