428 



NEW ENGLAND EAUMER, 



Sept. 



CALIFOKNIA STEAM PLOUGH, OR CULTIVATOR. 



In the Farmer of July 3, we gave a brief 

 notice of this implement, condensed from an 

 account of it in a Calfoinia paper. The in- 

 ventor, Mr. P. IJ. Standii^h, who is now at 

 the East negotiating for its manufacture on a 

 large scale, called on us the other day and ex- 

 hibited a model of part of the machinery, with 

 drawings of the whole. He also gave us a 

 history of its invention and of its operation in 

 actual field work. 



Perhaps it may be proper to remark that 

 this "steam plough" is no plough at all, but a 

 new contrivance for working the soil, operated 

 by steam. The essential feature of this in- 

 vention is not in the application of steam to 

 ploughing, but in a novel device for stirring 

 the soil. The principle of the invention was 

 first tested by horse power, but as that was 

 not sufficiently steady or forcible, steam was 

 adopted. 



The idea was at first suggested to the mind 

 of Mr. Standish in the cultivation of a ranclio 

 or farm in Califurnia. From his observation 

 of the imperfect manner in which the soil was 

 pulverized by the ploughs and harrows in 

 use on his farm, Mr. S. was lead to inquire 

 whether something could not be devised which 

 would prepare the seed bed in a more satis- 



factory manner. His ploughs ran about five 

 or six inches deep, but they did little more 

 than to "turn over" the soil. The harrows 

 which followed pulverized only a small por- 

 tion of the furrow slice, and seemtd to con- 

 solidate rather than to loosen it, even as far 

 as the teeth penetrated, leaving much of the 

 soil inverted by the plough untouched. He 

 wished to see the soil stirred and mixed as 

 deeply as it was ploughed, and left light and 

 loose. 



After some thought he contrived an imple- 

 ment with which he was able to accomplish 

 his purpose by horse power, but at the ex- 

 pense of too much time and labor for practi- 

 cal use. But, by way of experiment, he op- 

 erated on small patches of a wheat field, pre- 

 viously ploughed and harrowed in the usual 

 manner, selecting different kinds of soil, from 

 sandy ridges to heavy bottoms. In all cases 

 where the soil was thus thoroughly worked, 

 the growth of straw and yield of grain was 

 decidedly superior to other parts of the same 

 field. Encouraged by the results of these ex- 

 periments Mr. Standish embodied his idea in a 

 steam machine of which the above illustration, 

 which he kindly permitted us to copy, gives a 

 side view. This machine which was built in 



