162 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



A VISIT TO WOOLSTON. 



SiE, — Seeing tlie general invitation of Mr. Smith 

 I determined to accept it, that I might have an op- 

 Ijortunity of judging of the merits of his system Ly an 

 inspection of its eflects on his own fiirm as vrell as its 

 action. I had seen it in operation on the Flemish farm 

 at AVindsor in the autumn of '68, and felt anxious to see 

 it at home. 



Accordingly, on Monday last, accompanied hy two 

 friends, hoth, like myself, practical farmers, I went to 

 Bletchley Station, and thence to the far-famed Woolston, 

 passing across a wet backward country, on which the past 

 season must have told very unfavourably for horse-labour. 

 Indeed, the heavy rains that had lately fallen, and the 

 nature of the land, made us far from sanguine that we 

 should find the apparatus at work. However, we per- 

 severed through mist and rain, and on arriving at ]\Ir. 

 Smith's residence were greatly relieved to hear the steamer 

 was industriously at work dijjging carrots. The field to 

 which we were directed forms part of the Woolston UylU 

 land ; perhaps it may be called so by comparison, but it is 

 widely different to my own light land ; nor do I imagine 

 my plouglimen would give it that appellation. Here we 

 were welcomed by Mr. Smith ; and, as the implement was 

 stopping for a few minutes, tliat gentleman conducted us 

 over some of the adjoining fields, the appearance of which 

 bore ami)le testimony to the efficiency of his system of 

 cultivation. The swedes were magnificent for any season, 

 affording a striking contrast to the small poverty-stricken 

 roots in my own and all other neighbourhoods I have 

 visited during the present season; the absence of treading, 

 added to the depth and completeness of the cultivation, 

 having enabled them to develop themselves to a degree 

 scarcely credible. We did not weigli any of the roots, but 

 I should imagine 16 or 17 lbs. was a common weight for 

 them : they had been grown in Mr. Smith's ordinary way 

 on ridges one yard apart. 



Crossing a meadow, we proceeded to a stubble-field 

 in course of preparation for a fallow crop. The stubble 

 had been first manured with a moderate coat of dung, 

 then smashed by steam to a depth of 10 inches with the 

 No. 3 Cultivator ; the nest process is to ridge it with four 

 horses and an ordinary ridging plough in the opposite 

 direction to the smashing, the ridges being one yard apart, 

 in which state the land remains till seed-time, when the 

 tops are hoed and drilled. The ridging plough had been 

 one " bout," to show the eflect ; and no land could possibly 

 lie " kinder" for the action of frost and weather, while the 

 cleanliness of the field was remarkable. 



Having seen thus much of the effects of the system, we 

 returned to the apparatus now steadily at work digging 

 carrots, which it accomplished by drawing a strong sub- 

 soil plough or iron tine between the rows, at a depth of 

 18 inches, heaving the land np to some distance on either 

 side, and loosening the can-ots so that they could easily be 

 pulled by hand, or with the assistance of a spade, and at 

 the same time subsoiling the land most effectually. 



But it is timeltiu-ned to the implements and apparatus, 

 which now come more especially under our observation. 



Simplicity, portabiUty, capability of adaptation to cir- 

 cumstances : such were the most important characteristics, 



which, to my mind, appeared especially to belong to the 

 system, and a further examination served only to deepen 

 these impressions. Mr. Smith's apparatus is pre-eminently 

 adapted for a practical farmer, and an ordinai-y average 

 farm, whether we regard his engine, anchorage, or imple- 

 ments. The engine is an ordinary 8-horse power one, 

 such as we use for our thrashing, and may be made by any 

 maker, and used for any purpose, the only alteration re- 

 quired being, the addition of a rigger of 3 feet or 3 feet 

 inches diameter on the axle of the fly-wheel, so that when 

 the work is hea'S'y a slower speed maybe obtained by shift- 

 ing the strap; the anchors are simple, portable, and easily 

 shifted in the ground, or transported from one field to 

 another; the implements are strong, simple, inexpensive, 

 and efficient; the windlass powerful, and, like the rest, 

 simple. 



I must here refer to a point of great importance to the 

 practical farmer in deciding whoso system to adopt out of 

 the many competitors now in the field, viz., the compara- 

 tive amount of locomoiion rendered necessary in the heavy 

 machinery. 



All those in which the engine travels over the land with 

 the cultivator bear about with them their own condemna- 

 tion as far as the vast majority of farms are concerned, 

 and he who attempts to , employ them will, I fear, find his 

 cultivator very much Mica the family group picture of the 

 " Vicar of Wakefield" — admirable no doubt in itself, but 

 a cumbersome nuisance, and a laughing-stock for his 

 neighbours. 



Fowler's ploughs avoid this danger to a great extent, 

 but still there is the weighty engine to travel from end to 

 end of each field, and the weighty anchor to be transported 

 to the opposite headland, and then to travel step by step 

 along that also. Let the heavy land and hill farmers think 

 well over this before they prefer Fowler's to Smith's ap- 

 paratus. 



Once more let ns turn to Mr. Smith's sj-stem, we shall 

 see that the difficulties in the way of transporting the 

 rope, anchor, rollers, &c., are trifling, the only really cum- 

 bersome portions being the engine and windlass; now 

 hoth of these, instead of travelling over the land continu- 

 ally, are placed on a certain spot from which they will 

 operate on 16 acres without once requiring to he moved. I 

 say 16 acres, because Mr. Smith considers 8 acres to be 

 the most advantageous size to operate on at once, all 

 things considered, and when that is completed the rope, 

 anchors, pulleys, &c., are shifted where another 8 acres is 

 cultivated ; of course, 10 or 12 acres may be operated on 

 at once, and thus 20 or 24 acres completed without shifting 

 the engine or windlass, but this with an 8-horse power 

 engine is not to be recommended. 



Perhaps it may be as well to state, that I have no in- 

 terest whatever in Mr. Smith's success otherwise than as 

 it affects the farmers a-s a body. I still hold to the opinion, 

 expressed two years ago in your columns, that the day will 

 come when Halkett's rails wiU convert the level tracts of 

 England into vast perfectly-cultivated market gardens, 

 when Fowler's general principle will be seen in operation 

 on most of our upland farms, &nd Smith's cultivator still 

 forcing its way into the more hilly and less practicable dis- 



