162 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



of Mr. Shackel, that the farmers were only too glad to get 

 turnip plants of any kind, and were not careful to select the 

 strongest plants in the hoeing, he (Lord Caithness) would say 

 that that was not the plan adopted in Scotland. He did not 

 mean to assert that the English agriculturist was behind the 

 Scotch, for they all knew what the English farmer could do, 

 but in Scotland the practice was to select the finest plants in 

 hofing. 



The Chairman took the liberty of suggesting that this 

 was not the time to discuss the comparative merits of Scotch 

 and English farming. 



Mr. S. Sidney knew that the farmers of England were 

 rather in advance than behindhand in the desire to employ 

 steam in the cultivation of the land. It was in f«ict the want 

 of the present time, and if one thing was more remarkable 

 than another in the progress of agriculture during the last ten 

 years, it was the extreme rapidity with which the farmers had 

 come to make use of steam, if they had anything offered them 

 that they were sure would pay. Large sums of money were 

 waiting to be invested in that way, when once the farmers 

 were sure that an implement had been produced which would 

 not be rendered valueless by after-improvement, or reduced in 

 value and utility by modifications from time to time. He 

 feared the time had scarcely arrived when farmers were pre- 

 pared to give an opinion upon this plan ; and with regard to 

 these who were engaged in designing improvements in the ap- 

 plication of steam to agricultural purposes, they were so much 

 engaged in tryins; to perfect their own inventions that they were 

 not prepared to say much about other plans. When he first saw 

 the plan, the diflSculty which presented itself to his mind was 

 that the sinking of a large capital in the land would not be 

 received in a favourable manner. Putting aside that minor 

 point, it was impossible not to see that the difficulties were 

 not mechanical, but financial. It was not easy to find per- 

 sons prepared to sink so large a capital in the soil as this 

 new system called for. He drew a broad distinction between 

 the farmer wlio was prepared to lay out from £500 to £!!00 

 for a steam engine which was applicable to the operations 

 of the farm generall}', and him who might be inclined to lay 

 down the permanent system of works advocated by IMr. 

 Halkett. He did not despair of seeing ]\Ir. Halkett'splan 

 adopted in some places ; but it must first be done by some 

 gentleman who went into the matter to make for himself a 

 reputation without any hope of profit. He thought the 

 calculation of per-centages, as brought forward by Mr. Hal- 

 kett, was a delusive one. There was no comparison be- 

 tween the case of land worth £6 an acre, with an outlay 

 upon it of £.00 per acre, or 1,500 per cent., and Mr. Halkett 's 

 system. In the former case the cultivation was by slaves, 

 who were a saleable property, and not invested capital in the 

 soil ; therefore that 1,500 per cent, did not, in fact, repre- 

 sent the capital sunk in the land. The difficulty in Mr. 

 Halkett's system was that the capital was not invested in a 

 class of property which could be sold or mortgaged, but 

 which stood in the same position as the working plant sunk 

 in a mine. He would like to see the plan carried out by 

 some of those landed proprietors who from time to time 

 fortunately came forward to employ their capital for the 

 public good. 



Mr. Bailky Denton could not help expressing some re- 

 gret that Mr. Halkett still adhered to figures in estimating 

 the cost of the rails, which he (Mr. Denton) believed were 

 too low. He entirely echoed the statement of Mr. Mechi 

 as to the beautiful manner in which the diiTcrent operations 

 were executed by Mr. Halkett's machinery ; but in the in- 

 troduction of that system, they must not only knock down the 



hedges and fill up the ditches, but it would also be necessary 

 to level the surface of the country similar to the feu lands of 

 England. He could add, that the system of Mr. Halkett was 

 peculiarly suited for market-garden purposes ; and the great 

 reason why it had not been introduced upon those occupations 

 was owing to the small scale on which they existed in this 

 country ; but were it possible to construct market gardens of 

 a size to make it worth while to try this system, he believed it 

 would answer very well. 



Mr. Henry Smith, as a practical farmer, wished to know 

 whether, presuming these rails were laid down upon certain 

 lauds upon a farm of a thousand acres, horses could be en- 

 tirely dispensed with, ss regarded the apparatus itself? He 

 would also be glad.to know by what means the produce was 

 conveyed from the fields to the homestead ; also, how the 

 manure was carried from the farm-yard to the land? 



Mr. Cornelius "Walford urged the desirability of ren- 

 dering the discussion of this subject as practical as possible. 

 With the present low prices, before shown, it would be neces- 

 sary for farmers to adopt some other system than the present 

 one for cultivating the land. Looking at the tone of the Hia- 

 cnssion, he was led to the observation, that whilst the meeting 

 saw the necessity for the introduction of some new method of 

 culture, they were not at present in a position to pledge 

 themselves to this or any other scheme. His opinion of the 

 tenant farmers was, (hat they would readily adopt every real 

 improvement that was introduced into the science of agricul- 

 ture. 



Mr. Halkett said, in answer to Mr. Smith, that the in- 

 terest on machinery and implements was the same as that for 

 horses and horse machinery. In answer to the question as to 

 the size of the farm, he said that the system might be used 

 with the small machinery for farms of only 200 acres. In re- 

 ply to Mr. Mechi, be thought that the question of increasing 

 the pressure of the steam was quite an engineering one. In 

 his own opinion, it would, perhaps, be better ; but if the 

 pressure was increased, and the cylinders were the same 

 size, the boiler must be enlarged; in fact, the power 

 of an engine verj' much depended on the size of the boiler. 

 With regard to an observation made by Lord Caithness, in 

 reference to hedges, he (Mr. Halkett) always under- 

 stood that taking down a hedge paid for itself. He be- 

 lieved that it was his Lordship who remarked that by this 

 system larger crops would be obtained. He felt sure that one 

 had but to see the fine crop of mangel-wurzels grown by Mr. 

 vSmith with his steam plough, to be convinced of the 

 advantages which were to be obtamed by not treading on 

 the ground during the ploughing, while in his (Mr. Hal- 

 kett's) system the ground was not trodden upon at all in 

 any operation. In reply to Mr. Howard, of Bedford, he 

 said that locomotives could be made to go up a steep in- 

 cline if they were, by a proper arrangement of machineiy, 

 made to reduce the revolutions of their wheels to the proper 

 speed. They would then be able to go up much more than 

 1 in 15, even as much as 1 in 5. But locomotives were 

 made for speed — to go 40 or 50 miles an hour. He did not 

 mean to say that in any case they would be able to draw a 

 train up a steep incline, for the wheels would slip ; but in 

 his case it was quite diifcrent, for, as he had before ex- 

 plained, all his wheels were driving-wheels. He begged to 

 thank Mr. Sydney for the flattering terms in which he had 

 spoken of his paper. With reference to the remarks upon 

 the 1,500 per cent, of outlay upon the fee-simple of land 

 upon sugar estates, he was only stating a well-known fact ; 

 this included slaves, buildings, and machinery, and he (j\Ir. 

 Halkett) could see no difference in the case. If the one was 



