THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



355 



of very great improvements, and as we have seen land 

 cheaper cultivated under this system than we have 3'et 

 seen under any other, nothing can be more premature 

 tlian some of the hasty conclusions advanced against this 

 system. The objection that it compresses or consolidates 

 moist clayey soils may turn out eventually to be its greatest 

 recommendation, for !< involves a specific prhiciple, essen- 

 tially necessary to the successful culture of light sandy 

 soils, and also other soils that require compi'cssion under 

 peculiar circumstances. Such being an acknowledged 

 fact — a principle of so much practical value in the cultiva- 

 tion of a very large area of land — who can tell what pro- 

 gress discovery may make in the reduction of this prin- 

 ciple to pi'aotice ? especially when it is borne in mind that 

 all the other systems can be engi-afted upon this one at a 

 very trifling expense, and is ahcady beginning to be so 

 engrafted. 



Fisken's system stands in a somewhat similar position 

 to BoydeU's. When it first appeared, its rope system of 

 traction ivas subject to very serious objections, but these 

 are capable of being greatly improved. Unfortunately, 

 however, little has been done to remove them ; owing, we 

 believe, to the want of capital. It possesses a specific 

 principle, which none of the other rope systems possesses, 

 but which steam-culture requires, and therefore it would be 

 highly improper to limit the progi'ess of that one principle 

 being reduced to practice. 



Smith's Woolstoa system, again, involves, specific prin- 

 ciples of a two-fold kind — the one artistic, and the other 

 commercial. Both are invaluable. The latter]we shall no-" 

 tice hereafter, the former here. 



Of all the improvements in modern husbandry, that of 

 scarifying and subsoiling land merits special patronage 

 and encom-agemeut, fx'om the unpi'ccedeuted success 

 which has attended the practice. It is too well-known to 

 require description. Specific principles are involved in 

 the construction of implements, and also in the cultiva- 

 tion of the soil, the latter principles being directly opposed 

 to the rule or definition of steam-culture as laid down 

 by the Royal Agricultm-al Society for the guidance of its 

 judges at Chelmsford, &:c. To make a long story short, 

 these are the principles involved in Smith's Woolston 

 system — principles that merit the greatest amount of at- 

 tention which the above Society, and the agricultui-al pub- 

 lic generally, can possibly give thsm. Every encom-age- 

 ment should be given to steam implements of this class to 

 compete against each other, in order to stimulate pro- 

 gress, and decide practically what improvements are an- 

 nually being made. To allow Smith's scarifier to compete 

 with Fowler's xjlongh may be practice, but it certainly is 

 not " practice with science," but practice without science ! 

 In permitting competition of this kind, the above Society 

 is obviously deserting (unintentionally, it may be) its 

 standard! 



Fowler's steam-plough, and other steam-ploughs and 

 modes of rope traction, form a system that embraces seve- 

 ral principles, both in the cultivating apparatus, and also in 

 the work performed, that demand consideration exclusively 

 on their own respective merits. At one time a conclusion 

 became very prevalent that the plough was about to be 

 superseded ; but the progress of discovery obviously proves 

 that the conclusion was premature, for at the present time 

 this implement is as popular under steam as ever it was 

 under horses. The best mode of covering manure, stub- 

 ble, [&c., on the principle carried out by the plough, and 

 the best constrnotion of implement'for the purpose, Szc;., 



(Sfc, involve many important practical questions. Eapid 

 progress has been made in this department of steam- 

 cidtm'e, while discovery is actively engaged in advancing 

 this popular line of progi-ession. 



The rotary system next comes in for its share of atten- 

 tion. It was once a favourite theory in the estimation of 

 many, and although it has not yet become a successful 

 practice, that is no reason why improvements should not 

 be made, and successful results obtained in certain fields 

 for which the principle may prove itself better adapted 

 than any other. 



What has just been said of the rotary sj'stem is equally 

 appUcable to the guide railway system, and other systems, 

 which may have a field of action for which they are specially 

 adapted. 



We now come to the commercial view of steam-culture. 

 Under this head, the fii'st thing that demands notice is the 

 fact that the ground is already occupied by horses. Steam 

 has driven our teams out of the barn and stack-yard, and 

 now it is slowly working its way into our fields, apparently 

 determined on another and a gi'eater conquest than the 

 one already gained. 



The question that here demands special attention is the 

 fact that farmers have already a large available steam 

 force at command, employed at present for a short time 

 only, in thrashing their corn ; consequently, it has a large 

 amount of spare time for action in the field. When 

 Boydell and Fisken made their appearance at Carlisle 

 there were a great many portable engines in the provinces 

 almost exclusively employed in the stack-yard. It was 

 natural for the owners of these engines to entertain the 

 proposition of yolking them to their implements, and for 

 inventors to adapt their inventions to this available force 

 of steam. Such was, at the commencement, the com- 

 mercial view of the question, and of its soundness there 

 cannot be a doubt ; for we at this date find a large number 

 of these very engines yoked to Smith's implements, while 

 others who had not portable engines in 185-5 have ordered 

 ueV ones since, for the two-fold purpose of thrashing theu' 

 crops and cultivating their land. 



There is involved in this adaptation of the common 

 portable engine to work a cultivator a commercial prin- 

 ciple of the highest nature, as it brings into the field a 

 large available steam force, and thus economizes capital 

 in a two-fold investment, while the profits or produce of 

 the farm are increased in a corresponding manner. Less 

 capital is required to start in steam cultin-e ; the lands ar*e 

 better cultivated, and heavier crops harvested. Again, 

 fewer horses are required ; while the food thus saved goes 

 to the market in the shape of an increase of live stock or 

 dairy produce. These are special advantages of no ordi- 

 nary nature ; and therefore suitable encouragement should 

 be given by the Pioyal Agricultural Society, and all our 

 agricultm-al societies, to the means that produce them . 

 Indeed, commercial questions of this kind stand more in 

 need of the support of Societies than the purely me- 

 chanical one of the best steam culture system in the 

 abstract. 



Examined from this commercial point of \iew, 'Mr. 

 Smith's Woolston system merits no little commendation. 

 Much of its success and popularity depends upon the sim- 

 plicity of the implement and tackle, and their adaptation 

 to the common portable engine already in the employment 

 of farmers for thrashing. Perhaps as much of its success 

 is due to the little money required to start it, as to the 

 peculiar mode of cultivation previously noticed, invaluable 



