TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 12S 



which liad the inconvenience of forming, as it were, a taking-up roller, round which 

 the earth wound itself, until it formed a solid mass, in which the prongs entirely dis- 

 appeared, is replaced by a number of discs revolving independently of each other; 

 tho prongs also being made so long that the earth cannot easily reach their roots. 

 Another step was the addition of cleaning or doffing bars, for stripping the soil from 

 the prongs. Of these, Roberts' machine affords an example. Its chief peculiarity, 

 however, consists in the prongs being made to feather, somewhat like the floats of 

 Morgan's paddle-wheel, the motion communicated to them resembling that of the 

 fork in the hands of a man. 



The labours of Hoskyns, the author of the ' Chronicles of a Clay Farm,' must not 

 be forgotten. He has described graphically the " points " which are requisite to make 

 a perfect steam cultivator, and consequently divested the subject, to the machinist, of 

 one of its chief difficulties. 



Besides a modification, proposed by Usher, of his steam-plough, in which he sub- 

 stitutes rotatory prongs for his points and mould-boards — involving, however, the diffi- 

 culty, that he loses the aid to progression which the latter afford him — two other steam 

 cultivators have been projected, both of which possess, in common with that suggested 

 by Hoskyns, the distinctive feature that the rotation of the cultivating tools is not derived 

 from the progress of the carriage. The first is that of Stephen Brown, who has two 

 series of rotatory cutters, the second set working in intervals left by the first, and both 

 driven through cross shafts from a small locomotive steam-engine forming part of the 

 implement, and which may either work its way across the field by its own adhesion, 

 or be drawn by horses. The second is the Canadian machine spoken of by Mr. Mechi 

 in a recent letter to the ' Times.' It does not differ greatly from the preceding in its 

 mode of operation, its novelty consisting in the arrangement of the parts, and in the 

 adoption of a very light and compact form of engine. 



The most recent rotatory cultivators that have been put practically to work are 

 Bleasdale's and Mr. Samuelson's. The former somewhat resembles Parkes' subsoilers, 

 but being calculated only to pulverize the surface soil, its weight is only about one- 

 half that of Parkes', and that weight (1 ton), instead of resting on two discs only, is 

 distributed over seven. The chief novelty in it is the cleaning apparatus, consisting 

 of an additional cylinder, suspended at "an angle of about 45° above, and driven 

 from the shaft of the primary or digging cylinder, and therefore revolving in the 

 opposite direction to it. Its prongs act as a rotatory comb in stripping the earth from 

 those of the former. This machine was exhibited at the Gloucester meeting of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society, and on land previously broken by the plough acted admi- 

 rably as a pulverizer and a weed extracter. 



Whilst engaged in some experiments with a machine somewhat resembling that of 

 Parkes', Mr. Samuelson's attention was directed to the steel digging-forks which have 

 lately been substituted with so much advantage for the old trenching-fork, and it 

 occurred to him that, by substituting light steel prongs for the wrought or cast metal 

 ones hitherto used in rotatory implements, an efficient cultivating machine for horse 

 power, strong yet comparatively light, could be made. In following out this idea, he 

 has constructed his digging, or more properly, forking machine, not altogether unsuc- 

 cessfully, as may be inferred from the number of them which are already in use, 

 notwithstanding the recent date of its introduction. 



The forks of the digging machine are made of the best cast steel that can be pro- 

 cured, of a square section, slightly tapered, bent on the angle and in pairs, at a cherry 

 heat, and allowed to cool gradually. They are curved, so as to enter the ground easily, 

 but to lift the soil as they come out. 



The upper portion of six such pairs being laid between two half-discs of cast iron, 

 grooved to receive them, the half-discs being afterwards united by bolts, form a dig- 

 ging wheel of which the discs represent the boss, and the points of the forks the spokes ; 

 the hoop or tyre is absent. A number of these digging wheels (seven in a full-sized 

 machine) are hung on a bar, around which they rotate freely. Between each pair of 

 wheels and on the same bar is hung a ring, which keeps them apart, and cleans the 

 sides of the bosses. Tlie frame containing the bar with the digging wheel also holds 

 a number of cleaners, the ends of which scrape the soil from the circumference of 

 the bosses and force it from the prongs. This frame, to which the shafts and draught 

 links for the horses are also attached, is itself hung in front on another bar, connect- 

 ing two segmental frames, one on each side of the digging frame. These contain the 



