144 



THE ILLINOIS FARMEH. 



May 



on the soil, to give them great tractive pow- 

 ers ; his plows run on wheels, set in frames, 

 to relieve them of friction and dead weight, 

 yet we well know that the whole thing thus 

 far is not a paying success, for if it had been, 

 would not a larger quantity have been plow- 

 ed ? If two dollars an acre is a fair price 

 for breaking, three hundred dollars is no 

 very striking result for one summer's work 

 with an apparatus, the interest on which 

 alone would absorb the total amount, to say 

 nothing of running expenses and repairs. It 

 is not so much as two three-horse teams and 

 two men would do in the ordinary breaking 

 season, say from the middle of May to that 

 of July. But the gang plows " do network 

 well," is the reply. No, nor do we think 

 they ever will. If the surface was a per- 

 fect level or a true inclined plane tl.ey might 

 do, but to expect to have them work well on 

 an uneven surface is more than they have 

 bargained for. Besides the objections to the 

 plows which is insuperable, the engine does 

 not turn readily at the corners or ends of 

 the lands, and except for long stretches of 

 prairie it will not answer, being too unwieldy 

 and unmanagable; doubtless this difficulty 

 might be overcome to a greater or less ex- 

 tent, but on this point we shall speak here- 

 after. We learn that Mr. W. is sanguine 

 of success, and that notwithstanding all the 

 discouragements thus far, he intends to so 

 improve his machine by the opening of the 

 summer breaking that it will convince the 

 the most skeptical that steam plowing is and 

 will be among the economic facts of the day. 

 It is with a deep regret that we are compell- 

 ed to take a less favorable view of these 

 points. We do not claim to have nny par- 

 ticular genius for invention nor intuitive 

 knowledge to discern the final result with 

 prophetic ken, but we have watched every 

 move in this steam plowing, and have so of- 

 ten pointed out the place of failure, that we 

 have from practice become satisfied that our 

 judgment is more than a match for the san- 

 guine visions of the inventor. Mr. W. has 

 kept quietly on hi£ way and has avoided 



rather than sought popularity. That he is 

 a most excellent and capable mechanic and 

 an inventor of no ordinary order we must 

 admit, when we examine the power and 

 economy of his engine and the immense 

 tractive ability of his huge, though not heavy 

 driving wheels. Such a man richly earns 

 success, and when he fails we can but look 

 upon the scheme as impracticable. 



STEAM PLOW OF MR. FAWKES. 



We will next proceed to inquire what pro- 

 gress has been made in the direction marked 

 out by Mr. Fawkes since the trial on our 

 farm in November, 1859. It was then voted 

 a failure, and so we conclude its inventor re- 

 garded it, after having plowed four acres in a 

 fair test at prairie breaking, upon one of the 

 most favorable pieces of land that could have 

 been selected. Instead of resuming work in 

 the spring, as promised, by an enlargement 

 of the boiler, which was found to be too small, 

 he proceeded to get up another engine in 

 Cincinnati, costing some six thousand dol- 

 lars, as we are assured by the person advanc- 

 ing the capital. The machine was taken to 

 the farm of Michael Sullivant, near Homer, 

 in this county, where it was to have been em- 

 ployed in prairie breaking, but from what we 

 can learn it proved as decided a failure as 

 did the Lancaster, the preceding year. In 

 getting up this machine Mr. F. had the as- 

 sistance of some of the best mechanical tal- 

 ent of Cincinnati, and certainly at a shop 

 second to no other in the United States, for 

 appliances to make it a success. The fact of 

 getting up the new machine with the openly 

 avowed assistance of Mr. Miles Greenwood, 

 of Cincinnati, could be taken in no other 

 light than an acknowledgment of the failure 

 of the Lancaster, as we at the time charged, 

 but which was stoutly denied. We only re- 

 cur to this fact to vindicate ourself from the 

 charge of any unfairness in our articles al- 

 luded to, only proving that we were right in 

 our estimate of the impracticability of the 

 invention. 



The latest news that we have from Mr. F. 

 is that he has abandoned the tractive plan 



