o:»2 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



Williams's book are of vast general importance to every 

 department of steam power, substituting great and 

 trustworthy principles ior an ever-varying and costly 

 experinieutalism. I, for one, feel that we owe to this 

 gentleman a great debt of thankfulness One isno longer 

 at the mercy of chance or caprice in this matter, and it is 

 no longer difficult to account for cracked or broken boiler 

 plates, damaged tubes and explosive accidents. The mere 

 question of the circulation of the fluids inside the boiler 

 suggests a host of improvements and reflections, and I 

 can easily comprehend now why the vertical boiler 

 attached to Romaine's digging machine lost its water by 

 priming. We have been threshing for two days with 

 au iron drum 3 feet 6 inches wide, having eight beaters, 

 and making 1200 revolutions per minute. The quantity 

 of water evaporated is fully 60 gallons per hour, or 

 10-horse power ; the quantity of coal consumed 7 4 

 cwt. in 12 hours, or 7 lbs. coal per horse per hour. 

 Pressure of steam 50 lbs. per inch. I think that 

 our Royal Agricultural Society should adopt a fairer 

 mode of trying engines than is now practised. They 

 ure tried with Welch or anthracite coal, which is 

 never used by farmers. If tried with bituminous coal 

 instead of 4 or 5 lbs. per horse per hour 10 lbs. per 

 horse per hour would be a nearer calculation, as shown 

 on the farm. Our implement makers would do well to 

 adopt Mr. Williams's suggestion, and admit air above 

 the fuel by holes in the furnace door or by other 

 means. I may trouble you in another communication 

 with soma remarks on the threshing machine. /. /. 

 Mtrhi, Tiptrce Hall, Sept. 24. 



Steam Cultivator. — The difficulties which present 

 theinselvt s in constructing a locomotive steam plough, 

 to do the ordinary work of the implement now 

 in use, appear so numerous as almost to justify 

 the expression impossible, when applied to the common 

 tillage of a farm by such an invention. With our 

 .present knowledge of the means of generating steam, 

 the machine, having to carry its own fuel and water, 

 must be necessarily strong and cumbrous, quite unfit 

 then to travel over stubble, or Grass land, to break it 

 up, which is ouly the first process in cultivation ; should 

 this be overcome, the operation of pulverising would be 

 hopeless. Four horses attached to a heavy harrow 

 make indifferent work on a stiff soil after rain. If the 

 weight of each animal is detrimental, what would be the 

 result of many tons endeavouring to crawl over the 

 fresh turned surface ? — probably an entire failure, re- 

 quiring the assistance of men and horses to extri- 

 cate the mammoth plough from its immovable position. 

 The bad state of farm roads is an important considera- 

 tion when a constant change from field to field would 

 be requisite ; also the number of horses to move the 

 engine, which when not occupied in this work would be 

 idle, and might be better employed in subsoiling than 

 gazing in wonder at a monster vainly trying to supersede 

 their legitimate labour. The construction of a steam- 

 cultivator may employ the ingenuity of our mechanists, 

 aud bring out hidden talent, but it is extremely doubtful 

 as to a steam machine ever trotting over arable land, 

 till some plan is discovered to enable the engineer to 

 reduce its enormous weight and make it more manage- ; 

 able. To put a limit to the power of machinery would 

 be absurd ; or to suppose that a substitute may not yet 

 be discovered for steam, better adapted to agricultural 

 purposes, would be ridiculous, but until such a thing comes 

 to pass, the tillage of the land had better be left to men 



and horaes, with good ploughs, long forks, &c. Falcon. 



Is " I. A. C7> to fail in making his * bold announcement" 

 good I If so, it is only but fair to inform those of your 

 readers who may be interested, buc who like himself 

 may not be able to comprehend the facts of the case, 

 that your correspondent labours under a serious mis- 

 take when he says that Fisken's plough lessens * the 

 strain upon the anchorages," for whatever may be the 

 resistance on the plough side of the pulley, the power on 

 the opposite must balance it. That power may be in- 

 creased at a sacrifice of time and speed by any of the 

 mechanical powers applicable ; by pulley tackle, for 

 example, "I. A. C." may run off at the gallop with the 

 spare end of the rope, still the balance over the fulcrum 

 must be sustained. Again, he is a very sober critic if 

 lie thinks that reaction can ever urge forward Usher's 

 plough. A glance at facts will soon show this to be 

 impossible, for the moment his ploughs enter the soil 

 the unploughed land before them prevents their advance. 

 In short, rotatory action and continuous progression is 

 a mistake which " I. A. C." does not appear to see. 

 In conclusion I am afraid your talented correspondent 

 will find logic one thing and agricultural mechanics 

 another. IF. B., London, Stpt 18. 



Colby's Clodcrusher. — It would appear by your notifi- 

 cation of the clodcrusher which I sent you for insertion 

 in the Gardener* 9 Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette, on 

 the 20th ult, were it not contradicted, that it so re- 

 sembles Ir. CroBskill's as not to require the assistance 

 of drawings to show that there is no distinctive merit 

 in my plan, whereas if you will be kind enough to com- 



P ^-^ aWm88 < ann€Xed ) of Mr. Crosskiirs with mine, 

 the difference must soon be seen— his discs are of two 

 sizes, one being 3 inches larger than the other, and 

 placed in centres one above the other. I ask, how can 

 the Iaige one effectually cleanse the small one, or vice 

 rersd ? My discs are of equal diameter, and the centres 

 thereof placed horizontal must give a very different 1 

 result. To you it appears the discs in ray plan rise and 

 fall, and the axle revolves ; this is wrong, all the discs 

 mre on the soil at the same time, and travel at one 

 speed, the axle is an ordinary one, and it does not 

 revolve. I doubt not you will see that I am right in 



[Sept. 



horses on 170 acres, all arable. I will 





Padiham. 



Farmers' Clubs, 



-The Peculiarities of English Agriculture.— 

 At the anniversary meeting of the Agricultural Society 

 Sir J. P. Kay Shuttle worth made the following remarks 

 in proposing the health of "the Lord Lieutenant an< 

 Magistrates of the County; 5 — The Lord Lieutenant 

 and the majority of the magistrates of this county are 

 great landowners, and as such they have great social 

 duties to perform. In connection with associations such 

 as the one which is assembled here to-night, they have 

 duties of a nature deeply interesting to the members of 



calling your attention to the error committed, and if 

 the subject to you be worth correcting, such an acknow- 

 ledgment would oblige. Henry Colby, 10, Walker Street, 

 Hull. 



Reaping Machines.— Our farming friends may now 

 ifely give up the scythe, the sickle, and the bagging 

 hook, except in a few cases of closely laid crops. For 

 three years I have used Hussey's reaper (made by 

 Garrett & Son) ; and although great improvements 

 have since been made, it is economical in time and 

 money as compared with manual labour. I completed 

 a very heavy harvest on the 7th September, with my 

 regular labourers only, and might have done so earlier, 

 but wanted my horses for ploughing, so that the men 

 had to cut 1 1 acres by baud. The early harvesting has 

 enabled me to scarify all my Bean and corn stubbles 

 and plough my land for Tares, although I only keep 



five 



give my agricultural friends, a hint how to render 

 the reaping machines most acceptable to the 

 labourers. In my case I let 9 acres (nearly all Wheat) 

 to each man to cut, cart, and stack within the month for 

 hi. 5s. (about lis. fid. per acre). I then lent them the 

 reaper, and during the whole harvest I have never 

 heard a complaint of a bolt, screw, or nut being out of 

 order, whereas, under other circumstances it never 

 gave satisfaction. Practically six men could scarcely 

 bind out of its way ; indeed, had we cut the full width, 

 it would have required eight binders, which I could not 

 spare. Six binders can always bind as much as 12 to 

 14 reapers could cut, therefore the machine with three 

 horses and three men did as much cutting as 12 to 14 

 reapers. My land is iu 7 feet stetches with intermediate 

 furrows, therefore not so favourable to the machine as 

 level land. The time is fast coming when even little 

 farmers will avail of abundant machinery. It was 

 grievous to see a week or ten days' time lost in harvest 

 by my neighbours as compared with myself, and yet in 

 addition to this precious time a greater cost of money 

 expenditure. The difference of centralised buildings, 

 ready access, and the use of Hannam's carts instead 

 of waggons, are agricultural economies that are 

 gradually forcing themselves on the farmers' minds. 1 

 wish some of my agricultural friends would believe that 

 I farm at less cost per quarter than they do ; it would 

 be a great help to their pockets. It is quite painful to 

 see how much the harvest is delayed in many districts 

 of this aud other counties by undrained land, great 

 hedge rows, timber trees, and worthless pollards, to say 

 nothing of the superabundance of weediness, and 

 absence of the horse hoe. Surely landlord and tenant 

 must consider corn worth growing at present prices. 

 J. J. Mcchi, Tiptrce Hall, Sept. 24. 



Agricultural Statistics. — Give a corner of your 

 Paper to an English farmer to enable him to exhibit his 

 ideas on a subject in which the farmer is deeply 

 interested— agricultural statistics. 1 have just laid 

 down your Paper of the 24 th inst. after perusing the 

 evidence on that subject of Messrs. Maxwell and Caird, 

 brother Scots probably, yet how unlike. The former 

 evidently a man clearly comprehending all the difficulties 

 with which he has to grapple, and exhibiting that com- 

 prehension in his clear and logical address. — To beget a 

 confidence in the returns they must be made for small dis- 

 tricts, by local resident agents, and must be spontaneous. 

 Mr. Caird's short and pleasant method of compulsion 

 would, in England at least, be ineffective. One man 

 may lead a horse to the water, but 20 cannot make him 

 drink. The farmers as a body are not apt at letters 

 and figures, and therefore voluntary, and consequently 

 satisfactory returns, must await that good time coming 

 when the agricultural world shall come to a much 

 greater extent than the present under the influence of 

 the schoolmaster. In England, where so much of the 

 land is held by yearly tenants, we have the additional 

 difficulty arising from the frequent change of tenants. 

 Again, how often does it happen that land after being 

 sown is, for a variety of reasons, elemental or otherwise, 

 ploughed and resown. My neighbours are now ploughing 

 up portions of their Turnips. This would frequently 

 happen after Mr. Caird's acreage returns were made, 

 and with other causes which might be enumerated would, 

 especially with unwilling hands, produce so much con- 

 fusion and uncertainty, that the returns would be of 

 little value. It is, however, evident that at present Mr. 

 Maxwell's plan is beyond all comparison the more 

 feasible. How difficult is it for the grower of a crop of 

 corn himself to make anything like a correct return in 

 time to be useful ? In the most competent and willing 

 hands and under the most favourable circumstances it 

 could only be made approximative. How then is a 

 stranger during a hasty visit to be more successful ? 

 W. B. Carter, Pickhurst Green, Bromley, Kent, Sept. 26. 

 [Mr. Carter must excuse our having cancelled that 

 portion of his letter in which he has merely made a 

 personal attack on one of whom it is obvious he knows 

 very little indeed.] 



such societies ; and 1 think that associaTbnT^Tl? 

 character may be made chiefly useful, if we eah 

 according to our ability, contribute that to the commn 

 stock of information which our opportunities best fit 

 to impart. My own acquaintance with agriculture *"* 

 necessarily of a very limited nature. It is~ confined to 

 those general improvements which are necessarily th? 

 function of the proprietor, such as the general drainaT 

 of estates, the improvement of farm buildings, and tl 

 introduction of those permanent means of advancement 

 in the culture of the land, such as the means of stori^ 

 liquid manure, and so ou, which are properly the dutiet 

 of a proprietor. I have also felt it my duty, as I know 

 it has been the custom of some of the gentlemen who 

 surround this table, to make myself well acquainted 

 with those improvements in science which affect the 

 progress of agriculture, 

 conveyed by books. 



I mean such knowledge as is 

 And there is in one direction an 



pace 



opportunity, which I have possessed of late years 

 owing to the necessity of foreign travel for the restora- 

 tion of my health ; for I have been enabled to bestow 

 much time and a good deal of minute attention on a 

 comparison of the systems of foreign agriculture with 

 that of British. What occurs to me, therefore in rela- 

 tion to that which is the object of our meeting to-ni«>ht 

 and that which I may say calls upon me to speak as a 

 duty as a magistrate and a proprietor in this county is 

 that which I can best do in connection with the objects 

 of this meeting — that I should, in some very brief and 

 general terms, without at all descending into minute and 

 fatiguing statistics, give you a slight sketch of what 

 appears to me to be the great features of contrast 

 between foreign and British agriculture. Now, I am 

 very happy to say, at the outset, that in many most im- 

 portant respects the agriculture of England has made 

 especially in the present century, an enormous advance 

 over that of our foreign neighbours. That advance has 

 been owing to the application of some very simple 

 principles in the breeding of cattle and in the culture of 

 the land, and to these I will endeavour to direct your 

 attention, because I think we may learn even from our 

 past successes, and from having a clear idea of what 

 are the principles of progress that we have hitherto 

 pursued, and which have given us a great advantage 

 over our neighbours, in what directions our efforts may 

 best in future be turned. In the first place, anybody 

 who travels abroad will be greatly struck with the vast 

 difference which exists in the breeds of cattle in the 

 various countries of Europe. It is very common through- 

 out the whole of Europe to employ the cattle to an 

 immense extent for purposes of labour. Almost all 

 the farm work is performed by oxen, and likewise a 

 very large quantity of the carriage of the continent 

 is performed by oxen, and not, as in this country, by 

 horses. Even in the case of a gentleman's carriage, 

 abroad, when it comes to the bottom of a very steep 

 hill the relays at the bottom of the hill are not relays 

 of horses generally but of a long team of oxen, which 

 drag the carriage to the top of the hill at a very slow 



Now there is one very great consequence of that 

 which your own show to day will at once make you 

 aware of — that it has been the great object in the breed- 

 ing of cattle abroad to give great prominence to bone 

 and strength, the means of labour, in preference to that 

 which constitutes the great object of breeding iu 

 England, the smallness of bone, the early delicacy and 

 precocity of the animal, the roundness of form, the 

 bulk ; and instead of great capacity of labour, bucIi 

 bulk as is a great hindrance even to locomotion, i^o* 

 the way in which this great change in the character oi 

 the breeds of cattle in England during the last 80 or 90 

 years has been produced, has been by the principle of 

 selection. Mr. Bake well, with respect to the Leicester 

 breed ; the Elmans, with respect to theSouthdown breed; 

 and Mr. Collins, with respect to the Cheviot breed, have 

 produced an immense change, for example, in the sheep 

 of this country. They have produced sheep with great 

 rotundity of form, with exceedingly small bone, witn 

 great weight, but with very small powers of locomotion , 

 and the game principle has been applied to cattle, the 

 short-horns, the Hereford breed, and the Ayrshire 

 breed being all characterised by the same qualities ot 

 smallness of bone, the great bulk of carcase, and the 

 large amouut of meat that they will yield. In England, 

 likewise, in reference to sheep, we have thought niuc i 

 more of the production of meat than wool ; whereas in 

 France and a large part of the continent, agriculturists 

 have paid much more attention to the production o 

 wool than of meat ; and one of the consequences H& 

 been that, even in England, seeing that we have pre- 

 ferred the production of meat to that of wool, the ca- 

 case of the sheep has been much larger, and there to 

 the fleece has been much larger, and in England ^ 

 value of the fleece has been on the average as grea 

 in France, whilst the value of the meat in England 

 double the value of that in France. The » reed *J d 

 sheep and cattle produced in England have not, as isft 

 before, been calculated for endurance of labour, as / 

 are on the continent ; and, consequently, they have 

 little bone, but they have been also breeds ot g* eftt { 

 cacy. The principle of selection has been precocit 

 growth, the breeds of sheep and cattle, with one except « 

 arriving at their maturity in two years, and the) - 

 ready for the butcher at the end of two years ; I wh f* t 

 the breeds of cattle in France and on the C ^ nU £ oU r 

 generally are kept for many years for purposes oi a 

 after they have arrived at the greatest growth, 

 fore the whole consumption upon the farm » or 

 maintenance of these cattle is simply expended in a » 

 and it was evidently a false economy which led the r 







