JriT 28, 1S55.J 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 





On the "heavy land" the strong plough* of Howard, 

 ^ ffnp Busby, and Ball, with their immense mould- 



507 



^rd- and a swing p>ui 



uouldboard 



was alike awarded by the judgment of b\ 



indeed, Howard's ploughman 



. -bort stunt _ 



•nd at 12 iuchts depth, with four stout horses pulling, 



mien to Ransome _ ^ 



»tohrve failed to set his irons properly at first, 

 frequent alterations did not remedy the errors, 

 jfanmg Machines. — We now come, in our hasty 

 •letch of these preliminary proceedings of the meeting, 

 notice the trial of reaping machines. The crop 

 cut was a light upstanding plot of remark- 





10 



m 



ably 



Le 



forward 



free fi 

 iversal 



i rojecting side arm 

 In swathe. The chi 



until harvest, in order that a fairer crop mar be obtained 

 for testing their abilities. 



Steam Cv vators.— On Tuesday the grand poiut of 

 interest was the trial of the steam* cult »rs. A reat 

 number of spectators were a- mbled in the heavvdand 

 field, but unfortunately no en. ne mad appearanc 



except Boydell's, which amused as veil as ati ^ ! 

 the company by running backward and forwar . n r 

 Grass or ploughed surface, along or across tlie lands. 

 Many were the conjectures as to what might be expected 

 from this huge machine, as it walked along at a smart 

 pace, though with the clumsy feet of a megatherium. 



. - . - , . , ™ This maclline l*as already been described in our 



having a young plant of Clover columns (see p. 410). The wheels carry si i sorpattens 

 ^ e ,-„ ™ „„^wi a whofi? owu we . ght p!a( ( them go th ^ £i we|gh ^ of the 



machine is always borne upon a flat plat I is it were, 



instead of the curved and narrow edge of a wheel. TL 

 advantage of this, in the case of soft and rough ground, 

 was successfully illustrated by the hauling of a cart 

 so furnished and heavily loaded, over difiicult ground, 

 which was done— laboriously no doubt— though without 

 the aid of these portable rails, as they are called, it could 

 not have been done at all. The steam engine fur- 

 nished with these wheels, and exhibited by Mr. Boydell, 

 was put in exercise and tried against a force of men 

 pulling against it ; and it was found that 30 men could 



the um 



reap my &°h tue y wou ^ ke fiure to succeed with 

 t2! Crosekiirs was tried first : cutting pretty well, 

 sad delivering admirably with its endless web cloth and 





revolved too quickly, tending to break and thrash the 

 upstanding corn ; and having the horses behind, it was 

 Biable to traverse across the lands. 



The next was that of J. Burns, of Mylnefield, 

 Dundee, bting a M'Cormick's machine with Lord Kin- 



The horses precede the machine 



draught. 



naird 



on one side, as in Hussey's ; and it has a slower motion 



of the reel. It cut very clean, and laid the corn pretty 

 readily and neatly for gathering. 



Then came Messrs. Burgess & Key's patent platform 

 added to M'Conniek's machine. The novelty consisted in 

 three worms mounted transversely upon the platform, 

 which delivered off the stuff sideways ; the worms on 

 which the ear ends of the straw fall having a larger 

 diameter than the worm next the cutter, and so sending 

 them off with greater velocity and impetus — this in- 

 snriDg a very regular lay of the swathe for binding. The 

 chine cut exceedingly well, and was highly praised. 

 The next machine tried was Dray's well-known 

 Hussey's reaper, with tipping platform and other 

 improvements; among other additions, a balance 

 weight has been attached to the crank-axle, giving it 

 treat freedom iu its rapid revolution. It took 4 to 

 5 feet in width, cutting very cleanly, and delivering 

 beautifully in separate sheaves, laid straight and ready 

 for the binder. The tipping platform wonderfully 

 facilitates the back delivery. Being simple and cheap 

 it excited the general approbation of the eager and 

 interested crowd of spectators, the business portion of 

 the company agreeing that it seemed more like the 

 thing wanted than any other there exhibited. 



Palmer's (of Scotland) reaper has a platform in the 

 ahape of a quadrant, so that the man raking off delivers 

 the corn on one side, instead of behind. By this form, 

 too, the corn is not carried bodily forward, as it is in 

 Otter machines having a side delivery, but, on the con- 

 ™j, takes a diagonal or. rather circular course, the 

 uty arising from having to overcome the inertia 

 of the weight of corn being thus avoided. The platform 

 fitted with a radiating system of rollers, intended 

 w reduce the friction of the straw upon it ; but the 

 ■^vantage of this contrivance was not at all apparent 

 An iron guard, fixed so as 'to enter the standing crop 

 *M incline it to the cutters, at the same time clearing 

 * Pjasage for the wheel carrying the far side of the 

 FWorm, was light and efficient. 



Hikes' rotary reaper excited much amusement from 

 m original-looking fi gure . Having found the impossi- 



Kl v, 8teenng U with the h °rses behind, the 

 pernor has now put the team in front, though not two 



drnrT f . m , the case of other machines. The huge 



£™ of cloth, with its sharp serrated circular knife 



ow, and a ring of pegs on its upper rim for catching 



the *?^ rev °lves rapidly as the horses proceed ; and 



ST^T^ f ° rward round the front of the drum, 

 r\. ^uvered between it ™A *h<> h orse3 



stop it, so that professing to be 12 horse power it may 

 be considered as efficient for barely half that amount^ 

 fully one half being used in its own conveyance over the 

 ground on which it was then working. A frame con- 

 taining four ploughs, mounted upon carriage wheels, 

 and fitted with levers for lowering and raising in and 

 out of the ground, was attached to the engine in one of 

 its trials. The engine proceeded eIowIv. dragging the 

 ploughs behind. This arrangement of ploughs for 

 the purpose is the invention of Mr. Coleman, and 

 answered pretty well until one of the ploughs broke 

 short off, and the work came to a standstill. A 





was 



lud£thA,v*^ ucl(W ^n ii ana the horses' heels— only 



Thia^S 6 ^. / th f drum en *ering into the crop. 



many more straws than any of 



the 



tas ragged ; the corn delivered in 



■2* n? 6 , ". aDa naatne S reen % e been ripe Wheat, 

 <MhTJ;^ T\ !° n of the 8 rain would ( f rom the violence 

 ^ pound ^^ threshed out and lost upon 



* itTuVJ^r 6 attracted ^st encomium, on account 

 while Bu^Z!! * g i a PP earaQ ce and beautiful delivery ; 



Howeverh.T^ Ke *' 8 came nex * in our estimation. 



* * a onLt; th t cr °P been at all laid and storm- broken, 



^ ablT t Ti er an y of the machines would have 

 l to I,, CoU f Ct &nd deliver the corn. Inventors 

 ^S'uff u^° y , the l r Principal ingenuity in disposing of 

 *• ">tfn diffi i y CQt andonthe Platform ; whereas 

 **? on to th CU i lS t0 get au unfavourably conditioned 

 ^^Lineft! platform at all. We were gratified to 

 fcrnrda ;^ 7 amodel in which the crop was bent down 



•ration tn tt ° f bein S P ulled backwards, in direct 

 *J*i to J? ~ e ° nw ard movement of the machine, and 



common iron double furrow plough was next tried, 

 but not with very marked perfection of ploughing—the 

 trial, in fact, being merely to see whether the eugin 

 could drag ploughs behind it, as well as propel 

 itself over the land, Gibson's digger was then drawn 

 by tlie engine ; but the soil and weeds clogged the 

 rowels and scrapers, and left the ground behind in holes 

 and heaps. The ground was certainly moist, and the 

 day was extremely rainy ; but we doubt whether the 

 work would have been very different had the weather 

 been fine. When drawn on the uuploughed lea, the 

 stirring forks in a great measure stripped through the 

 soil without breaking and raising it, though they pene- 

 trate some 9 or 10 inches deep. The draught of this 

 implement we judged to be about that of six horses ; but 

 the engine of 14-horse power could proceed with it only 

 at the pace of about 2£ miles per hour ; so that 8-horse 

 power was absorbed in moving the engine itself. This 

 fully showed the uselessness of such a ponderous 

 machine for tractive purposes. The * endless railway" 

 seemed to act very well, not clogging with the wet soil, 

 or in any way betraying liability to derangement. The 

 pressure of the shoes upon the ground did not appear 

 much more injurious than the trampling of horses ; and 

 this is reasonable, when we consider that the total 

 weight of 6^ tons rests upon four shoes at once, that is to 

 say, upon 12 or 15 square feet of surface. We must 

 regard this clever invention as adapted for carrying 

 great weights over rough ground, but not able to con- 

 duct a locomotive engine with sufficient ease for it to 

 draw field implements behind it. 



Great disappointment was felt at the non-appearance 

 of Usher's steam-plough. This invention, as is well 

 known, consists of a number of curved ploughs set about 

 an axis hung transversely behind a locomotive engine, 

 and so rotating as to act like propellers, assisting the 

 onward movement of the engine. The machine now 

 exhibited is very different from the first that was made, 

 having a vertical instead of a common horizontal boiler, 

 double cylinders, different gear work, and spur wheels 

 for communicating motion to the ploughs and to the 

 carriage wheels ; and there is a movement by which the 

 engine itself raises or lowers the ploughs for work. It 

 has been tested to be of 19-horse power ; but the 

 weight seems much greater than 5| tons, as six horses 

 were hardly worked in drawing it into the show-yard. 

 Having got up steam, and attempting to propel itself to 

 the field, the badness of the road occasioned a slight 

 accident, and this, together with the unwillingness of 

 the inventor to have the machine tried upon stiff lea 

 ground in wet weather, has prevented the public from 

 witnessing its performances. 



As we were coming away from the trial field, im- 

 pressed with the sentiment that u the steam cultivators 

 were a failure," and soaked with rain, old Aquarius 

 having turned on his taps as if to give Walter Scott the 

 lie for saying the "sun shines bright on Carlisle wall," 

 the stewards, Mr. Amos, and some few other lucky 



t ~- uave Lep P ;<«-««» •wKmw v» im» •«!«« j piuugu uau. bmwwi m u. m'i'i miii a mue oo« Making 



****>' cro^* ^PP^nted— a good reaping machine the best of our way to the light land trial field, there, 

 f* &e ninf Jll et to be constructed. sure enough, stood a portable engine in one corner, with 



ropes and pulleys, and a ploughing machine, all in 

 action. The engine was that belonging to Mr. Lee, of 



?* **e it/ I!. eapers entered for exhibition, one did 

 ?tbe 



i* - Aowva H^ arance ; there was * however, a novelty 

 ,G - Wfi ♦ * the shape of a raodel Rented by 

 lxhi *»ted bv M w° f Swint o»5 near Nottingham, and 



****, under a ^1* HaU 'i ^ has a revolvm g digc 



Atrial 



e *nh is thro 



Walsall, and the plough and tackle are the invention of 

 Messrs. Fisker, of Stamford ham, manufactured by K. 

 Roger,. of Stockton-on-Tees. It had been tried in 

 Perthshire, last winter, being actuated by a water- 

 wheel ; tliis being the first day of ita trial with 

 steam power. The whole apparatus is novel, and w$ 

 may say, uncommonly promising. Instead of a heavy 



j- . ^ uuaj at* j, uuwuiuiuiuy promising. iiiMtcau ui a 



apmg machines has been postponed wire rope to drag the plough frame 



igbt endless hemp rope, only three- ;hths of an inch 

 thick, communicates power to the ploi h carriage, 

 which we may all locomotive, as it propels itself in the 

 following manner:— a grooved wheel, set in motion by 

 proper spur wheels from a r ^>r actuated by the 

 hemp rope, winds, as it were, along a strong wire rope 



aid upon the ground ; and the frame being thus carried 

 slowly forward, drags ploughs or other implements after 



i?Yi hemp cord does not toucn the ground, but is 

 held up at every 40 yards distance by a " horse,' 9 or 



small friction pulley frame, abou* 3i feet high. This 

 cord travels at the rate of 20 miles per hour ; bu die 

 speed being reduced by the wheel work upon tlie plough 

 carriage, the latter travels only two miles per hour. 

 When two ploughs are in m at once, having the 

 draught of four horses, the strain upon tl rapidly 



cord will thus be less than half a h< * 

 We were informed by the exhibitor that a 

 ~-..w.«* engine is sufficiently powerful to work two 

 ploughs, and that with 4 cwt of coal it will ploui 

 4 acres iu a day, the expense for labour being only that 

 of two men and a boy. If this be strietl) be fact, we 

 have a complete invention able to plough light land 

 cost of say [h. per acre. That it is not lar from the 

 truth we are sure, for we ourselves saw one j .lough 

 drawn at the rate of at least two miles per hour when 

 tlie engine bad only 7 lbs. or 8 lbs. pressure upon be 

 square inch, and this was an engine of (Mior- power 

 at 40 lbs. pressure. To be sun-, the land had been 

 previously ploughed, pulverised, subjected te the trial 

 of all sorts of drills, and l>een afterwards well trampled 

 by hundreds of people, and consolidated by rain, so that 

 the possible quantity and quality of tlie work could not 

 be well ascertained. The ploughing we saw was respect- 

 ably though roughly done, but there was one point 

 really performed— the furrows were well turned. If a 

 steam cultivator can invert the soil thoroughly and 

 cheaply we may put up with a little imperfection in the 

 straightness of cutting and evenness f laying. The 

 method of anchoring the pulleys, and the arrangement 

 of the pulleys and ropes, is very ingenious, and can 

 hardly be explained with brevity. The anchorage 

 consists of a plate or plough, a Yew feet in length, 

 and 8 inclus only in depth; this can be easily drawn 

 forward in the ground without the trouble of digging 

 holes, taking up, Betting down again, &c. ; and \tt it 

 presents a sufficient resistance sideways to the pull of 

 the ropes. A wheel, pinion, and crank on each 

 anchor is used to draw it by means of a rope towards 

 a fixed post, when it is required to be shifted. The 

 arrangement of the ropes about the anchored pulleys 

 is like that of the chains in a travelling crane, the 

 anchorage being shifted forward at intervals without 

 altering the length of rope. The ploughs are not 

 rigidly attached to the travelling -frame, but are hung 

 by short iron beams, which form levers, having a slight 

 degree of play up and down. There are four ploughs — 

 two before and two behind the carriage, pointing oppo- 

 site ways, a neat lever movement lifting two out of work 

 and droppir the other pair of ploughs in ; so that the 

 machine can plough both ways without having to turn 

 round at the land's end. 



The steam cultivator entered for exhibition by M. 

 Alexis Dussuc has not appeared. But as far as mere 

 ploughing is concerned, we think the above contrivance 

 contains all the elements of success. Whether a better 

 description of tilling instrument, actuated by ropes in 

 this way, can be produced or not, remains to be 

 perhaps Mr. Fowler may solve the question next year 

 at Chelmsford. 



The draining engine has appeared in an improved 

 form. Mr. Fowler has contrived an anchor having a 

 clip movement, which causes it to open and key into the 

 hole the more it is pulled. There arealso improved blocks, 

 in which the large curve of a heavy wheel is obtained by 

 substituting three smaller and lighter ones. The engine 

 is new, with new crane gearing for reducing the speed 

 of the reels. It is of 8-horee power, and as the leverage 

 is reduced by the wheel-work to 12 for 1, the strain 

 upon the wire rope is that of 96 horses ; and this being 

 doubled by the pulley hung to the plough, makes the 



draught of the implement that of 192 horses. The holes 

 for the anchors cost 6d each digging, so that this plan 

 would not answer for steam ploughing ; but an im 

 mensely strong purchase is required by this powerful 

 machine. 



We must more shortly give the reports of other 



trial 8. 



Portable Threshing Machine*.— Amongst the portable 

 threshing machine makers there seems to be a great 

 struggle. Messrs. Clayton and Shuttle worth have lost 

 their first place, though carrying off a silver medal. 

 The machine for which this medal is given appears to 

 do more than was wanted, and was, on this account, put 

 out of competition. It professes to give a perfect dress- 

 ing. For this purpose an addition has been made to 

 the right side, by which the three necessary separations 

 are made in the corn, head, seconds, tail It may, we 

 were assured, be added to the machine of last year for 

 the sum of 15i The bearings struck us as being very 

 complicated, and not good to reach except when the 

 machinery is at rest ; nor did we think the reciprocating 

 motion so perfect as in Hornsby's machine, that took 

 the first prize. 



Hornsby, who has so long excelled in the dressing 

 machine department, is fairly entitled to the place he 

 holds. The improvement in the principle is as follows : — 

 There is a cylindrical wrought iron beater, combining 

 strength and lightness, together with peculiar ability for 

 fine setting. The reciprocal motion is so well contrived 



