SUBJECT CONTINUED. 243 



as a motive power in farm labor is still but little known in 

 England, and not at all understood in America. It has as 

 yet proved too cumbrous in weight and volume, and expen- 

 sive in construction for successful application. The idea 

 advanced by our author, that the plow, by its downward 

 pressure upon the subsoil beneath, as well as its lifting 

 process in detaching the earth from its natural bed, operates 

 injuriously upon such subsoil, and consequently to the preju- 

 dice of the growing plants which follow, in preventing them 

 from striking into what should be a soft mould below the 

 track of the share, has occurred, probably, to but few of 

 those who follow it. Yet, on reflection, it is apparent, as the 

 hard polished surface of the subsoil must prove. Such diffi- 

 culty the steam " cultivator " will alone remove. 



That the use of the implement in question will require a 

 clear soil, free from stones of any size, is also apparent ; but 

 when we contemplate the breadth of soil, even in our stony 

 districts, which is already free, or might be made so at a 

 comparatively moderate expense, and that the vast ranges of 

 fertile soil in the new states are peculiarly adapted for such 

 cultivation in their natural condition, it is scarcely within the 

 power of calculation to estimate the economy of labor and 

 increased production that, would flow from such an applica- 

 cation of power. Without the "reaper" and "thrasher" 

 already, the immense harvests of the cereal grains in our 

 country could scarcely be gathered and garnered without a 

 draft upon the manual labor of the wide districts in which 

 they are produced, which would seriously affect their value ; 

 and if to the aid of those implements could be introduced 

 the'steam cultivator for the proper digging up and pulveriza- 

 tion of the soil, and the casting of the seed, what a mass of 



