AMERICAN INSTITUTE. l7l 



the Yucca or Spanish Bayonet, and the Opuntia, Prickly Pear, alone or 

 together, make an hnpassable lied.ge. Here is a Rhaineus (Khamnus) or 

 Buckthorn, called India rubber tree, which will make good hedges. 



THE STEAM PLOW. 



The Invention of Mr. Fatvkes, of Lancaster, {Pa.,) at the late State 



Fair in Illinois. 



This plow is described as a cross between a locomotive and a tender. It 

 is mounted on two guiding-wheels and a huge propelling wheel in the 

 shape of a drum, which overcomes the difficulties of miring on soft soil 

 and slipping on hard smooth ground. It is said to be easily managed, and 

 to require but a moderate amount of fuel. It draws six plows, so regulated 

 by spiral springs as to yield to any extraordinary obstruction. The 

 machine was tried on the most difficult soil, the unbroken prairie, and its 

 performance is thus described in the Chicago Tribune : 



" The prairie was baked so hard by drouth that the prairie-breaking 

 plows would not run in it, and the trial of sod plows was abandoned in 

 consequence. Notwithstanding this fact, the inventor was so confident of 

 success that he gave the order to put the plows to work in this almost 

 impervious soil. After a little delay in regulating to this brick-like sur- 

 face, the engine moved forward, when six furrows were turned side by side 

 in the most workmanlike manner. The excitement of the crowd was 

 beyond control, and their shouts and wild huzzas echoed far over the 

 prairie, as there, beneath the smiling autumn sun, lay the first furrow 

 turned by steam on the broad prairies of the mighty west. The goal was 

 won. Steam had conquered the face of nature, and the steam plow had 

 become a fact ; it was working over the rich rolling prairies of " Egypt," 

 and turning up its wealth of nutritious elements for the growth of the 

 cereal and pomonal products — self-moving, and containing a power une- 

 qualled to turn up the lower strata of soil, so rich in potash, in phos- 

 phates, in silicia, and other essential elements of vegetable growth. The 

 long line of matchless furrows parted the crowd, and lay between the 

 moving masses like a line of silver wove in the gray setting of the prairie. 

 Amid the excitement, the inventor remained calm ; it was enough for him 

 to hear the glad shouts of victory which rent the air. For this he had 

 toiled ; for this his hands had become hardened and his face made swarthy 

 over the glowing iron out of which he forged the muscles of the iron steed 

 of the prairies. 



" Mr. Fawkcs and others were called out by the crowd, and made brief 

 speeches. Mr. Coleman, a member of the board, spoke of the success of 

 the steam plow now witnessed as maiking a new era in the world's progress, 

 and declared that the great enterprise of Fawkes may be placed side by side 

 with the steam-engine, the steamboat, the locomotive, the cotton gin, and 

 the telegraph. After the speaking the engine again moved forward, when 

 the plows turned up the loose mud drift of Egypt, laying six furrows side 

 by side with the most perfect ease and in the most workmanlike manner. 



