THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



63 



straw-fabricating machine, requests to be allowed to 

 thatch it down. Their name is Legion who engage to 

 thrash the corn at fabulous prices ; above all of whom, 

 perhaps, for combined excellence of engine, drum, and 

 dressing apparatus, stand Clayton and Shuttleworth ; 

 while those who offer to riddle, sift, and prepare the 

 grain for market are even more innumerable. Which- 

 ever way wo turn, some kindly individual — filled with 

 that species of benevolence which characterizes the en- 

 lightened human race in this day — awaits an opportu- 

 nity to aid our plans and conserve our strength. Is 

 the grass ready for the scythe, Burgess and Key step 

 up and say, " Kind sir, allow me; my machine will cut 

 your crop better and cheaper than men — try it." You 

 are prevented incurring the expense of people to 

 " shake out of swathe" by Nicholson, and Smith and 

 Ash by, who offer to scatter out the grass evenly over 

 the field, unravel the " locks," and throw it all to the 

 winds and the sun, ready for Howard, with his horse- 

 rake, to gather with the utmost cleanliness and expedi- 

 tion. No sooner was it understood that hay and straw 

 would go twice as far by being sub-divided, than chaff- 

 cutters sprang into existence, and have now reached per- 

 fection in Cornes' and Richmond and Chandler's ma- 

 chine. Let only be once determined that roots were best 

 for cattle, sheep, and horses in a sliced, grated, 

 or pulped condition, than Gardner introduced his 

 turnip-cutter, Bentall his root-pulper, and a variety of 

 makers modifications of the same. If the old process 

 of milling is too tiresome and slow, Tuxford will supply 

 a 2^-horse steam engine; Clayton and Shuttleworth, 

 or Turner of Ipswich, will furnish grist-mills ; corn- 

 crushers will be forwarded by Ransomes, and Rich- 

 mond and Cliandler, and Turner; and under one roof 

 devoted to the preparation of food, all these will woi'k, 

 together with chaff-machines and root-pulpers, con- 

 cocting incipient beef and mutton. This is done. 

 Believe Biggs and Long, and your sheep shall never 

 waste away under virulent attacks of scab ; and should 

 you wish it, doubtless you may soon see your sheep 

 seated on a platform, embraced by steel arms, slowly 

 revolving to meet the inevitable shears. Time fails in 

 which to sing this Song of the Age — this Pastoral of the 

 Nineteenth Century. We warn our readers to look for 

 it from time to time in the public prints, and we think 

 it may possibly appear in the columns of this journal 

 in the month of July next. 



No sooner do we desire a rotary corn- screen than we 

 find the want instantly supplied. Indeed, this is 

 amongst the novelties of the show. But for the price, 

 it seems likely to surpass Boby's justly-celebrated ma- 

 chine, because by means of a very simple arrangement 

 the distance between the wires can be increased or di- 

 minished, while in Boby's machine they remain invaria- 

 ble. The motion being rotary too, much friction is 

 avoided. This cylindrical screen is fourfeetinlength, and 

 two feet in diameter. Nothing, howevei", can be said of it 

 with certainty, since it is only just introduced. The de- 

 mand for a cheaper and more effective corn crusher than 

 those now out is not long heard before the same firm re- 

 sponds to it. Certainly their combined oat and bean 

 crusher, price £7 lOs., is the best we have seen. It was 

 described at the Warwick Meeting, and we shall not 

 now refer to it at greater length. As this is the season 

 during which most attention is given to feeding cattle, 

 it will be well also to direct attention to Wood's (Stow- 

 market) root-pulper, price £4 15s., which works with 

 great celerity and ease, pulping one bushel of roots in 

 two minutes. We saw many good pulpers, but none 

 that combined in greater degree the merits of excel- 

 lence and cheapness. An intimation was given by 

 Mr. Caird, in his " Farming in the Prairies," of a 

 revolving harrow that worked well, and lo ! Cross- 



kill (A. and E.) introduce it to the farmers of England, 

 bearing out our assertion that somebody is always alive 

 to their interest. These harrows consist of two circles of 

 iron, with radii proceeding from the centre to the cir- 

 cumference, which carry the teeth. These two circles, 

 which cover a space of eight feet, are connected 

 through their centres by a rigid bar at right angles to 

 the line of draught. No machinery is employed to 

 make these circular harrows revolve, but the revolution 

 is caused by an inclination of the axis, giving the teeth 

 a greater pressure on eithef side, and by this means 

 the circles can be made to rotate in contrary directions. 

 They should work well, and very economically ; but 

 practice must pi'ove their value. 



The most marvellous narration is yet, however, to 

 come. What must be said of Fowler, Smith, and Hal- 

 kett ? of whom it is true that " the good they do lives 

 after them." Most unmistakable will be their foot- 

 prints upon the strata of the Period. Imperishable 

 are the lives of those who produce for mankind a 

 practical solution of the Impossible. The application 

 of steam-power to the cultivation of the land is now 

 the great question of interest. These gentlemen are 

 all prepared to cheapen and facilitate all processes of 

 tillage. Their methods are somewhat different, but 

 their purposes are alike straightforward and honest. 

 The fostering cave of the Royal Agricultural Society 

 is doing its work. The trials effected in two or three 

 days, vmder restricted circumstances, can now be con- 

 firmed by the experience of hundreds of practical tenant- 

 farmers who adopt steam to plough land and clean 

 stubbles, and prepare seed-beds, under all possible cir- 

 cumstances. The assertion that steam as applied to 

 the cultivation of the soil is more economical and ad- 

 vantageous than horse-power, no longer proceeds from 

 one or two solitary individuals, but from the convinced 

 hearts of hundreds. It is no longer a theory upon which 

 we might be prophetic, but an accomplished fact, from 

 which strong irresistible conclusions have been deduced. 

 We place our feet firmly upon this vantage-ground 

 of fact, and reach forth into the future with the same 

 confidence that determined Columbus to breast the 

 waves of the Atlantic, defiant of a mutinous crew. Nor 

 would we deny a v/ord of encouragement to the brave 

 Romaine. A self-contained machine, can it ever be 

 produced, must possess vast superiority over those now 

 in use, inasmuch as a direct communication of power 

 is less expensive than the transmission of that power 

 by means of wire-rope. 



And there we found these men in the galleries of the 

 Bazaar, waiting to confirm the strong, to alarm the in- 

 different, and to lead the timid persuasively into the 

 New and Better Way. It is a privilege to meet face to 

 face with our benefactors — a privilege usually denied 

 to Hero-worshippers. 



THE SMITHFIELD CLUB DINNER 



Took place on Wednesday, in the show week, at the 

 London Coffee-House, Ludgate Hill, the large room at 

 the Freemason's Tavern not being this year at the dis- 

 posal of the Club. There was an attendance of over a 

 hundred members and others. In the absence of the 

 President his Grace the Duke of Richmond, who has 

 just resumed his military duties in Scotland, the chair 

 was taken by Lord Berners, one of the Vice-presidents 

 of the Club. The Vice-chair was filled by Mr, W. 

 Torr, and among those also present were Lord Fever, 

 sham. Lord W. Lennox, Mr. Milward, Mr. Fisher 

 Hobbs, Mr. Alderman Mechi, Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, 

 Professor Simonds, Mr. Jonas Webb, Mr. G. P. Tuxford, 

 Mr. Rigden, Mr. Sauday,j Mr. R. Smith, Mr. Hudson 



