290 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



went to work with all the eagerness of a life-and- death 

 struggle. Smith's apparatus was his five-tine cuUivator, 

 and the machinery was that used by Lord Hatherton upon 

 his own farm for the last two years. The labourers, all 

 belonging to the estate, were evidently quite an fait of 

 their task, and it was an interesting feature of the day's 

 trials to watch the regular working of the implement. 

 No stoppage, no hitching anywhere ; everything went on 

 as smoothly as if the cuUivator had been drawn by a pair 

 of well-trained horsey. At each end a simple reversal of 

 the gear turned the implement short upon itself, a lifting 

 of the hand being the only necessary signal. As to the 

 work accomplished, nothing could exceed its perfection. 

 The whole surface, beaten though it had been by the 

 treading of folded sheep, and the hard rain which still 

 fell now and then in torrents, was beautifully smaslnd 

 up, to use Mr. Smith's own graphic expression, and the 

 whole staple thoroughly pulverized to a depth varying 

 from eight to nine inches. 



Mr. Fowlor, on the other band, was trying also a kind 

 of cuUivator adapted to the balance-beam of his well- 

 known plough ; but the tines, arranged la a single 

 diagonal row, though they were six in number, utterly 

 failed to accomplish their object. The soil was loosened, 

 it is true, to a depth of about nine inches ; but owing, 

 no doubt, to the disposition of the tines, the surface was 

 not nearly so well pulverized as with Smith's cultivator. 

 A single glance sufficed to determine on whose side waS 

 the palm of superiority. 



Both implements were carefully timed ; and it was 

 found that Smith's cultivator broke up 1 acre 1 rood 18 

 perches in one hour and a-half; whereas Fowler's 

 did only one acre during the same space of time. 

 The inferiority of Fowler's cultivator was so evident, 

 that a further trial became quite useless. Mr. Fowler 

 gave up the contest ; but his matchless swing-plough 

 was then attached to the gear, and on it went as it is 

 wont to go, fully redeeming the cultivator's defeat. 



If any one present had come to the trial-field with 

 any doubt in his mind about the practicability of steam- 

 ploughing, he must have returned home a wiser, because 

 a convinced man. On, went the plough with its four 

 shares, not only upturning the soil, but thoroughly pul- 

 verizing it, and leaving it in that mellow, spongy tilth 

 which is the goal of every ploughman's ambition, and 

 which can only be accomplished with steam as a motive- 

 power, and an implement which leaves the surface 

 without even the tread of a ploughman. 



Fowler's gear on this occasion was the same as ihatl.e 

 showed at Chester ; but it is right to state that his ma- 

 chinery has undergone, since that time, several radical 

 improvements, which, by rendering it more simple and 

 less ponderous, have greatly increased its power and 

 efficiency. With the new gear no strap is needed, and 

 therefore the difficulties arising from a wet diy are 

 entirely removed. A shaft with cog-wheels is directly 

 connected with a drum fixed beneath the boiler, ;.nd 

 round which the rope is wound up several times i > 

 grooves, as with a pulley ; and it is through this shaft 

 that motion is communicated to the endless rope. We 

 recently saw this improved machinery at work near 



Chelmsford, and can testify to the beautiful simplicity 

 of the gear and the singular efficiency of its working. 

 It is to be regretted that circumstances should have pre- 

 vented Mr. Fowler from bringing this improved tackle 

 upon the trial-field at Teddesley ; for, although he ex- 

 hibited a small model of it, yet nothing short of the 

 actual working of that beautifuUy-contrived machinery 

 could give an idea of its transcendent merits. 



It would be invidious, and to a certain extent out of 

 place, here, to establish a comparison between the two 

 rival systems that tried their respective efficiency on 

 Tuesday. The controversy has waxed too hot, of 

 'ate, to induce us to side with either party ; and yet we 

 are compelled to draw some conclusions from what we 

 observed. We do so fearlessly, for we have the con- 

 sciousness of having no bias towards either party, and 

 also because the difference between the two systems is 

 sufficiently marked, to rendtr the task of our criticism 

 comparatively easy and less liable to recrimination. 



We think that everyone who witnessed the trial, will 

 agree with us in saying, that no implement can compete 

 with Smith's cultivator, in simplicity, easy working, 

 and efficiency ; and it is obvious that for the purpose 

 of breaking stubbles and other autumnal operations, 

 and cleaning land by exposing the weeds on the surface, 

 instead of burying them as it is done with the plough, 

 Mr. Smith's system is unrivalled. On the other hand, 

 when plough work is wanted — that is, when the land is 

 in that state of thorough cleanliness which is the rule of 

 good farming, and when the under part of the staple 

 needs be exposed to the influence of the atmosphere to 

 renovate its fertility — Fowler's swing plough knows no 

 equal. 



As regards the gear we rather hesitate to express an 

 opinion. It is obvious that this is the knotty point that 

 forms the gist of the controversy between the two sys- 

 tems. Without assuming the right of deciding this 

 vexed question, we think it useful to point out the con- 

 siderations which ought to decide which traction is the 

 bsst. It is acknowledged by all who have either paid 

 attention to steam cultivation or practiced it, that one of 

 the most serious items of its cost, is the wear-and-tear of 

 the wire rope. The whole question between the windlass 

 and the pulley systems lies in the settling of this point. 

 On the one hand, it is obvious that with the windlass a 

 greater length of rope is necessary ; and if greater power 

 be used, such as is required in ploughing for instance, 

 we apprehend that the tight coiling of the rope upon the 

 drums, would seriously injure it by the pressure it would 

 have to bear ; whcresis, with the endless system this evil 

 is not to be apprehended. There is another point upon 

 which some doubts exist in our mind, and that is, whe- 

 ther Mr. Smith's shifting anchors could stand the strain 

 of a 12-hor8e power engine. Even with the compara- 

 tively light draught of his cultivator, we observed that the 

 man in char^^e had to maintain the anchors with a lever 

 to prevent their slipping; and there naturally arose in 

 our mind the question, what would be the result if a 

 heavy four-furrow plough had to be pulled, instead of a 

 light cultivator ? We leave the decision of these points 

 to those whom it may concern ; but one thing is certain 



