THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



187 



Of several plans which have come before the public for 

 working implements by a stationary engine and windlass, 

 only one now survives. Mr. Fowler, having tried one 

 method which wasted too much time in shifting the an- 

 chorages, and another which, though with these self- 

 shifting, required a great length of rope, has adopted the 

 system of moving both engine and windlass along the 

 headland. Mr. Smith, of Woolston, adheres to the sta- 

 tionary engine and windlass ; for though it involves the 

 use and wear of wire-rope laid all round the field instead 

 of once up and down it, and loss of power also in passing 

 the rope round four anchored pulleys instead of only one, 

 it enables him to employ a very compact form of wind- 

 ing-machine or capstan, and relieves him of the difficulty 

 of moving the heavy machinery along the headland. 

 The anchors at both ends of the work are removed at in- 

 tervals into holes dug for them by hand labour, and a 

 man is necessary to guide the rope into proper coils on 

 the drums ; so that with the engine-man, and a man and 

 boy with the implement, five men and a boy are engaged 

 in working the machinery, beside the horse and hands 

 fetching water. The working cost of deeply breaking-up 

 the soil, at 5 acres a day, including the shifting of the 

 tackle, is 5s. 2d. j and of trenching and subsoiling (3 

 acresaday)8s. 8d.per acre; the wear and tear beinj^ taken 

 at Is. 6d. per acre more. The price of the tackle and 

 implement adapted to a common portable seven-horse 

 engine is £220 ; and the experience of several farmers 

 seems to show that it is worth while to lay out this sum, 

 and then expend the above amount per acre for autumn 

 cleaning and other preparations, even though ploughing 

 itself may be left for horse-labour. 



Mr. Smith's method of turning the implement at the 

 end of its course, by simply having it yoked to the ropes 

 by a " turn-bow" or hook in front, is the simplest and 

 readiest possible. I shall refer to his system of tillage 

 by-and-bye ; ordinary " ploughing" not being included 

 in it. 



But may not this hauling by wire-rope with a sta- 

 tionary engine be pushed too far ? When a very great 

 length of running rope is out, the friction of the slack 

 portions of the rope on the ground (the tight parts rest- 

 ing on friction-rollers), that of the pulleys or snatch- 

 blocks on their bearings, the bending of the rope round 

 the pulleys, and other conditions, consume a very con- 

 siderable amount of power, besides occasioning a large 

 amount of wear j and our object should, therefore, be to 

 place the engine as near its work as may be consistent 

 with no undue loss of time in shifting anchorages and 

 turning the implement at the ends. This was the prin- 

 ciple acted upon in the earliest practical trials of steam - 

 ploughing, a medium between the travelling and fixed 

 motive power being chosen, by arranging the engine with 

 its winding mechanism upon the head-land, and shifting 

 it so as to be always opposite the ploughing. If we have 

 two engines with coiling-drums, one at each end of the 

 field, and two implements moving in opposite directions, 

 the ploughs will be at the least possible average distance 

 from the motive-power. However, the very great prime 

 cost, the cumbcrsomeness and difficulty of moving so 

 much heavy machinery from field to field, the time lost 

 in adjusting the two implements at the end of their work, 

 and other considerations, are unfavourable to the scheme, 

 except when ploughing is undertaken on a scale of great 

 magnitude, and the engines are constructed so as to be 

 perfectly capable of steaming their own way from farm 

 to farm. A better plan (indeed, the first ever brought 

 into actual operation) is to employ one engine and wind- 

 ing-gear on one head-land, and an anchorage and pulley 

 on the other, both being shifted along as the work pro- 

 ceeds, and a single frame of ploughs being hauled up to 

 the engine or pulley alternately. This is the plan 

 adopted by Mr. Fowler ; and, for comparing the saving 



of power effected, suppose a plot to be ploughed is 200 

 yards square, with a stationary engine and windlass the 

 average length of rope running at once would be 600 

 yards, and the average distance of the implement from 

 the windlass 300 yards ; with a shifting engine and wind- 

 lass, the average length of rope out is 400 yards, and the 

 average distance of the implement 200 — that is, one- 

 third less. There is a further economy of power in 

 having a direct pull upon the plough with one rope, and 

 round only one pulley with the other, instead of round 

 two pulleys with both ropes, as in the stationary wind- 

 lass method. There is, therefore, no doubt that Mr. 

 Fowler could haul Mr. Smith's implements with greater 

 results than have yet been attained by the latter gentle- 

 man's rectangular method of working the rope ; so that 

 it is the simplicity and lightness of machinery and appa- 

 ratus, rather than economy in working expense, which 

 form the favourable points of the Woolston system* 

 One advantage of Mr. Fowler's plan is also that an un- 

 limited extent of land may be ploughed with the same 

 length of rope, fewer removals of the engine and tackle 

 by men and horses being therefore required. I need not 

 describe his ingenious anchorage, which propels itself 

 onward, with its cutting disc wheels always in the soil, 

 forming a perpetual holdfast or purchase, or the well- 

 known engine with coiling-drums underneath, which also 

 slowly creeps forward along the headland. A portable 

 engine, by its inherent weight, forms such a capital ful- 

 crum or resistance against the strain of the hauling-rope, 

 that it was well to use it as such ; but until we have the 

 combined engine and windlass able to transport itself 

 up-hill and along ordinary farm roads, I must view it as 

 too ponderous and unwieldy for common farm use. 

 One material point should be considered, namely, that 

 to be immediately useful and successful, and patronized 

 by the farmers generally, a steam-plough ought to be 

 adapted to our present portable thrashing engines, now 

 distributed by perhaps ten thousands throughout the 

 kingdom. Mr. Williams, of Baydon, connects a wind- 

 lass on wheels with a portable engine by means of a 

 strong framing ; and though he has not been able, I 

 believe, to work his ploughs without horses assisting, 

 this portion of his plan is on precisely the principle I re- 

 gard as most feasible, and likely to meet with general 

 favour. Mr. Fowler has adopted a similar method of 

 enabling the farmer to avail himself of the engine ha 

 already possesses— the windlass-frame, mounted on 

 large wheels, being so constructed as to embrace an or- 

 dinary engine like a pair of shafts, one end of the boiler 

 being supported on tiiis frame, and the other remaining 

 upon its own travelling wheels. It does not take much 

 time to unite or separate the engine or windlass ; when 

 joined, they propel themselves forward on the head-land 

 as one machine, and when separated, three horses can 

 take either part from place to place. 



At the trial at Stirling, Mr. Fowler's machinery, ma- 

 nufactured by Messrs. Ransomes and Sims, ploughed 

 heavy land 5^ inches deep, at the rate of GJ acres a-day, 

 for a total estimated cost of about 8s. per acre, which 

 by horse-labour would have been 15s. per acre. On 

 milder soil, 7 inches deep, at the rate of 9^ acres a-day, 

 for about 6s. per acre, which by horses would have been 

 8s. per acre; and the trenching implement going 

 12i inches deep, ploughed at the rate of 6 acres a-day, 

 at say lis. per acre, work which would need 6 horses 

 for accomplishing only one acre in a day. The saving 

 in the cost of ploughing we may reckon 35 per cent, on 

 the loamy land, 40 per cent, on the heavy land, and say 

 60 per cent, in trenching ; and it is here observable that 

 the economical advantage of steam over horse-power 

 is in proportion to the difficulty of the operation, 

 whether arising from the stubbornness of the ground, or 

 the depth of th? tillage. The superior quality of the 



