iOG 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



worthy of the most profound consideration, and of a fair 

 national trial on a large scale. Who is to do this and 

 find the means is another question. I have never yet 

 heard any one dispute Mr. Halkett's calculations. When 

 I see that 240 tons' weight can be drawn on a railway, at 

 a speed of twenty miles an hour, a whole mile for two- 

 pennyworth of coal, I see that the whole question 

 hinges on the calculation of what sum would be sufficient 

 interest for wear and tear, and first cost of his proposed 

 railway. I exhibit a photograpli of the machine in 

 operation, performing various farm' labours. If our 

 unduly costly railways pay the shareholders an interest 

 equal to Consols, and yet take us as cheaply as the old 

 coach, saving three-fourths of our time, is it so Utopian 

 to imagine that similar causes should produce equal 

 effects in agriculture? Is not time, in horse and manual 

 labour, as much money as time on the rail ? By-the-bye 

 I have just heard that Boydell's traction engine is draw- 

 ing coals into Manchester, from a colliery, at one-penny 

 per ton per mile, on the high road. It always sur- 

 prised me that railway buffers and springs were not 

 attached to the machine when it had to draw ploughs or 

 scarifiers. But for these buffers and springs, our rail- 

 way-engines would be breaking their chains, and doing 

 much mischief by sudden concussion. I hear that as 

 much as £10,000 has been expended on Romaine's 

 cultivator since I lent my aid to its introduction. The 

 inventor is still sanguine of success, judging from lis 

 operations in Yorkshire, but a large expenditure is yet 

 required for its full development j it is intended, I be- 

 lieve, to fit it with Boydell's wheels, or something on the 

 same principle. I deeply regret Mr. Boydell's severe 

 indisposition, arising from his anxious and unwearied 

 exertions about his traction engine. I have received the 

 following from Mr. Hall, who has used Fowler's plough 

 for some time. It will be seen that he works at very 

 high pressure: — " Navestock, Essex, April 26, 1859 : 

 Dear Sir, — I find in practice that my portable engine, 

 working three hundred and twenty pounds pressure, 

 consumes eight hundred and tifty pounds of coal, worth 

 eight shillings and sixpence, per each day's work of ten 

 hours, while drawing Fowler's four-furrov^r plough, by 

 the wire-rope system ; and six acres is a fair day's work 

 at present, and which requires three men and two boys, 

 and one horse for water. This same engine was worked 

 with Boydell's wheels as a direct traction, drawing 

 Fowler's (same) Plough. To work ten hours, and 

 plough six acres, she required eleven to twelve hundred 

 pounds of coal. She therefore consumed about a quar- 

 ter of her fuel to propel herself, besides the damage 

 done to the land by her wheels, which was fatal to that 

 principle for cultivation ; but to be enabled to proceed 

 into any field, without horses, is a most valuable acqui- 

 sition. My fixed engine, working at one-hundred-and- 

 twenty pounds pressure, consumes five hundred-weight of 

 coal in twelve hours, driving one pair of barley-stones, 

 grinding eight bushels per hour, and two pairs of wheat 

 stones grinding four bushels per hour each. — I remain, 

 sir, yours very truly, Collinson Hall. We worked 

 this engine at two hundred pounds' pressure, and then 

 four hundredweight of coal performed the same quan- 

 tity of work as the five hundredweight at one hundred 



and twenty pounds now does. Since the mill was 

 burnt down, in 1845, I have thought it prudent to 

 reduce the pressure." 



The Pioneers of Steam Culture. — Years since 

 I had the privilege of inspecting Lord Willoughby 

 d'Eresby's steam-ploughing in Lincolnshire, worked 

 by the " California," a portable steam-engine exhibited 

 in the Crystal Palace of 1851, one of the most perfect 

 and powerful portable engines I ever saw. Again, we 

 are much indebted to the Marquis of Tweeddale for the 

 Yester steam-ploughing, which ought to have convinced 

 the agricultural world long ago not to be afraid of ex- 

 posing a heavy subsoil to atmospheric influences. Then, 

 Mr. Usher, of Edinburgh, has strong claims on our 

 thanks and sympathy, when we consider the large sums 

 he expended on producing his steam cultivator. Expe- 

 rimenting is no joke. I believe that to perfectionate 

 these implements has cost the inventors a fortune of 

 many thousands. 



Comparative Value of House and Steam- 

 power. — We are much indebted to Mr. John C. Mor- 

 ton for his able paper on the cost of horse-power, in the 

 Royal Agricultural Society's last Journal; but, if I had 

 any doubt before, that paper has convinced me that 

 horse-power is at least from 50 to 100 per cent, dearer 

 than steam, where the latter can be brought to bear. If 

 manufacturers were asked even to make the comparison, 

 they would ridicule the idea, and tell jou that but for 

 steam you could be neither clothed, housed, nor fed. 

 What a manufacturer wants and uses, is " power," 

 cheap, untiring power ; and is this not exactly what the 

 agricultural cultivator requires ? Now, you can never 

 get combined or continued power with horses in any 

 number. When first the mole plough was tried on a 

 stiff clay in Essex, before the introduction of the capstan, 

 upwards of 30 horses were attached to it, and a very 

 Babel of confusion ensued. In their struggling attempts 

 at uniform draught, the outsiders compressed those in 

 the centre until a cloud of steam arose from the excited 

 and oppressed animals. Compare this with the tranquil 

 grandeur of a twenty, fifty, or five-hundred horse- 

 power engine. In comparing horses with steam, we 

 could only allow a horse to work full collar, without In- 

 termiss'ion or rest, for four-and-half hours : that 

 would be an ample day's work, and it would cost 2s., 

 because a large well-fed draught-horse cannot be kept 

 for less than £30 per annum. Let us see what my own 

 steam horse costs working ten clear hours per day, full 

 collar, and my engine is not of the latest improvement, 

 having been in use ten years. The exact measure of one 

 strong horse-power in steam is the evaporation of six 

 gallons, or sixty pounds of water, per hour. My own 

 engine evaporates fifty-four gallons per hour, and there- 

 fore, gives nine horse-power, working ten hours per day, 

 which is equal to eighteen real horses working five hours 

 per day. 



I burn balf-a-ton of dust coal, at 9s £Q 4 6 



Cartage 16 



£0 6 



Horse-power would cost £1 7 



One labourer at 2s. per day manages my engine, feeds 



