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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



go as to reduce it to a state best adapted for harrowing 

 and the required seed-bed. Now, in all this there is 

 much to be done, and much to arrange ; so that, in fact, 

 the judges ought to be immediately selected, and, 

 together with the field stewards, should meet to discuss 

 every point, and decide upon the best course to be 

 pursued. 



It will be observed that the Society offers two prizes 

 of ^"'lOO each : 1st, for the best application of steam- 

 power to the cultivation of the soil; and then, ditto 

 ditto, worked by an ordinary portable engine not ex- 

 ceedin"' 10-horse power. What is an ordinary portable 

 engine, I ask ? Who is to answer me — i. e., who is to 

 decide what is an ordinary portable engine? " Jno. 

 Fowler " brings into the field an ordinary portable 

 engine, from which he removes the travelling wheels^ 

 without other alteration, on to a windlass, which he 

 drives with a strap from the fly-wheel. Is this to come 

 under the same denomination as Mr. Edington's, who 

 runs his engine on to his windlass with the travelling 

 wheels on? Again, Chandler and Oliver bring a portable 

 engine with it§ crank shaft lengthened to receive spur 

 pinions, and its axletree lengthened to receive two 

 winding drums. Is this to come in the latter class with 

 Smith's, who merely puts on his strap ? I can imagine 

 a distinction to exist between the permanent attachment 

 of the working parts to the engine, and in their tempo- 

 rary adjustment ; but this wants well defining, or ob- 

 jections will arise of which exhibitors may take advan- 

 tage. Well, these matters settled before we begin, the 

 coals weighed, and given to the respective competitors, 



each takes his place in the field appointed for ploughing, 

 and common ploughing is the first commencement. 

 Tlie land being measured, the time noted, and the word 

 given, they start at some convenient time, and when, ia 

 the opinion of the judges, all parties are working at a 

 correspondiag depth and in timilar soil, the dynamo- 

 meter shall be applied (taking care that the time lost in 

 this hindrance shall be noted), and the respective draughts 

 taken. This, with the quality of the work performed 

 and coal consumed, will form the main basis for adjudi- 

 cation. The same course must be followed for deep- 

 ploughing, subsoil ploughing, and cultivating ; but with 

 trench work or ridge work it might be dispensed with. 

 In cultivating— i. e., " smashing up " — it is important 

 that the draught should be taken, however difficult it may 

 be, from the irregular working of the implements. This 

 expenditure of power has not yet been arrived at, and 

 would be one of the good results of the Leeds meeting. 

 The rotary cultivators may cause some perplexity. 

 Their draughts cannot be taken, but some fair approxi- 

 mation may be obtained from the coal consumed ; the 

 power of the engine being known, the work done will 

 decide the point to a great measure, although it may not 

 appear what proportion of the power is expended in 

 propelling the engine over the land ; be that as it may, 

 the judges may estimate the economy of performance by 

 the value of the work done. I would only now further 

 observe that it would be very desirable to select some of 

 the most efficient steam-ploughs and cultivators for ex- 

 hibition in work on the show week, and at the cost of 

 the Societv. 



THE POSITION AND RESOURCES OF THE SLAVE STATES. 



The disunion movement in the North American 

 States is one which, irrespective of its great political 

 importance as respects the wellbeing of a powerful 

 maritime and commercial State, is also of high interest 

 to the commerce and manufactures of Great Britain. 

 The breach seems to widen rather than to close, as 

 time steals on, and the measure of secession will doubt- 

 less be persisted in by South Carolina. This will 

 aggregate around her banner most of the slave and 

 border States. South Carolina has pviblished her 

 programme of operations, and her reasons for with- 

 drawing from the confederation. With the validity 

 or point of these arguments we shall not deal, prefer- 

 ring to look at the matter in its future agricultural and 

 commercial bearings, lather than in its jn-esent troubled 

 state. 



According to the American advices Georgia 

 would appear to be in arms already; and Alabama, 

 Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, with the more 

 nnrthern of the Southern confederacy, are ready 

 to join in the first flush of victory or of decisive 

 ■ action on the part of the Palmetto State. Virginia, 

 it is expected, will also follow. Secession State 

 conventions were announced to be held about the 

 middle of January, in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, 



Texas, Georgia, and Louisiana. The Legislature of 

 North Carolina is now in session, and special sessions 

 of the Legislatures of Virginia and Tennessee were 

 called to meet on the 7th January, while Missouri will 

 also take the same course ; the Governor in his open- 

 ing address having pronounced that Missouri must 

 stand by the other slaveholding States, whatever 

 course they may pursue, the interests of all being iden- 

 tical. Let us at least hope that if these differences be- 

 tween the North and South cannot be amicably ad- 

 justed, that there may be at least a bloodless revolution, 

 and that the hot spirits of our brethren across the 

 water may not embroil them in riots and hostilities, 

 attended with contests by force of arms, the ultimate 

 consequences of which may be frightful to contemplate. 

 The whole question of separation and independence 

 for the South is attended, it is true, with many diffi- 

 culties, territorial, fiscal, and commercial. The balance 

 of power as regards area, population, rejiresentative 

 legislation, and taxation, has long been a vexed point. 

 The separation if persisted in may, however, materially 

 retard the onward progress of the Union. The North 

 and the South are, however, mutually dependent upon 

 each other. The manufactories of the Northern States 

 cannot be kept up without the cotton of the South. 



