THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



161 



but rather with the coat at which it could be applied. He re- 

 garded it as next to imposaible that tenant farmers could incur 

 the expenditure necessary to carry out that system whilst thty 

 stood iu the position of tenants at-will, or on short leases. Ttu' 

 quesiion of long or short leases was a vexed one amongst tin- 

 agricultural community, and he thought it one of the lej^iti- 

 mate ohjects of this Society to look at the question not merely 

 as to the pecuniary cost of cultivating the laud, but, having 

 ascertained the fact that a great improvement could be intro- 

 duced into our agricultural system, it became thtm to iiiriuiie 

 whether au antiquated system of legislation had not tended lo 

 retard improvement, and check that which might otherwise be 

 a great public and national benefit. 



Mr. Mecui would ask Mr. Ilalkett whether be had ever 

 worked the engine at a higher pressure thau froai 40 lbs. to 

 50 lbs. to the square inch, seeing that railway locomotives 

 would commonly work at as high a pressure as I'JOlbs. to 

 140 lbs,; and also, whether he did not think advantage would 

 be gained'hy w orking at a higher pressure than that mentioned, 

 making the relative cost leas for wear and tear ? 



The Earl of Caithness said that 120 lbs. pressure was only 

 an average one for railway locomotives, and a pressure of 

 140 lbs. might, in bis opinion, be as saf^ely employed in steam 

 culture as in any other operation. He would ask one question 

 of Mr. Halkett with regard to these rails. It appeared from 

 the diagram exhibited of the machine in operation, that the 

 rails were laid down iu long lengths, and that all such obstruc- 

 tions as hedges and ditches were removed. Such a course, he 

 believed, was attended with great advantages in farmiufr ; but 

 it would be a matter of considerable expense, either to the 

 proprietor or the tenant, to fill up the ditches, and clear away 

 the intervening hedge-rows. That was an item which he sug- 

 gested ought fairly to be added to the exptnse of introducing 

 the system of cultivation now tinder consideration, lie woubl 

 also ask, ;in what lengths the rails were laid dowji, and how 

 they were fastened at the junctions — whether fished, or i,; 

 what way they were put together ; and further, whether they 

 were intended to be permanent rails ? A friend of his had re- 

 marked that this system would be a most disagreeable accom- 

 panimeat to a farm, inasmuch as the laying down of these rails 

 would effectually destroy fox hunting, as horses wotald not like 

 to go across the fields in which the lails were laid. Knowing 

 that John Bull was very fond of fox!;unting, and the English 

 farmer liked good horses, he would i Imost be sorry to see the 

 country spoiled for this old English sport. At the same time^ 

 he was a great advocate for anything which would enable far- 

 mers to employ steam as the means of cultivating land. He 

 believed it was capable of being done. Whether Mr. Halkett 

 had exactly propounded the way in v liich it was to be effected 

 remained to be proved. Mr. Smith's mode of steam ploughing 

 from what he had seen of it, was exf sdinglygood, and he was 

 sorry he had not had the opportuui y of witnessing it upon a 

 large scale.' He had seen it in ope aiion at Windsor, on the 

 occasion of Mr. Fowler exhibiting it; to the Prince Consort. 

 and the experiment was quite sufficient' to demonstrate that 

 ploughing could be'done well by'steam. He had this year 

 given to Mr. Fowler the offer to plough 200 acres of land for 

 a friend of bis, but he received au answer from Mr. Fowler to 

 the effect thnt he did not undertake ploughing himself ; but 

 his advice was. that the farmers of a district should club to- 

 gether for purchase of an tagine and apparatus for steam 

 ploughing. If that could be done, be (Lord Caithness) be- 

 lieved it would be a most advantageous plan. He believed if 

 any one would establish a steam plough in a district, and let it 

 out, although there might be some loss in the first instance, 

 yet, if the practicability and advantage of ploughing by steam 



were demonstrated, the great difficulty would be got over. 

 The great objection to this system was, that he was afraid 

 they would not get persons, especially farm-^rs, to lay out the 

 Inrge sum that was required to carry out Mr. Halkett'a plan of 

 culture. The system itself was extremely beautiful, and, with 

 the rails properly laid and fisli-jcjinted, he had no doubt exces- 

 sively good work could he done, without that detriment to the 

 land which was occasioned by the trampling of hortes' feet. 

 With rtgard to the operatiou of hoeing, he felt interested in 

 tliat process, particularly with reference to turnips; but the 

 objection to this plan, as applied to turuips, he apprehended 

 would be, that when the hoeing was done by machinery, the 

 healthy plants might be hoed up, and unpromising plants left 

 behind. When the hoeiug was done by band, the strongest 

 plants were allowed to remain. Upon the whole, he thought 

 farmers generally would not regard this system with a favour- 

 able eye, more especially as it appeared by the diagram that 

 there was a little corner which, from its shape, must be culti- 

 vated by the ordinary mei-ns. 



The Chaikman said, that the noble lord who had just sat 

 down had spoken most favourably of the use of steam, but bis 

 lordship appeared to think the farmers were so benighted a 

 class that they had not the spirit to club together to raise a 

 few hundreds to bring it into operatiou. He (the Chairman) 

 might appeal to Mr Shuttleworth and Mr. Howard whether, 

 when farmers were canvinced of the advantages of employing 

 a steam eugiae, they did not at once procure one. He could 

 mention the fact that in one locality, with which he was well 

 acqusinted, the farmers had formed a coaopany, and bad pur- 

 chased and set to work four of Hornsby's engines. 



Mr. Geokge Shackel remarked that this subject bad been 

 alluded to by the noble lord as a tenant's question. He (Mr. 

 Shackel) would rather it had been introduced as a landlord's 

 question, as that was certainly the light in which he regarded 

 it. It was not to be imagined that a farmer with 7 or 14 years' 

 lease would embark iu the necesssry outlay. It was not his 

 wish to throw any obstacles in the way of this plan; for 

 with wheat at 408. a quarter, it would be a great desideratum 

 with the farmer to have a system ittroduced that would enable 

 him to obtain a fair profit. With regard to the hoeing of tur- 

 nips, the farmers were only too glad to get plants at all, with- 

 out exercising any great nicety in selecting the strongest plants 

 in the operation of hoeing. 



Mr. James Howard would say one word with reference 

 to what had just fallen from the Chairman. He (Mr. Howard) 

 Could answer for the tenant farmers, that they were not want- 

 ing iu spirit in adopting any system that was proved to pay. 

 The farmers were a very calculating class, and he was con- 

 vinced that if they were made acquaiuted with the existence of 

 a reaiiy good iuvtution they would not be slow to try it. He 

 (Mr. Howard) had been a good deal connected with Smith's 

 steam ploughing tackle, and could state that there Lad been 

 no trouble in disposing of 40 sets of the steam cultivating ap- 

 paratus, upwards of 30 of which had been sold to tenants. 

 That fact filoue was sulficieut to redeem them from the asper- 

 sion that they wanted spirit to adopt inventions which they 

 knew to be really good and practically valuable. He agreed 

 with Mr. Shackel in considering the introduction of this sys- 

 tem as a landlord's question, and if the proprietors of land 

 would go to the expense of carrying out this plan of Mr. Hal- 

 kett's, the tenant farmers would only be too happy to make 

 use of it. With ref;ard to the power of traction exerted by 

 the machinery, he believed the Londou and North Western 

 Railway Company had not a locomotive engine that would 

 take itself up an incline of 1 iu 15, at a mile au hour. 



The Earl of Caithness said, with reference to the remark 

 M 2 



