date this article has been published, this opinion 

 might not have been expected, if referring to 

 the agricultural districts of Scotland. It may be 

 presumed, therefore, the opinion has been inad- 

 vertently given, and if the author had entered 

 more fully into the consideration of steam as a 

 motive power, he would certainly not have 

 classed it with wind-power. Indeed the rapid ex- 

 tension of steam-power to farms speaks volumes 

 in its behalf. He would have found on investi- 

 gation the immense benefit of the application of 

 the steam-engine at a very moderate expense to 

 the farm. A power which only requires to be 

 understood to be more appreciated, and what al- 

 most every farmer who has used it lias found to 

 be one of the mo.st advantageous improvements 

 he has made on his farm-stead ; and, while it in- 

 creased his comfort, it was attended with no dif- 

 ficulty in the management, requiring no other 

 attention than what any farm servant could easi- 

 ly give. 



This power indeed, as applied to Agriculture, 

 is yet in infancy ; but with a prospect of gigan- 

 tic manhood before it. it seems fitted in all prob- 

 ability, as it becomes more extended in its range 

 of application, to change the entire face of the 

 country, and give the same impetus to Agricul- 

 ture, which it has done to all branches of the 

 Arts. No well-informed farmer should be insen- 

 sible to the value and utility of the steam-en- 

 gine, even limited as it now is as a moving pow- 

 er to the threshing-machine, and the adoption of 

 this power by him, in most in.stances, in the best 

 agricultural districts of Scotland and borders of 

 England, evince beyond a doubt, that it, in his 

 opinion, is the best and most advantageous pow- 

 er which has been yet applied, wherever there 

 are not insuperable obstacles intervening ; and 

 it shows how readily the enterprising farmer 

 avails himself of whatever improvement ena- 

 bles him to support competition and improve 

 the capabilities of his farm. 



In England, fxed threshing-machines have 

 not been much used for farm-steads, hence sta- 

 tionary steam-power mills are rarely to be met 

 with. This may arise from a variety of causes 

 without the value of these being overlooked^by 

 the various public-spirited agricultural associa- 

 tions scattered over the south. It cannot, how- 

 ever, be supposed, as its advantages become 

 better known and understood, that the applica- 

 tion of steam-power to farms, both in England 

 and Ireland, will not in time become as common 

 as in Scotland, where it has extended with ama- 

 zing rapidity.* The threshing of grain with 

 machines in England is generally cai-ried on 

 with portable mills wrought by horses ; the 

 threshing of grain being in some counties a reg- 

 ular branch of trade, the thresher removing his 

 machine from farm to farm. Recently, steam- 

 power has been strongly recommended at agri- 

 cultural meetings (at the late show at Derby 

 and other parts) tor this purpose, and is now get- 

 ting into use. The Disc Engine Company of 

 Birmingham have invented a vei-y compact port- 

 able engine, boiler, and threshing-machine, on 

 a carriage. The whole machine provides for its 

 being readily moved to different farms. Mr. A. 

 Deans of Birmingham has also marie, for a simi- 

 lar purpose, several forms of portable cylinder 

 and piston engines, some with upright and some 

 with horizontal cylinders. These engines are 

 of different powers, from four to six horses', and 



* The Report on the Advantages of Steam as a Mo- 

 tive Power on Roads, by the House of Commons, ifi 

 strangely coincident in the Bame reasoning. 

 (1114) 



the engine is placed on a neat iron carriage. — 

 The whole occupying very little room, requiring 

 no chimney-stalk or brickwork, and is drawn 

 from place to place by one or two horses. It 

 may be worked, he states, in the field or any- 

 wiiere, without any fixing, ibr threshing corn, 

 cutting chati', and other agricultural purposes. — 

 Mr. Dean.s' inventions are clever, and many of 

 them will be found useful. His portable steam- 

 engine, with patent irrigator and fire-engine 

 combined, adapted at the same time for driving 

 threshing-machines, pumping and draining, is 

 deserving of the attention of the farmer. These 

 applications are all very suitable ibr small farms, 

 and dispense with the laborious employment of 

 the flail. But the advantages of a fixed thresh- 

 ing-machine, and steady and cheap motive pow- 

 er, under the command of the farmer at all 

 times, are so palpably apparent, that the only 

 wonder can be how the farmer of land, to any 

 reasonable extent, can do without it, as the want 

 of it must place huu under many disadvantages. 



In the Ibllowing remarks, respecting the sub- 

 ordinate purposes to which the prime or impel- 

 ling power can be advantageously extended at 

 the farm, the observations shall be confined to 

 .steam-jiower, although it will be easily under- 

 stood that many additional uses to which this 

 power can be applied may equally well suit any 

 impelling agent of machinery in v^hich there is 

 a surplus power. 



Before entering on this subject, it may be 

 proper shortly to describe the form generally 

 adopted, and give an example. t 



In most of the new onsteads, -where steam- 

 power is used, the engine-house is generally an 

 outshot from the barn. The boiler of the steam- 

 engine is supplied from a well sunk at one side 

 of the engine-room. This is the general plan 

 with stationary farm-engines, and the back or 

 surplus water from the boiler is returned to the 

 well, the water being usually moderately heated 

 before entering the boiler. But when well wa- 

 ter cannot be obtained, which often happens in 

 coal districts, a pipe is led to a cistern, from the 

 nearest pond, from which the engine pumps the 

 water directly into the boiler;' or the engine 

 may be made to pump the water from the pond 

 at a moderate distance ; but this is just taking so 

 much power from the engine itself It is desi- 

 rable always that the pump throws up an ample 

 supply of water, when high-pressure engines are 

 used, to prevent, from negligence, the risk of 

 overheating and burning the sides of the boiler ; 

 of course, w ith condensing engines, a much more 

 abundant supply of water is indispensably ne- 

 cessary: hence the non-condensing engine has 

 been in many cases adopted, from the smaller 

 quantity of water it requires. The engine, about 

 .seven horse-power, is on the non-condensing 

 principle, with over-head crank ; and the attach- 

 ment of the power to the mill is extremely sim- 

 ple. The threshing-mill itself possesses every 

 modem improvement. There are elevators to 

 lift the grain to the hand-fanners, and elevators 

 to repass the refuse through the mill ; both of 

 which are likewise worked by the engine-pow- 

 er; likewise a con; and bean bruiser, which ad- 

 mits of being attached or detached at pleasure. 

 The steam-engine has been several years in use, 



tin the following remarks it is barely possible to 

 be intelligible without sketches ofthe drawings which 

 accompanied this Essay, except by those who are 

 conversant with Scotch fann-sttads ; but as the pa- 

 per and drawings wiU be subsequently published, 

 reference can be made to the book. 



