122 



THE FARMER'S iMAGAZINE. 



REVIEW. 

 THE PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE.— A PAMPHLET ON STEAM CULTIVATION. 



nv J. A. ■WILLIAMS. 



The great interest and attraction of the approaching 

 national meeting will unquestionably centre in that one 

 magic word— Steam. We may all, as heretofore, in- 

 dulge in our peculiar pets and fancies — hurry to see 

 who has got tlie best short-horn— how the horses 

 show — or whose flock is this year in the ascendant. 

 But at such a lime any of these are scarcely more 

 than subsidiary sections of the exhibition. The grand 

 points to which we look here for a solution are — Who 

 after a three years* peace can now produce the best 

 steam-engine ? And, again, is the steam-plough really 

 so impiovcd a-i to become a practical implement of the 

 farm ? Will the Society dare to recommend it as such? 

 And, if 30, on whom will their choice fall — Fowler, 

 Smith, or Romaine ? There is no doubt, either, that 

 the latter is by far the more important consideration of 

 the two. Wo have already some considerable experi- 

 ence of good working steam-engines; ))ut as to steam 

 cultivation, tlie public mind is just ripe to know and 

 do more. After much labour, some disappointment, 

 and many diflicultics to overcome, the several inven- 

 tors of such implements have at least succeeded so far 

 — The agricultural world, the pi'actical farmer, has 

 fairly taken up the subject. He is only waiting now 

 to know when he is to begin, or how he is to set about 

 the business. 



Nicely timed, then, to the occasion, one of the most 

 enthusiastic of these pioneers has within the week issued 

 a pamphlet on steam cultivation. This essay has the 

 double recommendation of being written by a gentleman 

 who has not only deeply studied the question, but who 

 is himself a tenant farmer. His best sympathies must be 

 accordingly with the class he addresses. However far 

 his own zeal may lead him, he will feel at the same 

 time how far he will be justified in taking his brother- 

 farmers with him. He will know, moreover, from his 

 own experience, how far they axe prepared to go with 

 him, how their lands actually lie for the reception of 

 the new power, and how much alteration will be re- 

 quired before this can be fairly or properly applied. 



This promises soon to be the great or only obstacle. 

 We have within tiie last few months witnessed such 

 certain progress in the art of ploughing by steam, tliat 

 the attainment of the object might even now be safely 

 recorded. Early in the spring of the year, Mr. Fowler 

 declared at a public meeting that he considered his 

 share of the good work done. Its consummation 

 rested now with the farmers and landlords — in his 

 opinion, more especially with the latter. Let them so 

 prepare their estates that the system may be easily ap- 

 plicable. Let them directly encourage their tenantry 

 to avail themselves of its use. In a word, it would 

 pccm that the steam-plough was ready for the land, if 



the land were ready for it. The paper now published 

 by Mr. Williams, of Baydon, comes very much to the 

 same thing. He introduces it with a plan of a six- 

 Imndred-and-forty-acre farm laid out into ten fields or 

 divisions of sixty-four acres each. He fits this with a 

 tramway, moveable rick-houses, tanks, and so on, that 

 read and look prettier than it would be perhaps possible 

 very often to render them. However, this is the key-note 

 of Mr. Williams's song. He assumes with very excellent 

 discretion tliat we have already heard something of the 

 several methods of ploughing by steam, and he devotes 

 his essay accordingly to a branch of the subject, so far, 

 anything but overdone. His reading of the question is 

 in every way acceptable. It is, in fact, to this we ai'e 

 now coming. The economy and practicability of the 

 process must be preceded by a certain outlay in adapt- 

 ing our farms to its use. 



Our author makes the following half-dozen desiderata 

 the great points of his charter : — 1st. The most advan- 

 tageous mode of laying out fields for steam culture. 

 '2nd. The obtaining a self-acting supply of water for 

 the engines and other farm purposes. 3rd. The grub- 

 bing and clearing of hedgerows and timber, by means 

 of the engine and ploughing machine, and making use 

 of the same for fuel. 4th. The levelling and filling up 

 of pits, and blasting of rock-stone, where existing. 

 5t,h. The beneficial exchange of lands between neigh- 

 bours where lying intermixed; the facility with which 

 it might be done. fith. A few words on autumn culti- 

 vation. 



We have already referred to his plan of laying out 

 a farm. Of course the fewer hedge-rows, and the 

 more level the land, the belter. But the following 

 concomitant advantage may not be so generally known : 



" Opposite to fields No. 3, 4, 7, and are stationed 

 rick-houses : these are on grooved wheels, running on 

 triangular wooden rails, dowellcd at the end, and re- 

 moved from the rear to the front as the house travels 

 forward, drawn by the engine at a slow pace by means 

 of the hauling windlass used for ploughing. At harvest 

 they can be placed where required, that is, two at least 

 opposite the roots, thootliers near tlie Lent corn. Those 

 opposite the roots could be filled with wheat ; after 

 harvest the wheat threshed out, and the building will 

 then make a bullock-shed for the remainder of the 

 year ; a part of it being used for chafl'-cutting, turnip, 

 slicing, <kc., the engine at the same time turning a 

 windlass for hauling the roots from the field opposite 

 into the building where required. This could be done 

 either with the ploughing windlass, or with drums of a 

 lighter description attached to (he building for the pur- 

 pose. As the field of roots opposite the sheds became 

 cleared of the quantum to be drawn ofF, the straw on 



