20 TRENCHING AND SUBSOILING 



The purchase of a great number of horses for work of 

 short duration has this double disadvantage, that, firstly, 

 they could not be sold again without a loss ; and, secondly, 

 the inclemency of the weather may interrupt the work, in 

 which case the horses are fed without being utilized. With 

 a horse-gin one may, without increasing the staff and teams, 

 perform better work than would be the result if direct 

 draught were used. 



Grue's idea, although so simple and practical, was not 

 immediately adopted by agriculturists, and the gin adapted 

 to the traction of ploughs by horses, or oxen, did not come 

 into general use as rapidly as might have been hoped, 

 considering the requirements of viticulturists. Ten years 

 elapsed before the gin conquered at last, and gained the 

 confidence of all. 



In the meantime, Bourguignon, who constructed the first 

 machines for Grue, made a certain number of other gins, 

 particularly the Valessie gin. But it is to Beauquesne, of 

 the Ecole Poly technique, that the honour is due of having, 

 thanks to a profound conviction and obstinate persistence, 

 forced agriculturists to adopt these machines. 



Although the Beauquesne gin is an enormous advance on 

 the machines constructed previously, it is not without several 

 defects. The ingenuity of constructors was awakened by 

 the success of these machines, and did not take long in 

 triumphing over the difficulties which their application pre- 

 sented in practice, and the last show of gins, which was held 

 in the spring of 1890, proved that the gin had at last become 

 an implement of great perfection. 



While this transformation was taking place, Grue" on one 

 side, Beauquesne on the other, were trying to apply the 

 capstan system to the utilization of portable engines for the 

 draught or traction of ploughs. As the horse-gin allows 

 viticulturists to do with two horses cultivation which would 

 require twenty in the ordinary manner, the steam winding- 

 drum gives, in the same way, the means to do with a small 

 portable 6 H.P. engine, work which formerly required power- 

 ful winding drums of the Fowler system. The steam wind- 

 ing drum is nothing less than a toothed wheel gearing train, 

 the pulley of which is connected with the belt of the engine. 

 Although the principle of this machine seems very simple, 

 it had to be devised so as to render the winding drum 



