254 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



ON THE SCIENCE, PRACTICE AND PROGRESS OF STEAM CULTURE. 



steam culture, since the Carlisle Meeting of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society, lias justly occupied a prominent 

 place in the science of agriculture. Whether we turn to 

 the publications of the Patent Office on this subject, to 

 the columns of the agricultural press, or to the more in- 

 teresting topic of successful practice in the field, ample 

 evidence is foimd how the pioneers of progress are exerting 

 all the energies they possess to supersede hoi'ses in the 

 cultivation of land throiTgh the instrumentality of steam. 



From whatever point of the compass steam culture is 

 now ^'iewed, science and practice declare the proposition 

 fairly solved. Such being the fact, it is no longer the pro- 

 position itself that requires advocacy, but its progress. 

 Experimental philosophy now acknowledges the proposi- 

 tion as part of applied science, and calls upon all 

 practically interested to support the progress of discovery 

 by every available means at their command, in order to 

 effect the general adoption of the practice viiih the least 

 possible delay. 



Examined purely from a scientific point of view, the 

 pioneering hand of discovery is busily engaged sub- 

 dividing the subject into various lines of progression. It 

 is proposed to yoke, for example, steam to the implement 

 in various ways, and also to adopt different modes of 

 culture, or of mechanically breaking up and sub-dividing 

 the soil by means of differents kinds of implements. Each 

 of these lines of progression has much to commend 

 it to notice, and nothing can be more imprudent on 

 the part of the pen of an agricultural writer than to bridle 

 discovery, as it wei'e, and then prescribe for her only a 

 limited length of tether, and from such data deduce pre- 

 mature conclusions in any of those lines of direction in 

 which she proposes to move; for to her no boundary can 

 be set. There are, it must be admitted, in every indivi- 

 dual line of progression, certain principles that must be 

 attended to. If the pioneering foot of discovery makes 

 a false or wrong step, and runs counter to the established 

 laws of science, they will soon, or at least eventually, teach 

 her to retrace her steps, and advance in the right direction. 

 A wi'ong step of this kind is subject to criticism; but great 

 caution is always necessary in pi-onouncing a merit or in 

 finding fault; otherwise, much injury to the cause of 

 progress may be done. If, however, the wi'ong step is 

 judiciously and scientifically pointed out, in a spirit friendly 

 to progress, it will have a tendency to lead to further dis- 

 covery in the right direction, and thereby advance the 

 cause. " The child must creep before it runs ;" and so 

 must the " steam horse" in the cultivation of land, what- 

 ever may be the line of progression in which it is intended 

 he should move. 



From a practical point of view, the subject is not re- 

 ceiving the peculiar experimental investigation it so much 

 merits. This arises, in no small degree, from the pecu- 

 niary circumstances with which the introduction of steam 

 culture is surrounded. It takes a lai-ge sum of money on 

 the part of inventors and implement makers to introduce 

 a steam cultivator successfully to the notice of practical 

 fai-mers, and no little extra capital on the part of the latter 

 to yoke the same in their own fields. Generally speaking, 

 a deficiency of capital is already experienced in agriguJture, 



and, although steam may be cheaper than horses even- 

 tually, yet before the change from the latter to the former 

 can be made, some extra capital is required. Add to this 

 the fact that those who have the command of an abun- 

 dance of capital are acting a too penurious part relative to 

 the claims which the subject has upon them, and the 

 pecuniary conclusion is manifest. We readily admit there 

 is a general willingness to patronize the subject ; but in a 

 too limited sense. In other words, only one line of pro- 

 gression is supported. Amid rival systems in the field, one 

 is necessarily the best, or is pronounced the best under 

 the circumstances of the case ; and that one receives their 

 approbation and patronage, and that one alone ! It is the 

 best sj'stem, and there cannot be two superlatives in the 

 contest. Another system, because it is cheapest, suits a 

 certain class, and is therefore the only one they can 

 patronize, or hear discussed in a favourable light. Pre- 

 mature conclusions are thus hastily arrived at, and systems 

 condemned without regard to the progress they have made 

 or are capable of making by new discoveries and improve- 

 ments, both in the implement and in the mode of 

 working it. 



The practical question, like the scientific, thus involves 

 a two-fold consideration — the different systems of steam 

 culture, abstractly speaking ; and the amount of capital 

 each requires to carry it out. This two-fold view of the 

 subject can hardly in practice be separated or divided into 

 the two elements of which it is composed, the practical 

 value being inseparable from the commercial. It will be 

 necessary, however, to examine each separately, in order to 

 ascertain its individual merits — the rate of progress it is 

 making, and the probability of further discovei7 and im- 

 provement. 



Every system of steam culture should be examined in 

 the light of its own individual merits. If it is cai'ried out 

 on certain specific principles, on those principles it stands 

 or falls. Under horse culture, we do not examine the 

 plough in the light of a harrow, 'or the harrow in the light 

 of a scarifier. These implements are constructed on 

 difterent principles, and perform works equally different 

 as to principle, and in every case we endeavour to pro- 

 nounce judgment in accordance with such principle. 

 Under steam culture, experimental philosophy prescribes 

 exactly the same rule for our guidance in evei7 individual 

 case or system. 



The conduct of the Royal Agricultural Society of Eng- 

 land has been highly reprehensible in this respect — all 

 the different systems in the field known as Boydell's, 

 Fisken's, Smith's, Fowler's, Romaine's, (fee, being judged 

 not in the light of the different principles involved, but 

 according to one of those " fireside-farming " rules peculiar 

 to 12, Hanover-square. It were difficiUt to conceive any. 

 thing more anomalous or at variance with our motto 

 " Practice with Science," or calculated to sow the seeds of 

 discontentment, and to check the progress of steam culture 

 and its successful introduction into our provinces, accord- 

 ing to the diversified requirements of different soils, crops, 

 &c„ &c. 



Comparatively little has been done to improve Boydell's 

 system since it vras first introduced in 1855, It is capable 



