192 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



travelling wheels, and thus ploughing and pulverizing 

 would be accomplished in a single act. 



Leaving now the traction principle altogether, which, 

 in the case both of ploughing and scarifying by steam 

 must be now pronounced fully successful, let us inquire 

 into the merits of 



Machines actuated independentia- of 

 Traction, 



I dismiss without notice multitudinous contrivances 

 for imilating the motions of manual digging, partly be- 

 cause they would demand more space than I feel at 

 liberty to devote to them, and partly because I prefer, 

 for simplicity and practicable character, machines having 

 a continuous circular motion and few working parts ; 

 and indeed, I believe, that ultimately the highest order 

 of results which steam-culture will ever attain, will be 

 by a revolving tiller, because, theoretically, it is best 

 adapted to the new motive-power. 



The idea of Mr. Hoskyns, that a cylinder of claws, 

 tines, or cutters, should be attached behind a locomotive 

 engine, and driven at a more or less rapid speed by the 

 motive-power, notwithstanding the success of steam- 

 traction implements, never promised better than it does 

 now. I do not know what has become of Mr. John 

 Bethell's revolving forker, but, at any rate, Mr. Ro- 

 maine's machine in the hands of Mr. Alfred Crosskill 

 has at last achieved considerable success, the velocity 

 of the digger, however, being greatly moderated from 

 that originally proposed. A rapidly revolving scratching 

 tool may serve tor superficial slicing and mincing as a 

 substitute for paring ; but in order to invert the soil 

 completely, and perform the best kind of work required 

 by the farmer in deep culture (for which digging ma- 

 chines seem most suited), I am of opinion that the soil 

 must be cut or broken into pieces of sufficient bulk to 

 be turned bodily upside down, and these must not be 

 left to fall at hazard in any posture, but laid in their 

 proper position by the machine, in order to make perfect 

 work. This operation necessitates a slow rather than a 

 quick rotation of the cutters ; accordingly Mr. Usher's 

 rotary steam-plough, in which a series of curved plough 

 bodies are attached about a horizontal axis driven by 

 gear work, behind a locomotive engine, was a near ap- 

 proach to what we required, and had the tilling machi- 

 nery been combined with a modification of the endless 

 railway engine, or the difficulty of locomotion been 

 otherwise better overcome, this invention would proba- 

 bly have given us a cheap, though not very perfect, order 

 of tillage. But Mr. Romaine's cultivator is a decided 

 success. A digging-cylinder, 6 feet wide, is attached 

 behind a twelve-horse engine, mounted on a pair of very 

 large broad felloed wheels, with two steerage-wheels on 

 castors in front. The machine is perfectly independent 

 of horses for travelling from place to place over mo- 

 derately level roads or arable fields, though its weight is 

 10 tons, and it will turn short round, or in an area of 

 its own length. Parallel connecting-rods, like those 

 coupling the wheels of a railway locomotive, are used 

 for driving the digger with a speed of forty to fifty revo- 

 lutions per minute, allowing it to be readily raised or 

 lowered while in motion. The cutters, fastened by 

 bolts and screws upon the plate-iron cylinder, resemble 

 scarifier paring-shares in form, and, as the engine slowly 

 advances, slice and dig up the soil from either 3 or 4 

 inches to 10 inches deep, as required. Having seen the 

 work done, I can bear witness that tenacious soil is 

 thoroughly broken up and subdivided, the surface- 

 stubble, &c., buried sufficiently well, and the subsoil 

 largely upturned and intermingled with the top staple — 

 in fact, the work has much the appearance of that of 

 the digging-fork. The successive operations of plough- 

 ing, dragging, and harrowing strong land are equalled 

 by a single course of this mftchine, and at far cheaper 



cost, the amount of work done being from four to seven 

 acres a-day, according to the description of soil and 

 depth of work, at an expense of 5s. or 63., up to 9s, or 

 10s. per acre. The price, I believe, is about £"800. It 

 is a matter for experience to determine how far the 

 weight may prove injuriously consolidating on stiff clays, 

 and whether the farmer can keep in order so many 

 wheels, running bearings, and working-parts. The cul- 

 tivating cylinder, however, promises to become all that 

 the farmer requires; only, for working on ground al- 

 ready ploughed or cultivated, on hilly fields, and on wet 

 clay soils, I hope means will be found to actuate it by 

 ropes from a shifting or stationary engine. 



In searching out and studying all the proposals I can 

 meet with for digging or deeply trenching, I have con- 

 cluded that the simplest, easiest, and most practicable 

 idea, is that of a cutting-blade attached by an arm or 

 stem to a horizontal axis, and curved concentrically, or 

 nearly so, with the circle it describes, which entering the 

 soil downwards, shall cut a curved spit of earth from the 

 face of the semicircular trench formed by its action, and 

 emerging upwards on the other side of the trench, leave 

 the spit in an inverted position, as represented in the 

 annexed woodcut. 



A number of these cutters are to be affixed by radial 

 arms to the shaft, but in order that they may not impede 

 the delivery of the piecesof soil fromeach other, I propose 

 that they should be placed at an angle with the plane of 

 the circle they describe, and let the machine advance at 

 right angles to the direction of their revolution, the 

 axis being longitudinal instead of transverse, just as in 

 Hanson's potato digger, and Huckvale's turnip thinner. 

 The digging-disc (supported and actuated in a way to be 

 presently noticed,) proceeds sideways, as it were, 

 along the trench, slicing off spits from the face or 

 edge as a workman does with a spade, and carrying 

 and leavin? them on the opposite side inverted and 

 turned end for end. The arm or bracket to which 

 each cutting blade is attached acts as a coulter to divide 

 the portion to be cut. Suppose the blades to be of 9 

 inches breadth, then one blade must enter the ground for 

 every 9 inches travelled by the machine ; and with six 

 cutters following one another (somewhat after the man- 

 ner of the knives in Gardner's turnip slicer) the revo- 

 lutions per minute will be only 29, for a progression of 

 1^ miles per hour. The " bite " or thickness of the spit 

 may be, say 7 inches, when the depth is afoot ; thus, for 

 a single digging disc, the extent of land dug would be at 

 the rate of one and 1 - 5th acres per day ; but, of course, I 

 propose to have several diggers on the same shaft. Work- 

 ing at less depth, the speed might be increased. For going 

 1 2 or even 15 inches deep, the disc need not be of greater 

 diameter than say three, or at most four feet. And it 

 is to be noted, that though of small diameter, as the 

 digger works always in the trench, a spur-wheel of con- 

 siderable size may be hung on the same shaft to drive it. 

 I propose that the machine should traverse up and 

 down the field, without turning at the ends, the digging 

 disc always remaining in the trench and revolving the 

 same way. The only change necessary is to point the 

 cutting blades at a different angle when the machine is 

 to travel the reverse way ; and this is done by setting 

 each arm or stem in a socket, and connecting the six 

 arms so that they are turned round simultaneously. The 

 blades are double-edged, in order that they may be 

 turned round so as to bring the arms into operation as 

 coulters, whichever way the machine may be moving. 

 But the form of cutter proposed is also adapted for re- 

 volving upon a transverse shaft or cylinder like Ro- 

 maine's. 



Motion may be communicated to the digging-wheel 

 in several ways. It may be affixed to a locomotive en- 

 gine. But I should prefer to drive it by an endless 



