The Country Gentleman's Magazine 



191 



STEAM CULTIVATION ON FISKEN'S SYSTEM. 



WE give prominence to the following 

 interesting communication from Mr 

 Simeon Leather, Delmamere Lodge, Che- 

 shire : — 



The general attention which Mr Fisken's 

 double windlass patent steam ploughing 

 tackle excited during the Wolverhampton 

 show last year, and the increasing interest 

 with which all practical particulars regarding 

 it are now received, must be my apology for 

 requesting you to insert the following. For 

 the information of such of your readers who 

 may not have been previously informed, Mr 

 John Cattle of Marsh Farm, Sealand, near 

 Chester, with myself, purchased a set of this 

 tackle^ which we have worked since the nth 

 March, with one of Fowler's 12-horse power 

 traction engines, and from that date up to the 

 present time, we have ploughed 80 acres, and 

 cultivated, in all, 534 acres. The work on 

 my own farm has been as follows, 80 acres 

 of ploughing, which we did in five days and 

 a-half; 44 acres of cultivating, at 14 inches 

 deep, which was done in four days ; and 90 

 acres of cultivating, at a depth of from 1 2 to 

 17 inches, in eight and a-halfdays. The re- 

 maining work has been done on my partner's 

 farm, and in the neighbourhood of Chester, 

 and I do not hesitate to say that we have 

 done more work than we could have done 

 by any other system. 



As I think I have mentioned before, the 

 tackle is worked by ordinary labourers taken 

 from my farm, who have, without difficulty, 



managed every portion of the work, and we 

 have now got them sufficiently trained to set 

 down the tackle in something like two hours, 

 while the time consumed in getting ready for 

 a removal is only one hour and twenty 

 minutes. 



I have tested this tackle upon the most 

 difficult fields, and in the worst of weather, 

 and it has done its work most satisfactorily, 

 and, in comparison with the double engines, 

 with certainly 20 lb. less steam. 



Taking into consideration, therefore, the 

 cost of the double engine system, there is a 

 direct saving of something like ^500 in first 

 cost, while the saving to the farmer in both 

 fuel and cartage of water is also very con- 

 siderable. As regards the saving in horse 

 power, I may say that I have already been 

 enabled to work my farm with fourteen in 

 place of twenty-two horses, which is the 

 number I had formerly to employ. 



Mr Thomas R. H. Fisken, Leeds, from 

 whom we purchased our tackle, now makes 

 a heavy set calculated to do the heaviest 

 work, and suited for working on hire, and a 

 light set suitable for a farmer's own use, anrl 

 capable of being driven by an 8-horse power 

 portable engine. 



In conclusion, after four months' practical 

 experience with this system, I would advise 

 intending purchasers of steam tackle not to 

 depend wholly upon any written reports, but 

 to see the Fisken system in ojieration for 

 themselves. • 



