336 



F A R M K R S' REGISTER. 



[No. 7 



proveineriis in plouffli-makinp'. tliprf is still room 

 ibr an)eii<lnieiits, either in lespeniiijithc ilmutrht, or 

 m;t!(infr tlie ojicraiion more eflectuui {()rtiie pnrpo- 

 sep ')(■ the liirnier. 



J)iffereiit soils require very dif^rent kinds of 

 ploughs: ill jiirht, loamy soils, ii<^!itly-cnnstructed 

 e\viiig-[)loui2,'lis, drawn by two horsps a-breast, and 

 without a driver, are the most convenient and eco- 

 nomical. Ill St roil ir, heavy clays, both ploiisrhs 

 and teams iiiiisi ht; proporiionabh.' stiono'. Land 

 ol a thin slaple, and on a gravelly subsoil, requires 

 skeleton-lurmed plouirhs, having a share fixed on 

 a sheath, with a long ground-rise, secured by a 

 tuck behind. The only parts of this plouffh in 

 contact with the pan ofthesoil, while at work, are 

 the point, of the share and the two rises ; for if the 

 bottom were not open, the plough would be every 

 instant thrown out of the ground. 



It is inifiossible, however, to describe the many 

 different kinds of [}|ough& in use in these kingdoms; 

 every district havintr its own plouofh-wright, his 

 ploughs are said to be the best in h^ntjland. It is 

 quite true, that local circumstances impose on the 

 resident tradesman the task of torming his ploughs 

 to the work required to be done ; but, we very of- 

 ten find him wedded to his lather's plans, rather 

 than altering them to suit the more ameliorated 

 state of the soil. On this subject one thing is per- 

 fectly clear, and that is, the working of the land 

 may be eti'ected by much lighter implements, and 

 less horse-strength, than as it is now (iracticed. 



A Farmer. 



From Jameson's Edinljurgh Pliilof^opliical JournaJ. 

 FRIBOURG BRIDCK. 



The town of Frihourg is built on the left bank 

 pi' the Savine. Both sides of this small stream 

 are very steep, and rise to the heiirhi of about 220 

 feet (FntrlishJ above its bed, and travellers from 

 Berne to Frihourg were formerly obliged to descend 

 the hill in order to reach a small wooden bridge 

 which crosses the river, and immediately. after, by 

 a steep ascent of about 220 feet, reach the top of the 

 opposite bank before coming to the centre of the 

 town. The passage through Friliourg thus occu- 

 pied nearly an hour ; but the case is changed since 

 the erection of the new suspension bridge. These 

 difficulties were long considered the unavoidable 

 consequence of the local situation of the town, un- 

 til some bold spirit conceived the idea of uniting, 

 by means of a suspension bridge, the steep banks 

 of the Savine. It was necessary that the bridge 

 should pass over a great part of the town itself, 

 and the scheme was considered completely Uto- 

 pian ; yet, certain of the authorities and some ac- 

 tive citizen determined to submit the measure to 

 the consideration of engineers of difierent districts. 

 Various designs were accordingly offered, and the 

 jiTOvernment of the canton gave the preference to 

 tliat of M. Challey, ol' Lyons, whose plan has since 

 beene.xeciitedunderhisinmiediate superintendence. 

 The gateways at either end of the bridge are of 

 Doric architecture, and are about 6o feet high. 

 The tops of their arches are about 42 feet afiove 

 the roadway, and the arches have a span of 20 feet. 

 The masonry of the gate is 46 feet in width, and 

 its thickness is about 20 feet; and although the 

 hardest blocks of the hard limestone of Sura were 

 employed in this work% iron cramps were iiseri to 

 complete the union of the stones, and about 24 tons 

 of iron were used tor thiis purpose. 



The width of the valley of the Savine at the 

 point where the bridge is built, or, in other words, 

 the distance between the inner lace works of the 

 two gateways on either bank of the river, and con- 

 seqently the span ol the suspended roadway is 

 87] feet. It may be easily conceived that a good 

 deal of doubt was entertained as to the propriety 

 of trusting to a span of so great extent, and the 

 idea of suspending the bridge at the middle, at 

 first occured to M. Challey, as the best mode of 

 Ibrming the communication. On weighing the 

 difficult}', however, of obtaining a solid foundation 

 f()r a pier 220 leet in height, in the bottom of an 

 allin'ial valle\', he soon relinquished tiiisidea; and 

 the bridge has, therefore, been constructed with a 

 single span of 871 ft!ef. 



The road-way is suspended in the manner now 

 universally known, by firujr cables, of iron wire, (in 

 France ropes formed of wire are employed, and 

 not solid links as in England.) passingover the up- 

 per part of the gateways. Each cable consists of 

 1200 wires, each about 1-lOth inch in diameter, 

 and about 1400 feet in length. To avoid the diffi- 

 culty of moving these heavy cables, each wire 

 was brought separately lo its place, and there uni- 

 ted on the spot by the workmen, who were sus- 

 pended during the work. We are ha[)|)y that no 

 accident of any kind occurred during the operation. 

 It is calculated that the lour united cables are ca- 

 pable of sustaining a weight of 2946 tons. The 

 lour cables are fixed in chain fits or shatis cut out 

 of the solid rock, on either side ol' the river — on. 

 each of these fits four cables pass through a verti- 

 cal cylindric chimney oi" pillar, which bears three 

 heavy domes resting upon it, and at the same time 

 abutting against grooves, cut with much care in 

 the rock, to receive the springing stones. At the 

 bottom of the pillars, the cables are made fast to 

 blocks of very hard stone, which are cubes of 6^ 

 feet. The cables therefore cannot slide without 

 lifting the whole of these enormous buildings^,. 

 strengthened as they are by their connection with- 

 the solid rock. 



jNl. Challey began this work in the spring of 

 1832. He brought out of France with him only 

 a foreman, who had assisted him on former occa- 

 sions, and engaged in this arduous work with the 

 inexperienced workmen of the country, who had 

 never seen a suspension bridge : he completed the 

 work in spite of" all these difficulties, and on the 

 15th October, 1834, fifteen pieces of artillery, 

 drawn by 42 horses and surrounded by three hun- 

 dred persons, crossed the bridge, though they 

 united in one body as well on the middle as on 

 the ends of the road -way. Nor was the least ap- 

 pearani^e of derangement discovered on the closest 

 exan)ination. Some days after, the whole of the 

 inhabitants of Fribourg and its suburbs passed 

 over in procession, so that there were no fewer than 

 1800 persons on the bridge at the same lime, and 

 all classes, of travellers, mercantile and curious, 

 have since united with the natives of the Swiss 

 cantons in testilying their entire satisftiction with 

 the bridge. Although the severe proof to which 

 the constructor of this new work subjected it, by 

 loading the road-way with about 20 pounds on 

 each s(iuare toot, did not take place, till the month 

 of October, 1835, yet it may safe-ly be said that the 

 collossal bridge of Fribourg was completely finish- 

 ed in two years and a half The whole expense 

 was only about £24,000 ($115,000. J 



