CHAPTER VII. 



APPLICATION OF STEAM TO AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES. 



STEAM-POWEK is now employed for several purposes in agriculture ; and 

 this is an evident proof that; when it can be made properly available, 

 fanners are ready to lay hold on the advantages it is calculated to bestow 

 on them, not only in respect to the saving in labour which it eifects, but 

 also in what is gained by the work performed by it being better and 

 more quickly done than it could be by men and horses. 



There is no department of agricultural operations to which steam-power 

 has as yet been so well applied as to that of thrashing and dressing the 

 crops of grain. In the best-improved parts of the country we now find 

 fixed steam-engines established for thrashing on many farms. Where 

 the farms are large, fixed steam thrashing-machines are being -gSnerally 

 adopted, especially in Scotland, as they effect an immense saving in the 

 thrashing and cleaning of the grain compared with the work as done by 

 employing horses. I believe that I am right in stating that we can now 

 prepare grain ready for the market at something less than the fourth of 

 the cost when done by horse and hand labour. 



These machines are now constructed so as to thrash and dress the 

 grain of all kinds usually grown on our farms, in as perfect a manner as 

 can be effected. 



Besides fixed thrashing-machines there are also portable ones; that 

 is, steam-engine and thrashing machinery both constructed so as to be 

 moved about on wheels from one place to another, for the purpose of 

 thrashing grain wherever it may be found necessary. This kind of 

 steam thrashing-machinery is now very generally adopted for use in many 

 parts of England ; and it is used in Scotland also, but not to the same 

 extent, comparatively, as in England. The advantages of this kind of 

 steam thrashing power are, that it can be taken to the field, and the 

 corn-ricks thrashed on the spot with it ; and also, that where farms are 

 small, one such engine can be made to thrash the grain on many farms, 

 and thus obviate the necessity of each tenant maintaining thrashing 

 machinery exclusively for his own use. It is usual for those who are in 



