THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



101 



cultural history tell— who in those dark times fortnsd 

 the exception to the rule, now find themselves surrounded 

 by a host of brethren, who are eagerly aiding the happy 

 union of " science with practice." So changed, indeed, 

 are the circumstances in which agriculture now finds 

 itself, that men of science vie with each other in pro- 

 moting her interests and furthering her progress. Che- 

 mists were among the first to offer her their aid ; me- 

 chanics followed in their steps, and helped her advance- 

 ment mightily ; and now engineers of celebrity are be- 

 ginning to perceive that triumphs, less popularly strik- 

 ing perhaps than some which have graced their career 

 in another walk, but not less fruitful of real social 

 benefits, await them in the wide field which agriculture 

 opens up to them — in which they may exercise their in- 

 genuity, and display their skill. The result of this in- 

 creased and increasing attention to the advancement of 

 the science of agriculture, is the bringing out of a vast 

 number of inventions and processes having special re- 

 ference to it, and which are secured by patent under the 

 new law ; which, we may remark in passing, oflfers vastly 

 superior facilities to inventors than did the old. A ma- 

 jority of these inventions and processes, it is true, may 

 never get beyond the position of speculation or crude 

 conjecture, but a few comparatively, being developed so 

 as to be carried out into efficient and economical prac- 

 tice ; nevertheless, a vast deal of practical information 

 may be, and is, derivable from an investigation of the 

 records of these inventions, even from those which come 

 under the first-named category of speculative or con- 

 jectural (inventions so called). If they serve no other 

 purpose, they point out the direction in which men have 

 been attempting to go forward, and act as beacons by 

 which dangers and delays may be avoided, and the 

 quickest and safest passage secured. Apart from its 

 utility, moreover, such an investigation of the records of 

 invention is sure to be interesting to all anxious to be 

 acquainted with the gradual progress of the science with 

 which they are connected. To those who wish to avail 

 themselves practically of inventions calculated to be of 

 service to them in their daily avocations on the farm, or 

 who may themselves wis'.i to enter the lists of inventors, 

 the value of the information derivable from the study of 

 what has been already attempted, cannot be over- 

 estimated. He who attends, as we have elsewhere re- 

 marked, " carefully to the labours of his predecessors 

 in any walk or branch of science, is much more likely 

 to arrive at his proposed destination with greater ease 

 and in shorter time than he who carelessly avoids what 

 may be termed the finger-posts of experience set up by 

 those who have gone before him. The failures which 

 have been recorded on the one hand, and the discoveries 

 of truth which have been registered on the other, are 

 just so many helps to the anxious inquirer, by which he 

 is enabled to lose no time in searching the by-path jut- 

 ting from the main road ; but knowing the right direction, 

 he pushes on heartily to his destination." There can 

 be little doubt, indeed, of this, that if the inventors of 

 the last thirty years in the various branches of our me- 

 chanism had had the advantage of the records of the 

 attempts made by preceding invrntors, our present po- 



sition of mechanical excellence would have been as su- 

 perior to what it now is, as it is to that which obtained 

 in the times of Arkwright or of Watt. "A cursory pe- 

 rusal" even, to quote the words of an excellent autho- 

 rity, " of documents containing accumulated knowledge, 

 can hardly fail to suggest some idea novel to the reader ; 

 and as invention progresses step^by step, and is the re- 

 sult of some improvement added to what was before 

 known, the value of such information is too great 

 to be duly estimated. Watt did not invent the 

 steam-engine, nor did Arkwright invent cotton- 

 spinning machines ; but it is well known that what 

 they did was, just to study the defects of existing 

 machines, and then toadd improvements which not only 

 produced to themselves ample fortunes and abiding 

 fame, but to the country a degree of prosperity which 

 has no parallel in history." Nor are these statements 

 true only of mechanical inventions : they apply with 

 equal force to discoveries in other branches of art or 

 science. Take, for instance, manures. We have now 

 before us a recent publication of the Patent Office, 

 namely, " Abridgments of the Specifications relating to 

 Manures." We have had occasion to go over this very 

 carefully, and were struck with the singular similarity 

 existing between several of the patents taken out at dif- 

 ferent periods — some of the processes, indeed, almost 

 entirely identical. Now this would not have been the 

 case, at least to so large an extent, had parties proposing 

 to patent what they conceived to be new manures, been 

 acquainted with what had already been done or proposed 

 by those who had preceded them. 



Seeing, then, the utility of investigating the records 

 of discoveries or inventions in matters relating to agri- 

 culture, and in view of the rapidity with which they are 

 now brought before the notice of practical agriculturists, 

 we have deemed it fitting to devote at intervals a short 

 space, in which to glance at what has been already done, 

 and what is daily doing in the most important branches of 

 agricultural invention or discovery. So far as at present 

 arranged, we propose to confine ourselves to the depart- 

 ments of " the mechanism of steam culture," " reaping 

 machinery," " drain tiles and pipes," and " manures," 

 leaving for future consideration the departments of me- 

 chanism connected with the preparation of the soil, as 

 ploughs, scarifiers, clod-crushers, &c., or of that con- 

 nected with its products, as thrashing-machines, turnip- 

 slicers, straw-cutters, &c. : these departments may here- 

 after engage our attention. We may here note that we 

 do not intend to follow the order we have above named ; 

 but shall take the subjects up in whatever order they 

 may most conveniently present themselves. 



Under the new " Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852," 

 the specifications of every patent, and the drawings 

 which illustrate it (if any), are printed and sold at a small 

 charge. This arrangement is a great boon to inventors, 

 as it places within their reach the means of carefully 

 studying the peculiarities of any invention in which they 

 mny feel an interest. But the benefit of this arrange- 

 ment is not confined to inventions patented under the 

 new act, but is extended to those which were secured 

 under the old. This latter, however, biinar a most (x- 



