MECHANICS AND USEFUL AKTS. 127 



RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY AND 



PEOCESSES. 



Mr. Denison, the well known agricultural writer of England, thus answers 

 the question, " "What progress has been recently made in agricultural machi- 

 nery in Great Britain ?" He says : 



"A reply may confidently be given that progress has been made on eveiy 

 side in machinery, in scientific acquirements, in field practice ; and to such 

 an extent, that beyond all question, the productive powers of these kingdoms 

 have been more largely increased within the last four years than within an 

 equal space of time at any former period. 



;> In machine making, though some interesting novelties have appeared, the 

 characteristic feature has been the constant improvement, tending to perfection, 

 of our established implements, and a great extension of then: use through the 

 body of the farming community, a fact significant of the superior intelligence 

 which is now brought to bear on farming affairs, promising a sure and con- 

 tinued progression. 



" First on the list in point of interest, first in its remarkable increase, stands 

 steam machinery. 



Xo farmer who has ever had a steam engine on his farm will ever again be 

 without one ; no farmer who has ever threshed his corn with steam power 

 could bear again to see his horses toiling in the wearisome circle, now jerking 

 onwards when the whip sounds, now brought almost to a stand-still when the 

 machine is clogged by a careless feeder. The regular stroke of the -untiring 

 steam engine gives excellence to the work, keeps everybody in his place, and 

 introduces among men, even the most careless, something of its own exactness 

 and precision." 



The Royal Agricultural Society of England held their annual meeting and 

 exhibition at Chelmsford in July. This meeting of the society will be memo- 

 rable, not only on account of the liberal prize which was offered for the best 

 steam cultivator, but also from the improvement which was made in selecting 

 a few classes of implements for the ordinary prizes, instead of distributing 

 them throughout the whole collection thus allowing of a much more careful 

 series of trials being made than was possible under the former arrangement. 

 The prizes given on the present occasion were confined to those machines 

 used hi preparing the land for crops, together with reapers and some tile 

 machines and draining tools. Next year's list will embrace other classes of 

 implements, and, in the succeeding year, the list will include ah" such as shall 

 not have been included in the previous lists. 



Mr. Boydell's steam plough, which was noticed in our previous volume, was 

 a subject of special interest, from the peculiarity of its construction in having 

 an endless railway attached to the wheels, which enables it to traverse over 

 ordinary rough ground ; which without such a contrivance as the portable 

 railway would be almost out of the question. To this engine was attached 

 the ploughing machine of Mr. Coleman, which consisted of seven ploughs, 

 arranged so as to advance in a triangular form, the foremost point being 



