310 



Tlie Steam Plough. — Results of Spade Husbandry. Vol. VII. 



foot at 30 square inches, he would, in walk- 

 ing, press with a weight at the rate of 806 

 pounds per square foot, so that the machine 

 has a buoyancy of about 4 J times that of a 

 man, and could, therefore, travel on much 

 softer soil than red moss, which is consi- 

 dered very wet and spongy. The steam 

 engines of the machine consist of two cyl- 

 inders each, of 10 inches diameter, with a 

 two-feet stroke, and the other appurtenances 

 of a non-condensing engine, together with a 

 fly-wheel, and, at a regular speed, make 60 

 strokes per minute. The machine is capa- 

 ble of travelling one inch for every stroke 

 of the engine, or five feet per minute. This 

 velocity is acquired with a pressure of steam 

 equal to four pounds on the inch. The drain 

 on either side of the road- way, supplies 

 abundance of water for the boiler. The 

 flat iron band by which the plough is 

 dragged, is 2|- inches broad, and one- six- 

 teenth inch in thickness. The friction of 

 the band, together with the empty plough 

 at the distance of 304 yards, is overcome 

 with a pressure of steam equal to eiyht 

 pounds on the inch ; and when the plough 

 has hold on the furrow-slice, a pressure of 

 13 pounds is required, making in all, 17 

 pounds pressure of steam on the piston of 

 the engine, which, after deduction of two 

 pounds for the friction arising from the pis- 

 ton itself, leaves a total effective pressure 

 equal to 15 horses' power. This force is 

 required to work one plough, moving at the 

 rate of two miles per hour, turning over a 

 furrow-slice of 18 inches in breadth, by nine 

 inches in depth. If two ploughs were em- 

 ployed, the force would require to be in- 

 creased to a pressure of 25 pounds on the 

 inch, equivalent to 25 horses' power, and the 

 plough would turn over a surface of 8^ im- 

 perial acres in 12 hours. The plough weighs 

 124; cwt., is 30 feet in length between the 

 two extremities of the stilts, 10 feet in the 

 length of the sole, which last has a bearing 

 surface of 10 superficial feet, and leaves an 

 open furrow of two feet in width. The con- 

 sumption of coal required to perform the 

 above operation, is from one and a half to 

 two tons, according to quality, per day. 

 The number of men required, would be as 

 follows: — Two to conduct a plough, one to 

 attend the movement of the auxiliary ma- 

 chine, and one to prepare the end of the 

 furrow next to the machine for the entrance 

 of the plough in the succeeding bout. The 

 full complement of men, therefore, for two 

 ploughs, or sets of harrows, &c, would be 

 eight labourers, one engine man, and one 

 boy to assist in the machine. 



Honest industry may hope for success. 



Results of Spade Husbandry. 



At the last meeting of the Lytham Agri- 

 cultural Society, Mr. Threlfall, of Hollow- 

 forth, furnished the following interesting 

 calculations relative to labour performed by 

 the spade and plough. 



Mr. Threlfall stated, that he had for some 

 years past turned his thoughts to the sub- 

 ject of giving employment to his poorer 

 neighbours, and had made the experiment 

 of spade labour for the production of oats 

 and Swede turnips, and always found that it 

 offered great advantages over work per- 

 formed by the plough. He had this year 

 repeated the experiment on two plots of 

 land, each a statute acre, from which he 

 had obtained the following results: from 

 the acre dug by the spade, the production 

 had been 87f bushels of oats, of 36 lbs. per 

 bushel ; from the acre ploughed, the yield 

 had only been 47£ bushels, of the same 

 weight, showing a difference in favour of 

 spade husbandry, to the extent of 40^ bush- 

 els of oats, which were worth £5. Again, 

 from the crop raised by spade labour, he had 

 obtained 389 stones of straw, whereas, from 

 that grown on the ploughed land, the weight 

 was only 222, leaving 167 stones of straw in 

 favour of the spade system. The cost of 

 digging a statute acre, which he had had 

 done between the months of November and 

 March, was 37 shillings; for ploughing the 

 like quantity, the charge would be but 10 

 shillings, which made a difference of 27 

 shillings in favour of the plough. He 

 trusted, then, that the statement he had 

 made, would prove so satisfactory as to in- 

 duce some of those who heard him, to try 

 the spade labour system, and thus be the 

 happy means of increasing the healthful 

 employment of the poor. By this plan they 

 might dispense with the keeping of a por- 

 tion of their present stock of horses, save 

 the corn which those horses consumed, and 

 possibly, in the end, do away with the ne- 

 cessity of having to send money out of the 

 country to buy corn elsewhere. — The Brit- 

 ish Farmer's Magazine. 



It is a great mistake to consider husbandry 

 too narrow and mean an employment for a 

 man of parts and education — 'is it possible 

 to propose a nobler entertainment for the 

 mind of man, than he would find in the in- 

 quiries he must make into the operations of 

 nature? The subject is so vast that it can 

 never be exhausted; for could he live for 

 ages, he might still go forward in his re- 

 searches, and still make fresh discoveries, 

 that would excite afresh his admiration of 

 the riches of Divine wisdom. Lisle. 



