THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



391 



are required : An engine-driver at n ; a man to attend 

 the operation of the windlass at i c ; a ploughman and 

 assistant at the cultivating implement g, the assistant 

 shifting the rollers, &c. ; and two anchor-men, one 

 at each end of the part to be ploughed, as at d 

 and e ; a boy also should be provided to attend to 

 various points wherever and whenever wanted. Matters 

 being thus arranged, the operation of ploughing or cul- 

 tivating is carried on thus : To the beam of the imple- 

 ment a bar of iron is fastened, so shaped as to admit of 

 the free play of the two wire ropes attached to it. Sup- 

 pose the engine is started, and the pinion of the cross 

 shaft gearing with the spur-wheel of the drum c, so as to 

 pull in the wire rope 1 1, and by its means the cultivat- 

 ing implement g, in the direction from the anchor d to 

 that marked e. Coincident with the winding-up of the 

 rope 1 1 on the drum c, is the paying-out of the rope 

 2 2 from the drum 6. As soon as the implement g 

 arrives at a point in as close proximity to the anchor e 

 as desirable, a signal is waved, at recognition of which 

 the engine-driver stops the engine, and the windlass- 

 man, by means of the clutch lever, throws the pinion on 

 the cross shaft out of gear with the spur-wheel of the 

 drum c, and into gear with that of the drum l. The 

 turn-table is at the same time removed a short distance 

 down the line e/ towards the turn-table/. The dis- 

 tance from the new anchorage to the point of the old 

 one at c is exactly equal to twice the width of land which 

 the implement g works each time. These operations 

 are effected in a much shorter space of time than has 

 sufficed to describe them. The implement in its reversed 

 position begins as soon as the engine is started to move 

 in the direction from e to d, th j rope 2 2 being wound 

 round the drum J, while coincidently the rope 1 1 is paid 

 out from the periphery of the drum c. Immediately on 

 the starting of the implement g from the end of its bout 

 near the turn-table e, the second anchor- man removes 

 the anchor which held the first turn-table to a point 

 below the second anchorage. On the implement reach- 

 ing the end of its bout towards the turn-table d, the 

 operations above described are again gone through ; the 

 position of the implement is again reversed : the drum 

 c hauls in the rope 1 1, the drum h paying out that 

 marked 2 2 ; and the operations are repeated till the 

 anchor e reaches a point in the line e f, near to the 

 anchor/, when the part of the field under operation is 

 wholly broken up. The engine a in the diagram is 

 supposed to be standing in the centre of the field ; so 

 that, when the right-hand half is cultivated, the anchors 

 are all reversed, occupying the same relative positions, 

 but on the left, instead of the right hand, of the engine 

 a, A convenient size of land to be cultivated is set 

 down by Mr. Smith at from ten to twelve acres, and a 

 convenient distance between the anchors d and e at 

 one-eighth of a mile. The implements chiefly used by 

 Mr. Smith are four in number, one of these being a 

 three-tined, and another a five-tined grubber. The 

 former, used for autumn culture, consists of a frame 

 in which are fixed three tines, curved in outline, and 

 presenting broad points at their extremities. The cen- 

 tral one is placed in advance of the others some thirty 



inches, thus : ° „ ° . The frame carrying the tines is 

 irregular, and runs on and is supported by two wheels, 

 the height of which is regulated after the manner 

 adopted in wheel-ploughs. To the near end of the 

 frame two handles, or stilts, are fixed, strengthened 

 with a cross-bar and bow. From the other end a beam 

 composed of two flat iron bars projects : this carries at 

 its extremity a vertical stud, provided at its lower end 

 with a cross, at the extremities of which guiding wheels 

 arc supported. The vertical stud carrying these passes 

 through an eye at the point of the beam, and is adjusted 

 therein at any desired height. To a cross-lever at the 

 upper end of the stud the forked end of a lever is fixed, 

 this lever being carried backward to within reach of the 

 attendant, and made to rest on a horizontal bar, the 

 upper edge of which is notched, the notches corre- 

 sponding to the breadth of the lever, so that it can be 

 placed and retained in any one of them. By moving 

 the lever from right to left, the cross carrying the two 

 guiding wheels is moved in a reverse direction, and the 

 frame, with its tines, guided as desired. By the relative 

 heights of these two guiding wheels and the two wheels 

 of the frame, the depth to which the tines penetrate the 

 soil is regulated. When properly adjusted, the points 

 of the tines take a firm hold of the subsoil ; and as the 

 strain of the engine is continued, the whole mass of soil 

 is torn from its normal position, and its parts broken up 

 and mingled together, leaving the weeds, &c., at the sur- 

 face. The five-tined grubber — an implement found to 

 be well adapted to the cultivation of light and 

 moderately-tenacious soils — in appearance and mode of 

 adjustment is very similar to the former, above de- 

 scribed. 



It is here to be noted that, although we designate 

 these implements as "grubbers," Mr. Smith disclaims 

 all similarity of action to that of the ordinary grubber, 

 cultivator, or scuffler. On this point he states that, 

 satisfied that all implements of this class were con- 

 structed on wrong principles, or rather without attention 

 to any principle, and that their tendency of action was 

 to rise in, not to penetrate, the soil, he endeavoured to 

 construct an implement the tendency of the action of 

 which would be, to draw into the ground. To effect 

 this, he took a ship's anchor for his model. The result 

 of his experiments was, that he brought out an imple- 

 ment which took hold of the soil in so complete a 

 manner, that the question became one of im- 

 portance, how to prevent its going too deep. This 

 difficulty was in time obviated. " On this principle," 

 says Mr. Smith, "both my patent cultivator and 

 steam plough are constructed. Speaking perhaps in 

 hyperbole, they are no more like an ordinary cultivator, 

 scuffler, or scarifier, than the best of our ship anchors 

 are like a great stone tied by a string, to keep a boat to 

 the side of a pond. My steam plough is, in point of 

 fact, three of the best-formed anchors that I can find, 

 braced together with iron enough to support the strain 

 upon them." Returning to our description of Mr. 

 Smith's implements, we may state that, in construction, 

 the "steam-plough" here referred to resembles the 

 " five-tined" implement we described in our last article. 



