1861. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



143 



farmer sowing twenty acres annually of wheat 

 or other small grain, or ten acres of grass 

 seed would find a saving to use this machine 

 over the hand seeding. 



"We have no faith in the drill for spring 

 grains, while grass seed must at all times be 

 sown broadcast- When the drill is used it 

 is not uncommon to attach a grass seed 

 sower, at a cost of ton dollars, that will sow 

 only as many acres in a day with two horses 

 as one man will sow with this sower by hand. 

 Without any hesitation we pronounce this a 

 valuable labor saving machine, not only in 

 regard to the saving of labor, but in the su- 

 perior manner in which the work is perform- 

 ed. It is efficient, durable, and easily man- 

 aged by any ordinary farm hand or boy of a 

 dozen years of age. When we take into 

 consideration that but few persons are good 

 hands at broadcast sowing, it is desirable to 

 have some implement with which the work 

 can be at times easily and well done, and this 

 ma'ihine accomplishes all of this in the most 

 satisfactory manner. 



Plowing by Steam. 



We are repeatedly asked if plowing by 

 steam is to be abandoned, or a: least to give 

 some information of the crogress that the in- 

 vention has attained. It has been our inten- 

 tion for some time to review I'he eiforts made 

 and making in regard to plowing by steam. 

 The main reason of our delay has been that 

 sixteen months since we wrote on this subject, 

 when Mr. Fawkes and his friends considered 

 our views of the then condition of the en- 

 terprise, even if truthful, as tending to dis- 

 courage and retard its perfection, by alarm- 

 ing capitalists who were disposed to give the 

 aid needed for further experiment, .vhich it 

 was hoped uiight result in its complete tri- 

 umph.- Whether the reasons were good or 

 bad wc have, in due deference to this wish, 

 oft repeated kept silent, but we think the 

 time has come when we might speak out and 

 freely express our views in full. Should 

 Mr. Fawkes or any other person be ambi- 

 tious to enter the list? we shall most cheer- 



fully accord him space in our columns. The 

 enthusiasm has so far cooled down that the 

 subject can be carefully investiga-ed on its 

 merits and handled without danger of an ex- 

 plosion. We confess that we have had hopes 

 that steam power, to some extent, would 

 have been applied to the culture of the soil ; 

 that at least on the unbroken prairie and 

 tough sward, that it would assert a suprem- 

 acy, but we have given up this pleasing hope 

 as an illusion now completely dispelled. And 

 further, from the best information that we 

 possess, that the stationary and movable 

 steam engines used for threshing and other 

 farm purposes, have not given the saisfac- 

 tion anticipated and are now less popular 

 than two years since. That steam, fur ordi- 

 nary purposes, must yiel 1 to the horse, the 

 mule and the patient ox, we have no doubt. 

 At the same time, for all manufacturing pur- 

 poses, where the power is stationary, andean 

 be used almost constantly, or when the in- 

 terest will not eat into ihi capital, or rust 

 make holes through boilers, or corrode the 

 journals while standing idle, it will succeed, 

 but for farm purposes these difnculties ap- 

 pear to meet us at every turn. We have con- 

 tended that an engine might be constructed 

 to break up the sward, to thresh, grind sor- 

 ghum, corn meal, saw wood, and by thus 

 giving it constant work might be made to 

 pay, but -wc find so few farmers prepared to 

 do all this variety of work, that even under 

 this aspect of the case we do not look for 

 any practical results. 



Vv'ATKRS STEAM PLOW. 



That Mr. Y\^iters has brought his plow 

 into the field and broken up some one hun- 

 dred and fifty acres of prairie, does not set- 

 tle the great point, or answer the question 

 in the affirmative, will it pay ? It has only 

 reaffirmed that plowing by steam can be 

 done, no" that it will enter into the economy 

 of the farm. lie has excellent engines, with 

 driving wheels of ten feet diameter, and so 

 constructed that they can pass over compar- 

 atively soft sward, to very good advantage, 

 and are well provided witli appliances to hold 



