1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



433 



main-spring is used to keep up the motion of the 

 watch, instead of the weight used in a clock ; and 

 as the spring acts equally well whatever be its po- 

 sition, a watch keeps time although carried in the 

 pocket, or in a moving ship. In winding up a 

 watch, one turn of the axle on which the key is 

 fixed is rendered equivalent, by the train of wheels, 

 to about four hundred turns or beats of the bal- 

 ance-wheel ; and thus the exertion, during a few 

 seconds, of the hand which winds up, gives motion 

 for twenty-four or thirty hours. — Dr. Arnott. 



For the New England Farmer. 



LETTSa FKOM MR. FRENCH. 



EXHIBITION OF THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



SaUsbiinj, England, July 21, 1857. 

 My Dear Brown : — Mindful of my promise in 

 my last letter, that I would stick to my text, and 

 give a straight-forward account of this great annu- 

 al exhibition of the agricultural wealth of England, 

 I proceed at once to a walk through the plowing- 

 field and implement department, which are all that 

 have yet been opened to the public ; and first, let us 

 glance at the 



STEAM PLOWS. 



There are but three in competition for the prize. 

 One of these, known as Fowler's, I saw at work 

 near Ipswich, and think I gave some description of 

 it in a former letter, but am not certain. It is 

 worked by a stationary engine, at the end of the 

 land, and an anchor, as it is called, is at the oppo- 

 site end, with a pulley through which runs a wire 

 rope, by which the plows are drawn back and forth. 

 Fowler's machine works perfectly well, and is only 

 objectionable because it has a stationary engine, 

 which involves the use of ropes, twice, at least, the 

 length of the furrow. If you plow a furrow eighty 

 rods, you arfe constantly using a half mile of rope. 

 And again, the heavy engine is to be drawn about 

 from field to field by horses, and tenders with 

 coal and water, drawn by horses, must wait upon it. 

 On the whole, though it is obvious that plowing 

 may be done in this way, it hardly comes up to 

 one's notions of steam plowing. It seems a primi- 

 tive and awkward application of the power, and no 

 genius or skill seems requisite to its success, ex- 

 cept that a good plow-maker is essential to arrange 

 the plows, which are worked in gangs of three or 

 four, plowing at any reasonable depth and width, 

 and at about the rate of an acre an hour. 



Another machine, called Williams's Patent, was 

 also at work. This is drawn by a stationary en- 

 gine and ropes in the same way, and guided partly 

 by a horse in a pair of shafts. This has to be 

 turned at the end of each furrow, and makes awk- 

 ward work in the operation, while Fowler's is ar- 

 ranged with two gangs of plows, and goes back and 

 forth without turning ; first one gang and then the 

 other plowing three or four furrows. 



The third is known as Boydell's Patent, and is 



distinguished from the others, by being worked by 

 a locomotive engine, which walks over the earth 

 like some huge animal, puffing and snorting, and 

 taking along behind and by its sides six plows at 

 once, which cut their six furrows as it goes. At- 

 tached to the wheels are large flat blocks, six to 

 each wheel, like rackets on a horse, which are laid 

 down in turn, by the wheel in its revolution, and 

 on which the iron rim of the wheel runs, the wheel 

 in effect laying down a railway in sections and tak- 

 ing it up again as it goes. This is to prevent the 

 wheel from cutting into the soil as the huge ma- 

 chine moves over the soft ground. This machine 

 was not doing to-day so good work as Fowler's, but 

 the quality of the work is of no special importance, 

 at present. The question is as to the best mode of 

 applying the power, whether by a stationary or 

 locomotive engine. This engine walks about in a 

 very intelligent sort of way, turns readily at the end 

 of the furrow, stalks off" to its water-tank when it is 

 thirsty, and helps itself to water, and when it is 

 hungry goes for its own coal. It marches from 

 field to field, drawing its tender, supplied with coal 

 and water, along with it, and even carries the dinner 

 and extra clothing of the men. It is claimed that 

 the same engine can drav/ your timber to market 

 or the mill, haul in your loads of hay and grain, and 

 in short do the work of the farm, instead of horses. 

 As I said before, it is not a question of mere plow- 

 ing, it is a question of the application of steam 

 power, for it is obvious enough, that where we have 

 a convenient power, plows, harrows, digging ma- 

 chines, or anything else, may be worked by it. 



In France, I saw a steam engine moving over 

 the field, without any railway, but rolling its broad 

 wheels on the ground, like a wagon, and digging 

 or spading the soil as it passed along. 



I confess my present impression is in favor of a 

 locomotive engine, and of spading instead of plow- 

 ing, as being a more perfect operation, but I have 

 not yet seen anything that comes up to my ideas of 

 what a steam plow should be. My impression is 

 that neither of the machines on exhibition here will 

 work so cheaply as horses for the same amount of 

 labor, and until steam can underbid horse power in 

 cost, the latter will be preferred as more convenient 

 and simple. 



FARM IMPLEMENTS. 



Steam engines of various power, from two horse 

 to ten, are shown in operation, carrying threshing 

 machines, chaff"-cutters, vegetable cutters, mills for 

 grinding wheat, crushing rape and oil-cake, sawing, 

 and various other useful works. On nearly every 

 large estate, I observe a steam engine, and farmers 

 say that they could not well dispense with their 

 use. The day is not fa distant, when we shall see 

 them on American farms, plowing, reaping, mow- 

 ing, hauling timber and driving machinery ; and one 

 of the best fields open to Yankee ingenuity, is the 



