THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



S91 



— and it may be pointed at by Mr. Smitb as an answer 

 to any criticism of his system — thejnachinery, gear, and 

 implements that we saw at Teddesley on Tuesday last 

 most admirably accomplished the task they had to per- 

 form ; and as nothing else was aimed at by Mr. Smith on 

 that trial, he may justly claim the palm of victory. But 

 had it been a ploughing match, Mr. Fowler would have 

 most undoubtedly established the unrivalled superiority 

 of his system. 



Mr. Williams, of Baydon, had sent his newly-invented 

 cultivator ; but owing to its not being provided with 

 drums to haul up the slack of the endless rope, it could 

 not be attached to Fowler's gear. However, late in the 

 day, when all the company had left, temporary arrange- 

 ments were made, and it was propelled a sufficient 



length to test its great excellence and efficiency. The 

 work, in fact, could stand a comparison with that per- 

 formed by Smith's cultivator, and it has the farther merit 

 of taking a breadth of six feet, which must greatly ex- 

 pedite the work. Altogether, we think that this culti- 

 vator is likely to draw the attention of steam agricul- 

 turists, as it is certainly contrived with singular ingenuity 

 and practical experience. 



It is but just to record the excellence of the arrange- 

 ments made by Lord Hatherton and his agent, Mr. Bright. 

 The moat bountiful hospitality was extended to all 

 visitors ; and the keen blast that swept over the trial 

 field, the piercing cold rain, and constant exertion 

 thereby rendered necessary, sufficiently whetted every 

 one's appetite to render excellent fare the more welcome. 



THE STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS, 



It is well for the agriculturist to get " a wrinkle" 

 now and then from those marvellous men of business 

 in the great cities. While we have none but con- 

 jectural farming statistics to dazzle the world with, 

 what a sensation are the manufacturing classes able to 

 make with the exact number of their spindles, the list 

 of furnaces in work, and such details as those we now 

 subjoin ! Of course these " textile" people form only a 

 small portion of the vast population of " cunning 

 craftsmen" occupied also in " fictile," " ceramic," 

 chemical, iron, and all sorts of metallic manufacture, 

 besides innumerable industries in wood-work, stone- 

 work, machine-making, dying, mining, quarrying, and 

 the fabrication of articles of dress, ornament, or utility. 

 But if the clever fellows engaged in those particular 

 branches are content to let Government keep national 

 books about them and their proceedings, without being 

 deemed unwarrantably inquisitorial, and with ad- 

 vantage to their art or business, why should we farmers 

 dread the prying eye of public "enumerators," or 

 either refuse or else falsely fill up the columns of their 

 schedules ? The Census busybodies did get out of us 

 how many folks are fai-mers and graziers; how many 

 labourers we employ ; how many of our agricultural 

 counties are unable to provide work and subsistence 

 to the hands and mouths born in their towns and 

 villages, and are thus obliged to draft off their multi- 

 plying inhabitants to the big factory districts, or drive 

 them away as emigrants to strange countries, to grow 

 bread in the wild back woods, or shear sheep in the 

 wilderness. Would any harm be done, would not en- 

 couragement be furnished by collected and published 

 " returns" of such items in agricultural progress as the 

 increase in number of acres subsoil-drained, the amount 

 of steam or other motive-power applied to farm pur- 

 poses, and so on ? Take the following as an instructive 

 and suggestive example : — 



Factories for spinning and weaving cotton, wool, 

 worsted, flax, and silk in the United Kingdom. — (From 

 a Parliamentary Paper, Session of 1857.) The number 



of these factories in 185G was 5,117, worked by 137,711 

 " horse-power" of steam, and 23,724 " horse-power" 

 of water-power, and employing 682,497 male and 

 female workpeople. The history of the increase of 

 motive-power is told by the following table : — 

 The "horse-power" was, 



in the year Steam. 



1838 75,083 



1850 108,113 



1856 137,711 



Water. 

 27,926 

 26,104 

 23,724 



Total. 

 ] 03,009 

 134,217 

 161,435 



— the increase of power from 1838 to 1856 being no 

 less than 58 per cent. 



Can anybody tell us what amount of steam and 

 water-power the agricultural industry of the country 

 employs, in addition to its great team of about a million 

 farm-horses and oxen, and how fast is the use of steam 

 engines extending? Have we now 15,000 or 20,000 

 farm-engines at work, of the united "power" of 

 120,000 to 160,000 horses, and increasing at the rate 

 of 2,000 engines every year ? Perhaps Mr. Mechi will 

 bo able to furnish some pretty sound estimate, when 

 the subject comes before the Farmers' Club next May. 



The increase in the number of hands employed in 

 the factories under consideration has grown, we are 

 happy to say, in a more rapid ratio than the application 

 of mechanical motive-power. 



In the year 1835 there were 354,684 hands. 

 „ 1838 „ 423,400 „ 



„ 1850 „ 596,082 „ 



„ 1856 „ 682,497 „ 



— the per-centage of increase from 1838 to 1856 being 

 61, while that of the power was 58. 



What have the agriculturists to say on this point ? 

 It is a fact that during the twenty years from 1811 to 

 1831 the number of families engaged in farming pur- 

 suits increased only 7 per cent., while thoseof the whole 

 of Great Britain increased 34 per cent. 



The following table shows at a glance the ratio of 

 progress in activity and industry of the different 

 branches of manufacture referred to : — 



