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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



riages are shunted on railroads, to the next breadth of 

 rails, down which the cultivator proceeds, and so on un- 

 til it has passed over all the land to be cultivated. 



The methods I have adopted for laying down the rails, 

 varying in materials, &c., according to circumstances, 

 are as follows : — 



A trench is cut fifteen inches at the top down to the 

 subsoil. This is filled with burnt clay ballast or con- 

 crete, and on this are laid the angular-shaped bricks, and 

 the earth is then covered over nearly to the top of the 

 rail. Angle irons, 1 7 or 20 feet in length, are laid 

 on the top of the bricks. These are fixed down at the 

 ends by strap-pieces, and secured by bolts to bricks in 

 the subsoil. The angle irons are not secured to each 

 other so as to form one continuous length, but are left 

 unconnected at certain distances, in such a manner as to 

 allow for the expansion and contraction resulting from 

 the temperature. 



To test the rails, I worked the cultivator backwards 

 and forwards over a portion of them thus constructed 

 as often as would have been necessary in cultivating a 

 piece of land for ten years, and no movement or altera- 

 tion of the materials took place, nor had any part to be 

 repaired. Occasionally, when the machine travels over 

 the ground, a brush is made by self-acting means to de- 

 posit a coat of tar over the surface of the rails, thus giving 

 effectually at a small cost a preservative coat to the iron. 



In this system of rails, well adapted for clay districts, 

 the materials being very durable, the per-centage for 

 renewals will be very small. In fact, the system may 

 be considered of an almost indestructible character. 



The surface of the iron rail being angular, the tires of 

 the wheels of the cultivator have angular grooves, into 

 which the rail fits. 



In the new and cheaper system to which 

 I have alluded, as being applicable to small farms, a 

 trench is cut and filled with ballast, as before de- 

 scribed ; upon this are placed sleepers, twelve or four- 

 teen inches long, and formed of pieces of branch-wood, 

 called " lop-and-top," cut up and split. Upon these 

 are fixed the rails, which are constructed of creosoted 

 timber. This system is well adapted for a wood dis- 

 trict, and may be cheaply laid down. 



Wlien land is very highly rented, as in market gar- 

 dens, the rails being placed upon posts or small piles of 

 wood, driven two or three feet into the ground and 

 subsoil, a less loss of land occurs than in the other sys- 

 tem, for the land may be deeply cultivated close to the 

 rails ; but this arrangement is more expensive than 

 either of those just described. 



The space taken up by the rails is of necessity so 

 much taken ofi" from the cultivable soil of the farm. 

 This, however, is comparatively insignificant in amount ; 

 for, taking the foundation of the rails at two feet and a- 

 half, it is only the one-twentieth of the land — a loss of 

 about two shillings per acre, taking the rent, &c., of the 

 land at 40s. But, after all, the space of land lost is 

 much less than in ordinary cases, with the open furrows 

 between stetches ; besides which, no farm roads are 

 wanted, as everything required is taken on to or from 

 the farm by the ageacy of the guideway machinery. 



It may at first be supposed that a practical difficulty 

 lies in the maintenance of the permanent way from 

 analogy with existing rails, and the keeping intact the 

 width of the gauge ; but it will be seen that there is a 

 vast diff'erence between the speed of the railway loco- 

 motive and that of my cultivator, the one travelling at 

 the speed of forty or fifty miles an hour, while the other 

 travels at only two or three miles. Upon railroads the 

 carriages and engines travel over the same ground in a 

 year many thousand times, while in my system the car- 

 riages pass over the same spot in a year but ten or twenty- 

 times. To allow for any slight variation in the breadth 

 or gauge between the rails, running-wheels are fitted on 

 one side of the platform, so that they have sufficient play 

 from side to side between the bearings, while those 

 wheels on the other side of the cultivator have no similar 

 play. 



The bearings of the wheels are fitted to slide freely up 

 and down, resistance to their moving upwards being 

 offered by springs. 



These springs are all of equal strength; and the ma- 

 chinery is so balanced that each wheel may bear as 

 nearly as possible the same amount of weight ; and the 

 springs possess a considerable amount of elasticity, to 

 permit the several wheels to pass over any undulation 

 of the rails without transferring too much weight from 

 some of the wheels to others of the series. The object 

 in distributing the weight of the platform over a number 

 of wheels is that the rails or permanent way maybe of very 

 much lighter construction than if the weight were made 

 to rest on a less number of wheels. 



The cultivator is driven by two engines, placed at the 

 extreme ends or sides, which are geared together by an 

 intermediate shaft, the ends being connected to the ends 

 of the platform in such a manner that the whole set, 

 sixteen in number, act simultaneously as driving-wheels. 

 By being thus constructed, the machinery can ascend 

 rising ground without difficulty, till the gradient reaches 

 the point when iron slips upon iron, which is found to 

 be one in five. 



The quantity of land that can be ploughed per day by 

 machinery, suitable to a farm of a thousand acres, is 

 twenty-five acres ; and two, or at the most three, men 

 are all that are required to conduct this or any other 

 operation : and when time presses, by a change of men, 

 double this amount, namely, fifty acres, may be done in 

 the twenty-four hours, because the operation can be 

 carried on by night as well as by day. I have ploughed 

 on a very dark and rainy night, and, although it was too 

 dark to see the ploughs, in the morning we found some 

 excellent furrows turned. You will admit, I am sure, 

 that it is of the greatest importance to be thus able to 

 break up the land in unfavourable weather, or for a 

 rapid autumnal cultivation. This great economy of 

 time is also available for seed-time, reaping, and carting 

 in harvest. 



The plough having broken up the land, a " comminu- 

 tor," or rotary implement, is used, in character some- 

 thing like the Norwegian harrow, but driven at a high 

 velocity. I have succeeded in obtaining some remark- 

 able results in reducing obdurate clay to a state of the 



