1S37.J 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



529 



practical and succepsful experiment. Tiie ibllow- 

 ing is a correct, account, by an eye-witnest?, of tlie 

 recent exhibiiion, near Bolton-Ie-Moors, of the ap- 

 plication ot steam to bog cultivation. 



"The adaptation of inanimate power to the tillage 

 of the soil must evidently have been considered by 

 practical men to prescntalmost insuperable difficulties, 

 or steam would, probably, long since have been sub- 

 stituted for horses and oxen, as the motive power of 

 a:jricultural implements. Certain light operations of 

 the farm, such as thrashing, churning, chafl-cutting, 

 &.C., which could be performed by fixed power, have 

 partially occu])ied the attention of mechanics, and 

 suitable machinery driven by water, wind, or small 

 steam-engines, has to some extent been advantageously 

 used lor such purposes. But the idea of a 'steam 

 farm,' of a farm to be altogether cultivated by steam, 

 in lieu of animal power, has hitherto been treated as 

 visionary and absurd, except by a few individuals, and 

 one or two agricultural societies, who have enforced, 

 in their publications, the practicability and importance 

 of applying steam to effect the more laborious opera- 

 tions of agriculture. This desideratum is at length ac- 

 complished. Mr. Heathcoat, M. P. for Tiverton, the 

 ingenious and the well-known inventor of the lace ma- 

 chinery, has the merit of having conceived and plan- 

 ned this additional and remarkable contribution to 

 science, and to the wealth of his country. The in- 

 vention, after years of costly experiment, has been 

 matured and perfected through the enterprising liber- 

 ality of Mr. Heathcoat, assisted by the mechanical in- 

 genuity and perseverance of Mr. Josiah Parks, civil 

 engineer, whom he selected to carry his designs into 

 ellect. The first machine has been constructed ex- 

 pressly for the cultivation of bogs, and has, lor some 

 months, been practically and successfully worked iu 

 Lancashire, on Red Moss, near Bolton-le -Moors. 

 During the Whitsuntide recess of Parliament, a nu- 

 merous assemblage of gentlemen from diti'erent parts 

 of the country attended to witness an exhibition of 

 this novel and interesting invention ; amongst whom 

 were Mr. M. L. Chapman, M. P., Mr T. Chapman, 

 Mr. H. Handley, M. P., Mr. J. Featherstone of Grif- 

 finstown-house, Westmeath (an enterprising and suc- 

 cessful bog- reclaimer,) Mr. F. Brown, of Welbourn, 

 Lincolnshire, Mr. James Smith of Deanston near Stir- 

 ling (well known to the mechanical world by his in- 

 genious inventions, applied both to agriculture and 

 manufactures,) Mr. B. Hick and Mr. P. Rothwell, en- 

 gineer, with other experienced judges of mechanical 

 contrivances. These gentlemen were unanimous in 

 pronouncing the invention to be the germ of great im- 

 provements in the science and practice of agriculture, 

 as well as eminently fitted for the particular purpose to 

 which it has, in the first instance, been applied. Two 

 ploughs of different construction were put in action, 

 to the admiration of the spectators ; particularly the 

 one last invented, which is double-acting, or made 

 with two shares in the same place, (?) so that it re- 

 turns at the end of a " bout," taking a new furrow, 

 without loss of time. The perfect mechanism of this 

 plough — the action of the working coulters and under- 

 cutting knives, which divide every opposing fibre of 

 the moss — the breadth and depth of the turrow turned 

 over — the application of a new and admirable means 

 of traction, instead of chains or ropes — together with 

 the facility with which the machine is managed, and 

 the power applied to the plough, especially interested 

 and surprised all present. The speed at which the 

 plough travelled was two miles and a half pet hour, 

 turning furrows eighteen inches broad by nine inches 

 in depth, and completely reversing the surface. Each 

 furrow of 220 yards in length was performed in some- 

 what less than three minutes, so that, in a working 

 day of twelve hours, this single machine would, with 

 two ploughs, turn over ten acres of bog land. The 

 machine which bears the steam-engine is itself loco- 



motive ; but as the ploughs are moved at right angles 

 to its line of progress, not dragged after it, the machine 

 has to advance only the width of a iurrovv, viz. eigh- 

 teen inches, whilst the ploughs have travelled a quarter 

 of a mile ; in other words, the machine has to be 

 moved only eleven yards, in the time that the ploughs 

 have travelled five and a half miles, and turned over 

 a statute acre of land. This is, in truth, the prime dis- 

 tinguishing feature of the inveiition ; it is the contri- 

 vance on which the genius of its author is more partic- 

 ularly stamped, and which seems to to be essential to 

 the economical application of steam to husbandry; 

 for it is evident, that were it requisite to impel the ma- 

 chine with a velocity equal to that of the ploughs, by 

 dragging them with it, a great juoportion of the pow- 

 er of the engines would be uselessly expended. An- 

 other valuable projierty appertaining to the machine, 

 and which conduces greatly to its economy as a bog 

 cultivator, is, that it requires no previous outlay in the 

 formation of roads, no preparation of any kind further 

 than a drain on each side of it. That a locomotive 

 machine of such great dimensions and power could be 

 so constructed as to travel on mere raw bog, was an 

 excellence the more appreciated as it was unexpected 

 by those persons who are conversant with the soft un- 

 stable nature of bog. The Irish gentlemen present 

 also pronounced Red Moss to be a fair specimen of 

 the great mass of the flat, red, fibrous bogs of L-eland, 

 and that neither the machine nor the ploughs would 

 liave any difficulties to encounter in that country which 

 had not been already overcome on Red Moss, the field 

 of experiment. The engines are capable of working 

 up to fifty -horse power, birt the operations subsequent 

 to ploughing will require a small force compared with 

 that necessary lor breaking up tiie surface of the bogs, 

 to the depth and at the speed eflected by these ploughs. 

 The power consumed by eacli plough is estimated at 

 about twelve horses, and the weight of the sod opera- 

 ted upon by the plough, from point to heel, is no less 

 than three hundred pounds. The boiler is of unusually 

 large dimensions for locomotive engines, being suited 

 to the use of peat as fuel, so that the culture of a bog 

 will be effected by the pioduce of its drains. At Red 

 Moss, however, coals are so cheap, being found con- 

 tiguous to, and even under it, that they are used in pre- 

 ference to turf. Eight men are required for tlie man- 

 agernent of the machine and the two ploughs, or at the 

 rate nearly of a man per acre; but it must be understood 

 that this number of men will only be required lor the 

 first heavy process, and has no relation to any subse- 

 quent operations in the cultivation of bogs, nor to the 

 application of the invention to the culture of hard 

 land. After passing a sufficient time on the moss to 

 witness the exhibition of the ploughs, and the various 

 other functions and properties of the machine, the par- 

 ty expressed to Mr. Heathcoat the extreme pleasure 

 they had received, and their earnest hope that he would 

 extend the sphere of his exertions by applying the in- 

 vention to the culture of stiff clay soils ; and more es- 

 pecially to carry, into etfect those important operations 

 of subsoil ploughing and improved drainage recently 

 introduced to the agricultural world by Mr. Smith of 

 Deanston. To efiect these processes, great power is 

 essential, and it was evident that Mr. Heathcoat's in- 

 vention was equally well adapted to them, and would 

 be attended with results no less important than those 

 which will arise from its application to the reclamation 

 and culture of bogs." 



It may be interesting to our readers to give a 

 brief description of j>ir. Heathcoat's patents lor 

 his invention of " new or improved methods of 

 draining and cultivating land ; and new and im- 

 proved machinery and apfiaratus applicable there- 

 to — which machinery and apparatus may be ap- 

 plied to divers other useful purposes. 



" These patents were obtained for England, Scot- 



