110 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



injury to them, and at a small co3t ; the ability to cart at all 

 seasons and in all weathers ; and lastly, that this can be done 

 at a considerable diminution of cost, all interest on rails and 

 machinery being much more than covered by the saving on 

 labour; do we not see the vast power which steam has, not 

 only to master all the difficulties, and effect all the operations 

 of agriculture, but also greatly to improve the processes ? 

 proving the truth of the writings of Mr. Wren lloskyns, in 

 which such a result is fore-sliadowed, and in^whose more elo- 

 quent words let me couclude a paper, far too long, I fear, for 

 the patience of my hearers. " Circumstances (says that gen- 

 tleman} likely to form hereafter an important fea'ure in the 

 history of the present time— an unprecedented expansion in 

 the trade of the country — emigration on an extraordinary scale 

 to the gold-fields of America and Australia, acting almost 

 simultaneously with a serious reduction in the population of 

 the sister-kingdom, and all tending to the same result, a home 

 for the scarcity of labouring hands— have created a demand for 

 agricultural machinery heretofore unknown, and revived the 

 half-abaudoned question of the application of the steam-engine 

 to the culture of the soil. The long-cited example of its general 

 use in manufactures, and the revolution it has wrought in every 

 other branch of art, has given place to the closer argument of 

 the actual and now familiar-appearance in the farm-yard itself. 

 The mere habituation of the eye is the best of all arguments in 

 cases of this kind; the farmer who has once had a travel- 

 ling steam-thrashing machine in his field or yard is pre- 

 pared to hear, if not to ask the question, why its services 

 should not be extended further ; he sees the simplicity of its 

 workmanship, and the ease and docility of its movements, and 

 its striking concentration of power into small compass. If it 

 is to be expected, as most of those who have given any notice 

 to the subject appear to admit, that the steam engine, when- 

 ever it is successfully applied to cultivation, will cause a revo- 

 lution, as well from the manual as from the horse-power 

 methods of effecting it, it is not less likely that it will in a 

 corresponding degree improve the process itself, and present a 

 result comparatively perfect. Given the accomplishment of the 

 act, the rate of intrinsic improvement in the act it almost fore- 

 determined." 



Mr. W. Smith would ask Mr. Halkett whether he had cor- 

 rectly understood him to state that the proportion of power 

 required for moving the machinery itself really was five-eighths 

 of the whole power exerted in the performance of the work, as 

 stated in the paper. Another point was, in taking into account 

 the interest of the capital invested, Mr. Halkett merely referred 

 ,to the cost of laying down the rails. He (Mr. Smith) wished 

 to know whether he had included the cost of the machinery? 

 and the entire apparatus; because if the calculation referred 

 merely to the cost of the rails, he considered that a very ma- 

 terial element had been omitted 



Mr. Alderman Meciii, having had an opportunity of ex- 

 amining the operation of Mr. Halkett's system of cultivation 

 in very bad weather, had no hesitation in stating his impression 

 that all the statements which Mr. Halkett had just made would 

 be borne out by the resnlts when put into practice. He knew 

 that that was not the opinion of many of his practical friends ; 

 but there could be no doubt that what hai been done by the 

 locomotive engine on railways, mi^ht in sowe degree be taken 

 as an example of wh^t was possible under the proposed system. 

 Thfy found that engines drew after them, at high vtlccities, 

 trains of 200 tons, at a cost of not more than half-a-crown per 

 mile for the working expenses. Might not a fcirailar rcdnction 

 of cost be hope I for in agricultural operations ? If he had 

 correctly understood Mr. Halkett, £10 per acre was the cost 



laid at that price. The interest of that, and the wear and tear, 

 he would take at 15s. per acre. He believed t!iat it was well 

 understood that the cost of horse and manual labour upon a 

 farm was sometliing like £3 per acre as regarded the arable 

 portion of the land. If 20 per ceut. on that was saved by the 

 plan now proposed, that would be 15s. on the £3, which would 

 pay for the interest of the rails. Ke also understood Mr. 

 Halkett to say that the cost of his machinery might be set 

 against the ordinary cost of the horses and the usual farming 

 implements, which he (Mr. Mechi) believed to be quite true ; 

 and this, he thought, would be an answer to the gentleman 

 (Mr. Smith) who had just made some remarks on that subject- 

 They all knew that, practically, wherever they could bring 

 steam to bear, horae-power could not in any way compete with 

 it, either with regard to economy, endurance, or opportunities 

 for cultivation. Therefore, the whole question might be said 

 to depend upon whether the annual saving under this system 

 would be equal to the interest on the amount of the fixed capi- 

 tal laid down in the rails. That, he thought, was the essence 

 of the question. But when they considered the numerous ad- 

 vantages of the plan which he had witnessed — that it could be 

 used in all weathers, except in hard frost, and used untiringly, 

 and also at night— there could be no doubt that the opportu- 

 nity of doing the work at the very time that it was wanted, 

 and, above all, the superior manner in which the work itself 

 was done, would more than compensate for any less of interest 

 upon the cost of the rails. He could only say, Uiat he had 

 witnessed the machine at work with eight ploughs and two 

 subsoil ploughs, and the soil was lifted and thrown over in a 

 manner which exhibited a most favourable contrast to the ordi- 

 nary mode of ploughing. The ploughs, hanging as they did 

 from the framing of the machine, acted with perfect accuracy, 

 and nothing could move them from their line of working. The 

 implements might break, but they could not alter their posi- 

 tion, and would perform the work with an accuracy unknown 

 to horse-power. He had no doubt some of his friends would 

 put him down as being rather " fast" npou this sulject, but 

 he had applied common sense and calculation to it, and he 

 would say that he felt personally indebted to Mr. Hslkett for 

 the lucid manner in which he had brought forward his system, 

 and the evidence with which he was prepared to prove that 

 which he had stated. 



Dr. Matthew Truman remarked, that according to the 

 statement of Mr. Halkett, large farms of 1,000 acres or more 

 presented the greatest facilities for the full testing of this sys- 

 tem of cultivation ; but farms of that extent were not to be 

 found in all parts of the country, nor were the fields joined to- 

 gether in the manner best calculated for carrying out this ope- 

 ration. He should be glad to know what was the minimum 

 quantity of land to which this system would be applicable. 

 Mr. Halkett had spoken of market-gardens, but those were 

 cultivated in a very different manner to the generality of farm 

 land throughout the rnuutry. It appeared that it was not 

 adapted to every form of cultivation, and if the employment of 

 horses was necessary for exceptional cases there could not be 

 sufficient occupation for them throughout the year. He appre- 

 hended that unless the entire estate were laid out very much 

 in the form they saw in the diagram exliihited, the business of 

 a (arm of 1,000 acres could not be conducted entirely without 

 horses ; aud he thought that was so much deduction to be 

 made from the profit that was supposed to acoue from the 

 adoption of this system. It appeared to him to be a most im- 

 portant subject, and one in which all agriculturists must feel 

 a great interest. 

 Mr. William Hawes would raise a question or two, 



of the wooden rails, and he (Mr. Mechi) believed they could be which had nothing to do with the actual machinery employed, 



