810 
THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
[Dzc. 5, 
as the only feasible method of conveying the riches 
of the town to the surrounding couuiry, and the 
more certainly will the project of collecting the de- 
posit from the sewers be condemned. We are con- 
vinced that the latter is a serious and ruinous mis- 
take, and we say this, not in the spirit of partisan- 
ship, but in the interests of truth 
THOUGHTS ON AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY. 
I. The two greatest improvements in modern agri- 
cultural hanies, are—]. Substituting metal, i.e. cast 
and wrought-iron for wood. 2. The introduetion of 
the lever principle. 
- The principal points to be observed in machinery 
are—l. Making a machine serve different purposes at 
the same time ; 2. To serve different purposes at dif- 
ferent times; 3. Buying only the iron castings and 
other metal work and having the wooden part made at 
home. This would be found the best plan for emi- 
grants and for most farmers, 
1. Substituting iron for wood.—In doing this machines 
were first made all of wrought-iron, but now (the art of 
founding being much improved) they are generally 
made of cast-iron, The advantages of each are 
Wrought. Cast. 
May be made lighter ; not 50, Much cheaper; less liable to 
rust, and firmer, as it never 
bends, 
quently if steeled sharper; if | 
2d. Making a machine serve different purposes at 
different times. For any machine, for which one has 
but an occasional use, this is essential; it is better «for 
them to wear out than rust out : as examples, “ Clarke's 
universal plough” which can be made (1) a double 
Tom, or ridge plough ; (2) a moulding plough; (3) a 
horse-hoe, or cleaning plough ; (4) askeleton, or broad- 
share plough : altogether a very perfect tool for ridge 
culture, Cooke's drill, inventedabout 1780 (see Loudon, 
p- 408), was, though now superseded, a most complete 
implement for light, dry soils, and flat culture. The 
same machine is easily transf d into a cultivat: 
horse-hoe, scarifier, or grubber ; and by substituting 
a corn-rake, stubble-rake, or quitch-rake, for the beam 
of coulters or holes, it will rake corn-stubbles, or clean 
land of root-weeds." If the farmer who substituted 
levers for fixed coulters in this drill, continued to use 
Cooke’s additions, he would then have forestalled the 
modern lever horse-rakes, horse-hoes, &c. I believe 
some of Garrett's drills are so made, that, by removing 
the drill-box, and substituting tines and hoes for the 
coulters, they serve for lever horse-rakes, and horse- 
hoes ; small lever rollers might also be used. Wheels 
and shafts can always be taken off one machine and put 
on another ; an extra pair is always useful. Machines 
of only occasional use ought to be made so as to take 
to pieces, so as to be packed up in a compaet state, 
and take up little room, till next wanted. 
3d. Itis an excellent plan, especially for emigrants 
broken they can be mended, 
Ploughs. —1 believe the first plough made entirely of | 
wrought-iron was that made by Brand, a Suffolk black- 
smith, about 1780. This was one of the best ploughs 
in England. Making ploughs of cast-iron was much 
slower in coming into effect. Small made the first 
cast-iron mould-board about 1770 ; Ransome the first 
cast-iron ploughshare, 1785, hardened 1803 ; also 
the first cast-iron plough bottom ; soon followed by cast- 
iron plough frames. Who first made the plough beam 
of cast-iron I do not know, but Stratton has patented 
one on the hollow iron principle. 
Wrought-iron searifiers and harrows were generally 
used in Suffolk before 1814; of cast-iron ones I think 
Biddle’s was nearly the first ; wrought-iron cart-wheels, 
see Loudon's * En, Agr," p. 429. Of cast-iron wheels, 
perhaps those for sheep.troughs were the firet, but 
they are now common for searifiers, carts, &c., &c. 
In short we have now almost everything formerly made 
of wood made of iron ; thus sheet and cast-iron liquid 
manure carts; wrought-iron boilers for steam-engines; 
cast for boiling roots, &c. ; cast-iron chaff-cutters (with 
knives of cast steel), &c.,.&c. ; but generallv speakin 
the troughs of chaff-cutters, the handles of ploughs, and 
and those distant from towns, to purchase only the iron or 
complicated part of machines, and get the wood-work 
made at home by some carpenter on the farm, thus : 
the manufacturer sends a drawing of the wood-work 
made to seale, and the iron-work ; if this is of cast iron, 
it becomes quite easy to fit them together. The ma 
chine is much cheaper, and the carriage of it greatly so. 
Thus, for example, stack pillars of cast-iron, with covers 
to prevent vermin ascending, are bought, and the wood- 
frame for the stack is made at home. (2.) The cast- 
iron parts of the plough often bought, and the wooden- 
handles and beam made at home; and country car- 
penters often buy the iron parts of drills and thrashing- 
machines, and then finish them themselves. 
To eonelude— strength, simplicity, and cheapness are 
most important points in farming machinery ; and a 
| machine, having these properties, should always be 
| chosen before a fine-looking complicated patent article, 
as the extra cost at first, the difficulty of getting 
labourers to understand it, loss of time in setting it to 
work, delay and expense by constant breakage and get- 
ting it repaired, &c., will in general more than counter- 
balance any fancied superiority.—X. Y. 
wheels and shafts are made of wood. 
» The Lever principle.—This is of two kinds, 1st 
to give a constant and equable pressure, which may b 
increased or lessened at pleasure ; 2d, for altering and 
regulating the depth in the soil, or wholly putting 
1 
out of work searifiers and other tillage i 
THE SUPPLY OF ANIMAL FOOD. 
ej Tue rapidly increasing demand for animal food is 
| now attracting much attention, and the most profitable 
and speedy mode of producing it is the subject of 
3 E 
without stopping the horses. 
or giving an equable pressure the lever principle | 
is now added to drills, horse aud hand rakes; horse 
hoes (Garreti’s) ; harrows (Coleman of Colchester) ; 
rollers (Booth's). Itis euriuus to remark how slowly 
it spread itself ; a Suffolk farmer (Baldwin of Mend- 
ham) in 1790, first added it to drills to give each 
separate lever what pressure it required ; but it was 
not till 50 years afterwards that another native of 
Suffolk added it to horse-hoes. Salmon gave increased 
pressure to hay by adding a lever and weight to his 
chaff-catter in 1797. It took more than 40 years to 
apply the same principle to the cheese press. à 
As examples of the second method of applying lever- 
age, I may mention the lever added to plough-wheels 
by a Suffolk farmer (see Ransome’s * Imp. Ag," p. 40), 
and the levers to Biddle's and Finlayson's scarifiers. 
The second division is of the chief points to be ob- 
served in machinery :—1st. Making a machine serve 
different purposes at the same time, or having one ma- 
chine joined to another to complete the work at one 
operaion.; this may save the labour of many men and 
orses. The thrashing-machine on Earl Ducie's Ex- 
ample Farm, is a good example of this principle. 
Here the corn is raised to the feeding-board, thrashed, 
winnowed, put into sacks and weighed, by the same 
power (Ransome, p. 156). Many machines both thrash 
and winnow at the same time ; others cut chaff, and 
crush Beans and Peas, or grind Barley, with the same 
horse-power and at the sarne time. We have also drill- 
ploughs where drilling is carried on at the same time 
as the ploughing ; harrow-ploughs where knives, work- 
ing behind the plough, eut the clods either perpendicu- 
larly or transversely ; ploughs which stir the subsoil at 
the same time (as the Charlbury); double ploughs, as Lord 
Somerville's. I suppose it would make the plough too 
complicated to add all these, so as to turn the furrow- 
slice, stir the subsoil, sow the seed, and harrow all at 
the same time. [A plough was exhibited at Bristol, 
having lateral knives, which cut and stirred the earth 
as it was turned over. See Report in * English Agri- 
cultural Journal.”] We have drills to drill seeds, with 
light harrows fastened behind them to harrow them in 
at the same time ; drills which drill the manure and 
cover it, drill the Turnips and cover them, and shape 
the ridges at one operation ; drills for manure, corn, 
and seeds at the same time. Dibbles which do the two- 
fold operations of the hand dibbler and dropper better, 
and in less time, as Newberry’s, Perhaps a rake 
(for example, Grant’s lever) might be fixed behind the 
Waggon, in harvest time, to rake up everything, and 
thus save the labour of a man and horse. 
general amongst breeders and graziers. 
The extraordinary consumption of the past two years 
has arisen from ver isf: y 2s—abi em 
ployment for the lower orders at adequate wages ; it is 
this which has caused such a great demand, and pro- 
duced that correspondent scarcity in that principal 
article of food for the poor, mutton. 
Every article or paragraph must have its limit ; this 
shall be confined to mutton—the production of mutton. 
The grand desideratum in the mind of the writer bein 
to produce the greatest weight of food in the shortest 
time and at the least cost. This must, ere long, be the 
all-important question. The inquiry will not be between 
Sussex Downs or Hampshire Downs, fine Leicesters or 
large Leicesters, Gloucester Long-wools or Lincoln Long- 
wools ; but which will soonest attain the most profitable 
maturity. Weight of carcase must ultimately be tlie 
reat end aimed at ; quality of flesh will become a 
secondary consideration, because the bulk of consump- 
tion is with the labouring elasses, to whom quality of 
meat is by no means the main thing. The public must 
be fed, and that at a cheap rate. In order to obtain 
mutton of first quality it is a well-known practice and 
requisite to keep a South-down sheep to its third or 
fourth year; observe, not to fatten but to secure 
quality of meat ; what a waste of time for quality of 
flesh ! this cannot continue, quantity must supersede 
quality. The Gloucester and Lincoln Long-wools are 
the largest breed of sheep in the kingdom, and will not 
require more than 18 to 24 months in fattening to full 
maturity, weighing, at 24 months, from 22 to 40 lbs. 
per quarter; and where the flock is not required for 
folding, grazing open downs or mountain pastures, and 
the like, they will be found the most profitable breed for 
the producer and the most beneficial to the public, being 
the fastest growers, and also quick feeders, realising the 
greatest weight of flesh in the shortest time. 
Much, very much, certainly depends upon selection 
and careful breeding ; but more closely connected with 
this than is generally imagined, is the proper manage- 
ment and feeding. No animal intended for fattening 
ought at any time to be allowed to stand still ; they 
must be kept thriving, and while in health this is easy 
of attainment, in this country, at least, by the use of 
corn, cake, meal, and the various esculent roots which 
have become almost indispensable adjuncts to good 
grazing ; warmth and shelter in winter, cool and shade 
in summer, are equally desirable. It is necessary that 
the animal should be kept quiet and composed ; no rest- 
less ones will fatten rapidly, nor will those of predatory 
habits thrive fast ; secure contentment, feed punctually, 
and the result may be anticipated.—* 
(To be continued.) 
METROPOLITAN SEWAGE MANURE 
COMPANY 
You have repeatedly referred to this Company, and 
two leading articles have appeared in your paper im 
favour of the proposed undertaking, which gives rise 
to the expectation that you are able to satisfy the public- 
pecting the ext linary discrepancies which are 
to be found in the published evidence and in the 
proceedings of the company. 
The plan submitted by Mr. Smith, of Deanston, to 
the Health of Towns Commissioners was one whiel 
proposed application of sewer water to the land three 
times a-year, and as it is daily supplied, there became 
necessary reservoirs of sufficient capacity to store up a 
three months’ supply ; and the Metropolitan Company’s 
bill, therefore, contained a clause claiming power 
to purchase 20 acres of land in different situations for 
the purpose of forming the required reservoirs. This 
was a distinct part of the plan, suggested some years 
ago and persevered in till March, 1846, and yet when 
the construction of such reservoirs was opposed, the 
promoters of the bill declared that sewer water would 
be daily applied to the land as it is daily supplied by 
the sewers. Mr. Dickinson, however, admitted ‘ that 
it would not be used when rain had fallen ; and when 
there was a dense atmosphere, that land occasionally 
watered never becomes in a dry state," is his experi- 
ence, and yet he uses a liquid of which 5 to 15 tons an 
acre give this result. 
The Metropolitan Company propose to give 100 tons- 
an acre on arable, and 500 tons on meadows. Agricul- 
turists, according to the evidence, were told the 
Company would be prepared to manure their land for 
them on very moderate terms, and no doubt every 
7 | farmer in the country would easily be induced to desire 
to have the option of availing himself of such an offer, 
particularly when at the same time he is told of the 
good effects of a liquid of which only 1,000 or 2,000 
gallons are wanted, as if of equal quality with the 
sewer water, which requires from 23,000 to 110,000 
gallons an acre ; the difference in value being as great 
as that which exists between silver and copper. The 
value of a shilling is established, and then there isa 
farthing for you to pay twelve pence for. The example 
of Edinburgh and Mansfield is brought forward as 
proving the value of the sewer water of a town. Its 
consistency is stated to be as thick as “turtle soup ;” 
and the expense of draining 307. an aere. The Pimlico 
sewers are so diluted that the contents have been used 
on Grass, without any unpleasant smell, and no one 
expects or is prepared to incur the expense of draining. 
Mr. Solly (another witness brought up to speak im 
favour of liquid manure) stated, “that certainly all 
land should be drained first, before any application of 
this manure was extended on a large scale." 
The Company is to pay a fine of 3007. if any water 
be “ fouled” or “ polluted” by the sewer water, and yet: 
there is no evidence to show where the surplus is to 
run to. Mr. Parkes in his experience respecting the- 
drainage of land, has ascertained that 91 tons of water- 
drain through an aere during the six summer months, 
and putting on 100 to 500 tons additional will very ma- 
terially reduce the accumulated ground heat, and tend: 
to reduce the genial influence of the atmosphere. Our 
climate is notoriously a very humid one, and hence 
draining the land is one of the great improvements im 
a country in which the wetness of the season very fre- 
quently occasions fears respecting the growing crops. 
The Company expects that there will be a large quan- 
tity of land turned into meadows, and that consequently 
a greater number of cows will be kept. But the latter 
would at once furnish all the liquid manure which would 
be required for the meadows. Mr. Harvey has clearly 
proved this at Glasgow. Hence sewer water would not. 
be required any longer than to form the meadows. 
After that the pipes which it is required to lay down 
will have to be taken up; and the Company must always 
be liable to such useless expence for pipes, subject to 
be removed again any three months, that no profitable 
return can be calculated on, 
That portion of fertilising substance which is held in 
solution is esteemed to be the most valuable. Experi- 
ments at Edinburgh have established the fact that when 
sewer water is used for irrigation, nearly the whole of 
this is lost ; sewer water which contained 82 grs. in a 
gallon when it left the town, after passing over two 
miles of meadows, it finally ran over a sharp sand into 
the sea, and then still continued to contain 72 grs. in 
solution, consequently 8-9ths were lost, and 1-9th only 
retained by the land. According to Professor Miller, 
the value of the fertilising substances passing into the 
Thames from King’s Scholar Pond Sewer is annually 
23,360/., the drainage being 6,000,000 tons. 
According to Mr. Mylne 120,000/. will enable the 
company to pump up and distribute 3,500,000 tons. 
The value of this quantity may therefore be taken at 
13,626/., if 8-9ths "of the portion held in solution were 
not lost. Now for this 13,0007. worth of fertilising sub- 
stance, the agriculturists, according to Mr. Mylne, are 
expected to pay (at 3d.) 43,750/., and it was stated that 
the farmers would probably not object to 4d. a ton, or 
58,3337. More than four times its avowed value is to 
e paid for the 1 ton of manure which is contained in 
500 tons of King's College Pond sewer water. Accord. 
ing to the Company's engineer, 120,000/. will be re- 
quired to try the experiment on 3} million tons, and as 
the proper drainage which should pass away from the 
metropolis may be very properly assumed to be 250 
million tons, an outlay of 8,500,000/. must be incurred 
for studding the town with immense stand-pipe columns 
