THE ILLIISrOIS ir-^RMiER- 



21 



and that henceforth the light of science 

 and of practical utility shall place the 

 products of Egypt proudly before an 

 appreciative people. 



IN CONCLUSION, 



I appeal to the ladies present, that they 

 use their influence in persuading their 

 husbands, sons and brothers to devote a 

 small portion of their time to the beauti- 

 fying of their homes, to add the beautiful 

 to the useful of the homestead around 

 which the loved ones cluster. It is the 

 flowers that call back our thoughts to 

 the Infinite and the beautiful ; then why 

 may we not drape our walks with these 

 symbols of love, and festoon our homes 

 with'lthe nobler gifts of Flora? Shall 

 the evening sun be sent back from forest 

 aisle or waving field of grain, and his 

 last rays not kiss the closing beauties of 

 the floral world that should blush beneath 

 the window of the homestead, and give a 

 parting good night as she sinks beneath 



the prairie billows. 



«•> 



From the Chicago Press and Tribune. 



Fawko' Steam Flow as J is and what it 

 may be. 



That Fawkes has demonstrated that 

 plowing can be done by steam no one will 

 deny, but that he has demonstrated that 

 steam can profitably compete with animal 

 power is entirely another thing. In 

 September, 1858, he plowed the first 

 furrow by steam on the western prairies. 

 His plow was pronounced a success by 

 others as well as Ourself, at the time, for 

 it had turned six perfect furrows side by 

 side, in the most workman-like manner, 

 and of the length required by the com- 

 mittee. The shouts of the crowd of 

 farmers present was a sufficient attesta- 

 tion that the much desired end had been 

 attained, and Fawkes was the hero 

 of the hour. But no one claimed that 

 all had been fully demonstrated; its 

 economy must still be proved; it must 

 show ill dollars and cents whether it had 

 the vantage ground of the ox, the mule 

 and the horse. To ascertain this point 

 a day of trial was set at Decatur, to come 

 off in November. The day proved a 

 complete cross between rain, hail and 

 snow; the wood was wet, the ground was 

 slippery, and the whole thing, so far as 

 a trial of any value, was a failure. But 

 in the midst of these untoward circum- 

 stances it was discovered that the 

 machine had not the capacity to generate 

 steam in sufficient quantity for continu- 

 ous work on long lands. There was no 

 pump apparatus for pumping up water; 

 the fire box and flues were too small for 

 our Illinois coal, together with other 

 minor defects. To those who looked at 

 these defects they did not seem insur- 

 mountable; the boiler could be made 

 larger, pumps could be attached, the fire- 

 box and grates enlarged, and clipper 

 plow could replace the ones in use. 



Fawkes was urged to take his plow to 

 some large farm and give it a thorough 

 trial in the various kinds of plowing — 

 such as raw prairie; timothy clover and 

 old land. But the shouts of the crowd 

 had elated him, and the fact that he could 

 plow was sufficient in itself to convince 

 him that it could be done with his engine 

 cheaper than by animal power. His 

 machine was housed at Decatur, where it 

 still rests in maaterlj inactivity. In- 

 stead of remodeling this machine at some 

 one of our railroad locomotive shops, 

 and continuous trials m^de on our western 

 prairies, (for if the nlachine ever suc- 

 ceeds, it must be here,) a new one was 

 ordered and made at Philadelphia, and 

 brought west for exhibition at the State 

 Fair. In some respects it is an improve- 

 ment, and in others a decided loss. The 

 boiler is too small, (the old fault,) the 

 fire-box and flues the same, the pump for 

 filling the tank but little better than 

 none, the pinion, spur and driving wheel 

 too small, making a loss of leverage, 

 liable to stop in passing centers, and pre- 

 venting the use of a steam cut-oflf. The 

 whole too heavy, weighing some thirteen 

 tons without fuel or water; the plows 

 were not adjusted, but run by guess. 

 Such was the condition of this machine, 

 which, all untried as it was, its inventor 

 expected would carry off the premium of 

 the State Society and that of the Illinois 

 Central Railroad Company, being an ag- 

 gregate of four thousand five hundred 

 dollars. ' 



A scientific committee pronounced in 

 its favor, the gold medal of honor of the 

 United States Agricultural Society was 

 awarded it, the snouts of the multitude 

 indorsed its powers, and it stood proudly 

 forth as the great agricultural achieve- 

 ment of the day. But conservatism is 

 yet an element, and claims a hearing in 

 the affairs of men, and it is said to 

 Fawkes, you must prove by actual trial 

 the working power of your machine; you 

 must go upon the prairie slopes of Central 

 Illinois and show the number of acres 

 you can break of the raw, uncultivated 

 prairie per day, and the cost of the same, 

 you must turn over the cultivated meadow 

 and the stubble land, and demonstrate 

 its actual cost. These you must do be- 

 fore capital will give you encouragement 

 or the practical farmer will invest in your 

 iron steed of the prairie. To this inex- 

 orable bidding Fawkes bowed acquies- 

 ance, and landed his machine on our 

 farm. Like its predecessor it is housed 

 in for the winter, and in the spring is to 

 undergo the necessary alterations. — 

 Fawkes has learned wisdom from defeat, 

 and has pledged himself that his plow 

 shall win fame from actual worth, or be 

 broken up and sold for old junk. 



Since our notes of the trial of the 22d 

 of November, the gang of plows have 

 been under the hands of one of our best 



plow makers, and of course much im- 

 proved in the arrangement of running. 

 Only six have been put on as yet, and 

 they did not require more steam to draw 

 them than the four did at the trial, show- 

 ing a decided gain. When they are all 

 properly arranged they will cut about 

 eight and one-fourth feet, or half a rod 

 in width, and will not probably require 

 over one hundred pounds of steam. That 

 the machine is much too heavy is now 

 conceded; that its gearing must b« 

 materially altered — the boiler and the 

 fire box enlarged, a much larger pump, 

 an extra tender for wood and water, and 

 several minor improvements must be 

 made before it be all that is expected of 

 it. We have an abiding faith that Fawkes 

 will make it a success, that is as much as 

 a reasonable man could expect, but this 

 will take him probably all of next season. 

 The Illinois Central Railroad Company 

 have given him all the possible aid, even 

 more than money would have done. They 

 can see the ultimate succesa of the en- 

 terprise and therefore have overlooked 

 the whims and caprices of the inventor. 

 Mr. F. is a carpenter and farmer, but 

 has had no training as an engineer. — 

 Had he put his machine in the hands of 

 a good, practical engineer, he would have 

 done much better. It does not follow 

 per se that an inventor of a drum upon 

 which a locomotive may be moved or to 

 move itself is capable of running the 

 engine, no more than that a general who 

 conquers a country is capable of gover- 

 ning it; Mr. Fawkes is no exception to 

 this rule, and we doubt, that without 

 further training, that he could keep his 

 place even as a fireman on one of our 

 railroad trains. We would therefore 

 advise him that when he again gets up 

 steam, that he put a good engineer and 

 fireman in charge, and that he devote 

 himselE to the arrangement of the 

 machinery; for while at the throttle-valve 

 how can he see whether the plows work 

 right or wrong. There has been plenty 

 of time, even with the bad weather, since 

 the arrival of the plow, with the proper 

 aid, to have made considerable progress, 

 but that time has been frittered away 

 without working any practical results. 



It is no disparagement to Mr, Fawkes 

 that he is not master of all the trades 

 necessary to make his invention a great 

 success. The motive power is made 

 upon the usual plan of a locomotive with 

 upright boiler, and his invention consists 

 of the drum, and the application of the 

 power to move it. That this power can- 

 not be directly applied to the drum as 

 stated in a recent notice of a Chicago 

 model, is plain to every observer. The 

 arrangement of plows in a gang is no 

 easy matter. Many inventors have es- 

 sayed it, but thus far without complete 

 success. We can sec no reason why thi 

 cannot be overcome; but it will requir^ 



■■,'iX ■ 



