THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



155 



ground, we may expect that ploughing and other acts of 

 cultivation will be performed by my system at much 

 less draught and power, and at much less expense even 

 than is deduced from my own trials. With horse cul- 

 tivation in my field, had the land been previously 

 ploughed, it would still have required 2 horses to plough 

 it again: the horses would certainly have performed a 

 small per-ceiitage more in the day's work ; but in the 

 example referred to, we see much more than a small ad- 

 ditional advantage. It was there stated that I ploughed 

 12 furrows with a pressure cf steam in the large engine 

 of 32 lbs., and in the small engine of 35 lbs., or say 33^ 

 lbs. in each. Now I found upon trial that it required 

 20 lbs. of steam to move my machine at its regular 

 speed, without any implements being in the ground, and 

 it therefore required only 13,^- lbs. additional pressure of 

 steam to draw the 12 ploughs. A further pressure of 

 131 lbs. (which would have raised it to 47 lbs.) would 

 have drawn another set of 12 ploughs, had I had them 

 to put on, and the amount of ground ploughed would 

 have been 12 acres in the day, with engines working 

 up to 10-horse power. Had I raised the steam another 

 13i lbs., namely, to 60 lbs., at which I often work the 

 machine (and with which pressure the engines are work- 

 ing at 13 H.p.) the cultivator would have been capable 

 of drawing another set of 12 ploughs, thus turning over 

 18 acres per day, with engines only working up to 13- 

 horse power. 



In reference to the above, I may remark that ploughs 

 drawn in the usual manner have evidently a very con- 

 siderable resistance due to their weight on the ground, 

 irrespective of the resistance due to cutting the sod. In 

 Mr. Pusey's experiments this resistance is put down 

 with an average make of plough at 33 per cent, of the 

 whole draught ; but it is evident that this resistance, which 

 is a constant quantity, will, in its per-centage to the 

 whole draught, vary according to the nature of the soil, 

 whether stiff or loose. The lighter the soil, the greater 

 in proportion to the whole draught will be the per cent- 

 age due to the weight dragging on the ground. In my 

 case, however, the weight of the ploughs being trans- 

 ferred to, and borne by, the rails (for the plough is sus- 

 pended to the cultivator, with the point of the share 

 rather lower — i an inch — than the heel), the resistance 

 due to the weight of the implement pressing on the 

 ground is taken away ; and if the soil be very light or 

 loose, only a very small resistance will take place in op- 

 position to the pull or draught of the motive power. 

 This, I think, will explain the remarkable result of the 

 third set of ploughing trials above-mentioned. 



Where the side of a field or piece of gi ound is crooked, 

 and the line of hedge cannot be sraightened, the crooked 

 part is fenced off and used for pasture or in cultivation 

 as usual. If roads or lanes intervene between different 

 fields, a "level crossing" or moveable rails will enable the 

 machinery to pass from field to field. If a farm abuts on a 

 railroad, it may communicate with it, and by this means 

 the pre Juce may be sent to towns, without, in its transit, 

 beingoffarail; and marl, clay, sand, or other soils, may be 

 brought from distances, and be deposited at any period 

 at a very small comparative sum ; by this alone a per- 



manent increase in value may often be given to estates. 

 Also manure may be brought from towns and distributed 

 over the land at a very advantageous cost in comparison 

 with that on farms at present. 



The Smai-l Cultivator. — The small cultivator, to 

 which I before alluded, for the light operations of a 

 farm, or for the total cultivation of a market- garden, 

 would be constructed with a three or four-horse 

 power engine. It is in two parts. The engine por- 

 tion is distinct from the carriage, but is connected 

 with it by two bars with hooks at the ends, and diagonal 

 chains, which also hook and unhook readily. The dia- 

 meter of the cylinders of the small engine on the 

 Kensington Cultivator is only two inches, and the pres- 

 sure of the boiler is generally 401bs. This is only one- 

 half, or at the best three-quarters of one-horse power> 

 and we may well conceive that if so small an engine as 

 this (a mere toy) be considered sufficient to work a cul- 

 tivator of a breadth of 30 feet, together with its second 

 carriage, its weight of water, men,&c., how much larger 

 a breadth may be worked by powerful engines ! 



In the commencement of this paper I remarked that 

 it was a fast-growing opinion among farmers and many 

 others that steam should and would be made to super- 

 sede horse-labour in the field. Many farmers, taking 

 the view that my system realizes this opinion, have sug- 

 gested that the rails might be laid down over several 

 small farms, and the machinery be employed to work 

 from one to^the other ; but I think that the introduction 

 of the smaller arrangement of machinery, by which farms 

 of 200 acres may be worked, will be a better plan, 

 although not so likely to develop the fullest economy of 

 the system. 



The CoMMiNtTTOR. — The onward motion of the com- 

 minutor is in a line with the axis of the revolving tines, 

 cutting furrows parallel with the rails on the ground. 

 The ground, which is previously ploughed, is made into 

 a seed-bed as fine as the soil of a mole-hill, by the 

 action of the tines, for a depth of five or six inches ; 

 the general depth of the ploughed or broken ground 

 may, of course, be much greater. When the soil is free 

 from large stones the screen is used, by which means 

 the clods not at first broken are thrown back upon the 

 tines for a second or third blow. I found, in working 

 the machine, that the roots of couch and other weeds 

 were blown over and deposited on the unbroken side of 

 the land, where they were raked up with facility. 



In the hopper artificial manure is placed, and by a 

 manure distributor, a certain quantity, for a certain dis- 

 tance passed over by the machine, is distributed . The 

 importance of this complete amalgamation will be ap. 

 predated when the bearings of chemical science upon 

 the point are perceived. Professor Voelcker, in a lec- 

 ture, says, " The efficacy of a manure, or the practical 

 effect of which it is capable, is greatly influenced by the 

 mechanical condition of the land. I may illustrate this 

 by referring to experiments I have made on land at- 

 tached to Cirencester College, where I used superphos- 

 phate on a piece of ground which did not yield so much 

 as another piece of ground where none had been; but I 

 took the precaution to try the manure in a third place, 



