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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



drum being placed horizontally. Another ingenious 

 modification is noticeable in the water cart ; this is 

 made like a circular drum, round the periphery of which 

 the wire rope is wound when wanted to be conveyed 

 from place to place. 



Mo5t of our readers are aware of the balance plough 

 used by Mr. Fowler. By simple arrangement the frame 

 is easily made capable of carrying scarifiers in place of 

 the ordinary plough, with shares and mould-board. In 

 comparing the mechanism qsed this year at Warwick 

 with that employed last year at Chester, we cannot but 

 congratulate Mr. Fowler at the point of comparative 

 mechanical perfection to which — by dint of a persever- 

 ing labour and an outlay of pecuniary resources worthy 

 of all praise — he has brought his steam-ploughing 

 system ; a system which (rightly or wrongly we do not 

 here propose to discuss), accepting the old plough and 

 its peculiar mode of operation as the best and as the 

 most economical for cultural purposes, seems to present 

 to the farmer many, if not all, of the points desiderated 

 in practice. 



The other, steam ploughing apparatus which remains 

 to be described is the invention of Messrs. Chandler 

 and Oliver ; manufactured and worked by Messrs. 

 Robey and Co., of Lincoln. The engine is placed in 

 the middle of the field, and the wire rope which drags 

 the plough is wound on drums on the hind axle of the 

 engine. The rope is taken from the drums over a block 

 placed in front of the engine, and radiates to the two 

 extremities of the field, at which anchors are firmed, 

 carrying blocks, round which the rope is passed. The 

 plough traverses the space between the two anchors. 

 Considerable simplicity of arrangement and adapta- 

 bilities to the ordinary class of portable engines seems 

 to characterize this apparatus. 



Although the result of the trials of steam ploughing 

 apparatus was not so satisfactory this year at Warwick 

 as anticipated by those enthusiastic in its progress, still 

 much has been done by them in giving a further im- 

 petus to the movement ; and bringing nearer to a suc- 

 cessful solution the question of " Steam ploughing, is it 

 practicable andprofitable ?" As to its practicability there 

 is little doubt. Steam ploughing, pe?' se, is a thing accom- 

 plished; but as to its being profitable much remains to 

 be said. Certainly, no system as yet introduced is at 

 all likely to be easily attainable by the majority of 

 farmers having occupations of moderate extent. Descant 

 as we may upon the benefits of steam ploughing, it is 

 difficult to persuade the majority of the practical 

 farmers who look on — and look with interest too — 

 during the operation of any of the systems which have 

 occupied the attention of agriculturists, that such are 

 adapted to their purposes, or could be easily managed 

 by them in the field. Certainly, the experience of 

 " trial fields," with their too frequently recurring 

 chapters of accidents, and the "pottering" and "tin- 

 kering" consequent upon them, is not favourable, or 

 likely to give on-looking farmers a high idea of the 

 every-day utility of steam-ploughing mechanism. What 

 the ordinary farmer wants — he who lives by farming — is 

 an apparatus easily arranged in the field, easily set to 

 work, and the working efficiency of which can be de- 

 pended upon within the usual range of farm circum- 

 stances. That some of our inventors are fast 

 approaching this desirable point in the march of im- 

 provement cannot be denied ; but neither can it be 

 affirmed — we make bold to think — that it is yet reached. 

 Whenever and wherever an ordinary good going plough 

 has been set to work in close contiguity to a steam 

 ploughing apparatus, the comparisons instituted are 

 rarely in favour of the adaptability of the more powerful 

 apparatus to ordinary farm purposes. Much has to be 

 done to bring the steam plough up to the point of 



adaptability required ; but we have little doubt — looking 

 back upon what the last few years have brought forth — 

 that it can be done ; and that if our farmers will only 

 readily go along with our engineers, it will be moreover 

 well done. We have not shared the doubts and fears 

 of some on steam ploughing. Those who thought well 

 of it at a period in its history when little practical 

 progress had been made, have little cause to think less 

 of it now, when in what it has done it gives the best 

 evidence of what it can do. Each year will get rid of 

 old difficulties and register new triumphs, until the 

 steam engine will prove itself as ready a helper in the 

 field as it has done in the farm steading. 



In future trials of steam-ploughing apparatus it would 

 be well if well-devised experience could be made as to 

 the " haulage power" of the competing apparatus. 

 To ascertain this, is of as much importance as the de- 

 termination of the kind of work done. It is obviously 

 closely connected with the economics of steam cultiva- 

 tion. We are aware that this has been in some measure 

 done ; but what is desiderated is a more systematic 

 series of experiments, tending to place beyond a doubt 

 the relative mechanical merits of the various systems. 



We now propose to glance briefly at the novelties in 

 the department of cultural implements ordinarily used. 

 But before doing so, it will be as well perhaps to register 

 the doings and results of the trials of the three classes of 

 ploughs — " light-land ploughs," " general purpose 

 ploughs," and " ploughs Jfor heavy land." And first 

 as to the light-land ploughs. 



The length of furrow was laid out at 175 yards; the 

 depth of furrow to be made by each plough to be 6 in., 

 the width 9 in., and the furrow-slice to be laid over at 

 an angle of 45°. Such were the conditions of trial. 

 The land selected was admirably adapted for the pur- 

 pose. Each plough entered made a few turns to test 

 its general capabilities of work ; af terwhich they were 

 set to plough the measured furrow, and tested during 

 work by a dynamometer, to ascertain their draught. 

 The following makers entered their ploughs for trial : — 

 (1) Laio, of Shettleston, near Glasgow, Scotland, re- 

 presented by William Waller of Uddingston, near Glas- 

 gow ; (2) Mason ; (3) D. T. Jones, near Redditch, 

 Worcester ; (4) Hornsly and Sons, Grantham, Lin- 

 colnshire ; (5) Busby, Newton-le-Willows, Bedale, 

 York; (6) Reeves, Bratton, Wilts; (7) TasJier and 

 iSon*, Andover, Hampshire; (8) Wallis and Haslam 

 Basingstoke, Hampshire; (9) J5rwce, Stratford-on-Avon, 

 Warwickshire; (10) Goulding, Leicester; {\\) Page, 

 Bedford; (12) Ball, Rothwell, Northamptonshire; 

 (13) Hensman, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire; (14) 

 Ransomes and Sims, Ipswich; (15) Howard, Bedford; 

 (16) Maggs, Bourton, Somerset. The result of the 

 trials was as follows : The points noted being the time 

 in minutes and seconds taken to go over the measured 

 furrow of 175 yards in length ; and the power of draught 

 consumed, as shown by the dynamometer. 



The result of the trials, as above, demonstrated that 

 the trial of strength lay between Ransomes' and 

 Howard's, Hornsby's plough being decidedly the next 

 best, if not in some respects superior to both of them. 

 Ransome's and Howard's ploughs were subjected to a 



