BY J. C. BRUNNICH, F.I.C. 55 



that he sold all his horses, and induced many of his friends 

 to do likewise. His work was improved upon by Richard 

 L. Edgeworth, who took out patents in 1770. Since that 

 time numerous other patents have been taken out, all of 

 which helped to perfect t]ie modern steam plough. I 

 can only mention tlie names of Major Pratt, Heathcote, 

 Alex. McRae, John Tulloch, Osborn, Boydell, H. Hannam, 

 James Usher, Hoskyns, Williams, and Fisken, who, during 

 the middle of the 19th century, patented various schemes 

 for steam cultivation, which are the fore-runners of the 

 system of John Fow^ler, tb? principal system used at the 

 present day. 



For harvesting, machines were also found a necessity 

 as labour-savers, and as early as 1829 a reaping machine 

 was invented by tbe Rev. Mi*. Bell, of Carmylie, Forfarshire, 

 whose struggles in this regards are almost pathetic. For 

 trials he had to plant stalks of straw one by one in sand 

 in his back yard, in order to find out how his machine 

 would cut the straw. His machine, in an improved form, 

 is still in use. Mowing and reaping machines bave now 

 been greatly improved, and not only cut the crops, but bind 

 the straw up into sheaves. Cyrus McCormick is the 

 inventor of the most modern reaping machine. One of 

 his first machines, shown in the Crystal Palace Exhibition 

 in 1851, was called by the Times " a cross between an 

 Astley chariot, a wheel barrow and a flying machine," 

 but afterwards was considered worth the whole of the 

 exhibition. 



At the present day one of our chief wants is a good 

 cane-cutting machine, and it is interesting to note, just 

 now, that here in Brisbane an engineer has patented and 

 constructed such a machine, which will soon make its first 

 practical trial, and which from appearance seems to have 

 solved the problem, and if so will be of enormous value to 

 the sugar industry. 



Other machines in which the ingenuity of the mechanic 

 and engineer has been exercised are implements for sowing 

 of seed, distribution of fertilizers, planting and harvesting 

 of tubers, etc., and finally implements to improve cultiva- 

 tion, so as to conserve the soil moisture as much as possible. 



A good deal remains to be done in the invention of 

 machines directly utilising the light and heat of the sun 



