THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



399 



LONG SUTTON AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 



The spirited market town of Long Sutton, in Lin- 

 colnshire, supports a large association, principally for 

 the rewarding of labourers and school children, and also 

 for encouraging agricultural improvements generally. 

 Wednesday, Oct. 1 3th, was the annual field-day, when 

 fifty ploughs competed for prizes ; and it appeared that 

 the two-wheeled iron ploughs not only make the best 

 work, but that they are fast superseding the single-wheel 

 and swing wood ploughs. Trials with the dynamometer 

 showed that the wheel ploughs were of lighter draught 

 than the swing ; while but little difference in this respect 

 could be observed between the iron and wood imple- 

 ments. The "All England " Champion Prize, and the 

 " new hat," for the best work in the field, was won by 

 a man from Bedford, ploughman for Messrs J. and F. 

 Howard ; of course, with one of their P.P. ploughs. 



The principal feature of the meeting, however, 

 consisted in the exhibition of three steam cultivators, 

 a new reaping machine, and other novelties, which 

 attracted a great assemblage of visitors. Mr. Walker, 

 of Terrington, near Lynn, made quite a sensation in the 

 neighbourhood with the performance of his travelling 

 steam engine, manufactured by Mr. Savage, of Lynn. 

 It is a seven-horse portable single-cylinder engine, 

 mounted midway upon a pair of large carriage-wheels, 

 eight feet diameter, with broad felloes. Both wheels are 

 driven by reducing gear-work from the crank-shaft, 

 much after the manner of Boydell's locomotive, and the 

 steering is effected by one wheel in front, turning in a 

 transom. But having no " endless rails," this ponde- 

 rous machine is unable to traverse a miry or rugged 

 road, much less to traverse over a ploughed field, 

 dragging implements behind it; and as there had been 

 a heavy fall of rain the previous night, the traction per- 

 formances of the megatherium were limited to the hard 

 turnpike road, on which it brought out of Norfolk a set 

 of the Woolston steam-cultivating apparatus, and a 

 portable engine for exhibition, and to the streets and 

 market-place, in which it travelled backward and for- 

 ward, turned short round, and displayed to the wonder- 

 ing Suttonians all the tractability of a domesticated 

 monster, evidently possessing tremendous weight and 

 power. In such a level marsh district, where there are 

 no gradients but those of the bridges, there is much ad- 

 vantage to be looked for in an engine that can take a 

 cultivating apparatus or a thrashing-machine about 

 from farm to farm, thrash corn and draw it in waggons 

 to the market, sea-port, or railway, and carry back coal 

 or cake, or manure. Only the roads along lanes and 

 across fields must be hard and in good repair. 



Mr. Robert Coe, of Tilney, Norfolk, showed in opera- 

 tion a set of Smith's steam cultivating machinery, as 

 manufactured by Messrs. Howard, of Bedford, which 

 worked in its usual effective manner upon a j.i. ce of 

 stubble land. In the game field was the steam-cultivat- 



ing machinery shown by Mr. T. B, Dring, of Gedney 

 Marsh, near Long Sutton. The method of hauling is 

 that of Mr. Smith, with sundry alterations. The engine 

 and windlass are stationed midway down one side of the 

 plot to be cultivated, as Mr. Fowler's originally was. 

 The ropes are led out from the windlass round two 

 pulleys fixed on a frame — which arrangement is called 

 that of " double snatch-blocks "; the ropes then diverge 

 to the two ends of the field, to anchored pulleys set down 

 halfway along the headlands, and then from these pulleys 

 to the removable pulleys at the end of the work. There 

 are thus six pulleys in action instead of only four, as in 

 Mr. Smith's arrangement shown by Mr. Coe; but the 

 length of rope is somewhat less, and the engine is 

 nearer to her work. The " cultivator " worked was Mr. 

 Smith's, but made of extra width so as to take a greater 

 breadth of ground at a time. The ground in a moist 

 state was beautifully broken up, ready for cleaning when 

 dry, deeply enough to be under the twitch and rubbish, 

 yet leaving all on the top open for extraction. Those 

 worked by an eight-horse single-cylinder engine, the 

 iron-wire rope has been liable to very frequent breakage, 

 and broke once during the operations of Wednesday, so 

 that it is difficult to estimate the probable expense of the 

 wear of the rope ; but reckoning this at Is. 6d. per acre, 

 and fixing the general wear and tear on the remainder 

 of the machinery at 20 per cent, for 200 days in a year, 

 the total cost of working was about 36s. per day — that 

 is, deep-working with the three-tined grubber at six 

 acres a-day would cost 6s. an acre ; scarifying eight 

 acres a-day would cost 4s. 6d. per acre ; and paring 

 ten acres a-day would cost 3s. 7d. per acre. However, 

 it is now acknowledged everywhere that 6s. or 8s. spent 

 in breaking up an acre of foul stubble in autumn will save 

 at least twice this sum in spring tillage that would other- 

 wise be necessary ; while the advantage of having the 

 fallow work so forward is of still greater value to the 

 farmer. In this district, especially, where a small pro- 

 portion of the arable land is in clover and seeds, end so 

 much in spring corn, potatoes, &c., there is always as 

 much ground to be cleaned for wheat-sowing as the 

 teams can manage ; unless, indeed, in an unprecedentedly 

 fine season, such as the present, when some farmers con- 

 trive to break up a small part of their wheat stubble for 

 fallows before beginning wheat-seeding. 



The chief attraction of the day was the new steam- 

 plough invented and patented by Mr. Chandler, of Bow, 

 London, and Mr. Oliver, of Hatfield ; exhibited on this 

 occasion by Mr. Dring, Mr. Chandler being also pre- 

 sent to superintend the performance of this the second 

 implement manufactured, and therefore minus several 

 more recent improvements in detail. T?vo sets of 

 ploughs are arranged three at each end of the frame, 

 pointing towards each other, one set being above ground, 

 while the others are in work, just as in Mr. Fowler's 



