311 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE 



ortions over which sand and clay were thrown 

 own, during the earlier stages of the process. g 

 With these remarks we close our geological 

 investigation of the course of the Severn. The 

 Humber, the Vush, and the Thames, which will 

 hereafter pass in review, will be found to yield 

 similar results. 



At thl present moment of low prices of corn- 

 when occupiers of heavy soils are looking out for 

 fallow crops which will admit of profitable culti- 

 vation and by producing an abundant growth of 

 cattk food, will place them more nearly upon a 

 fooung with the light land farmer— we shall devote 

 a portion of. our space to a consideration of the 

 merits of those plants which are likely to serve their 

 purpose. Among these are the Mangold Wurzel 

 and the Cabbage, both of which in some districts 

 are extensively and profitably grown by heavy land 

 farmers. The difficulties which these farmers have 

 to contend with in- the growth of roots are well 

 known to be, first, that of securing a sufficiently fine 

 tilth in the spring, for the vegetation of the seed, 

 and afterwards, that the crop must be removed from 

 the land and not fed upon it, as the injury oc- 

 casioned by treading to the following grain crop is 

 frequently greater than can be compensated for by 

 the growth of the roots. Although the first of 

 these objections will apply to Mangold Wurzel, yet 

 neither of them can be urged with much force 

 against the Cabbage, which grows to a large size 

 upon strong loamy soil ; and the fact of the plants 

 being raised in a seed-bed and transplanted into the 

 field, is greatly in its favour. Planting at wide in- 

 tervals will admit of the frequent use of the plough 

 or scuffler between the rows, so that nearly all the 

 advantages of a bare fallow may be secured, whilst 

 the constant stirring pulverises the soil, and will 

 greatly benefit the growth of the crop ; and without 

 this stirring, the roots have to contend with an im- 

 pervious mass of clod, hardened by drought, 01 

 saturated by rain into an impenetrable mass, into 

 which it is vain to expect the young roots to seek 

 for food. On the other hand, the pulverisation is 

 highly acceptable to the plants, the soil is moist in 

 dry weather, and wet sinks down without doing 

 injury, so that the roots seek for food in a friable 

 soil, from which, from the amount of moisture it 

 retains, soluble aliment can always be obtained. 



From the want of practice of the farm labourer, 

 the expense of transplanting the Cabbage may, in 

 many cases, cause it to be rejected by the farmer, 

 who may consider it too expensive an operation, and 

 more fitted for the market gardener ; but we hold 

 that many of the practices of the market gardener 

 will have to be followed ere our farms are made to 

 produce the greatest profit. Young Drumhead 

 Cabbage plants may be purchased of nurserymen a 

 Ui 6d. or : . per thousand, ;md we have occasion- 

 ally contracted for plants and planting at the rate of 

 2s. 6d. Tins shows that the expense of planting 

 does not greatly exceed the cost of seed and sowin° 

 Mangold Wurzel or Swedes. One gentleman, a 

 heavy land farmer, with whom we are acquainted 

 plants Cabbages in rows 51 feet apart, the plants in 

 the row being 21 or 22 inches apart, 

 distances an acre requires about 5000 plants. w 

 the intervals between the rows he pulverises by 

 repeated ploughings. and he considers he has all the 

 advantages of a- summer fallow, with the benefit to 

 be derived from a heavy and nutritious crop of 

 winter food. F 



*i. U u P °^ r j ch loams ' peats > ** wel1 as »P<>n most of 

 the best description of Turnip soils, Cabbages may 



be transplanted upon ridges, dunged and prepared 

 in the same manner as for Turnips. The ridges 

 being 27 inches apart, and the Cabbages planted 

 2 feet apart in the rows, about 10,000 plants will 

 be required per acre. 



Cabbages may be planted in May, to be given to 

 sheep in September or October, and the pianUn* 

 may continue at intervals to the end of June, to 



It is excellent 

 We have used 



I Cabbage may, in some degree at least, supply its 

 place ; and it is upon this class of soils that it is 

 likely to be of most benefit." ^ 



With the writer of the above essay we must leave 

 the matter in the hands of those who are-inclined 

 to give this crop their attention, convinced, as we 

 are, that a fair trial of its growth will have much 

 more influence in extending its culture than aught 

 we can write in praise or condemnation of this or 

 any other farming practice. We can merely point 

 out what may improve or aid the agriculturist, and 

 leave him by actual practice to prove whether he 

 can benefit by it. 



employ steam for horse labour will 



11 !> d 



6 



At 



these 

 In 



gear 



secure a supply through the winter, 

 food for almost all kinds of stock 

 it for fatting sheep, ewes, cows, bullocks, and nfo 

 and we have plenty of satisfactory evidence oAhe 

 feeding and milk-producing qualities of the plant. 

 A writer m the last Number of the " Highland 



fCr 1 " *?*"&&< COflciudes a Prize essay uptn 

 the cultivation of field Cabbage thus-" The CabSe 



having made part of its gI W th when p i an ^3 



field, and not raised there from sew! i«u *,„♦<■ I 



importance, especially £B3j^S^ 



where vegetation i, rapid, and the f lants Trrive at 



maturity m a comparatively short pelriod He e the 



Cabbage may follow Tares, mown or fed n ff 5. clined to th.'*rl„ n i "7~ r""" 1 "* *' ™ ohv is in- 



pulverised seed-bed, and L wSTKA ""' y '« '£ SXwhiT " P ° n U " '"" K,i "' ' » 



attest at Tu ro ,p culture. T* trao^ ! Z^S^JT ■ ''"" «•****• P*S1? £ 



: uupt,ii$#t kind ot lmnkm^nt ««.i *u..x „^_. 



REPORT ON THE AGRICULTURAL SECTION 

 OF THE GREAT INDUSTRIAL EXPOSITION 

 OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

 No. II. — Those who rejoice in the conquests obtained 

 by mind over matter, and in the successful efforts of in- 

 genuity to save toil, will experience a rich treat in wan- 

 dering amongst the wheels and straps and busy clatter 

 of the " machinery of motion ;" and after surveying 

 the marvellous aids which mechanism lias furnished to 

 the manufacturer, will be equally delighted when, 

 crossing over from the north to the south side of the 

 western half of the building, they see the beautiful 

 "agricultural machinery" — here at rest because ii 

 destination is for the broad field rather than the 

 crowded factory — and contemplate what mechanism has 

 done for the farmer. And here amid the many avail- 

 bie instruments of culture are some which seem to in- 

 dicate the desiderata of agriculture rather than supply 

 the deficiency ; for notwithstanding the repeated attempts 

 of ingenious mechanists,the inventive skill whichhas super- 

 seded the use of finger and thumb in spinning has not yet 

 dispensed with the eye and hand in guiding a plough, 

 or substituted a steam horse for a living one in drawing 

 it. Nor has the ingenuity which sometimes contrives 

 in manufacture a new process supplanting one hitherto 

 performed by hand, been able as yet to introduce a new 

 mode of tillage better than that of the plough and spade. 

 For years we have been startled by paragraphs in 

 the papers announcing the perfection of a steam plough, 

 or of some implement that could convert a piece of 

 Couch-encumbered stubble ground into a proper seed 

 bed at one operation ; but unfortunately these notices 

 have never been followed by descriptions of the renova- 

 tion taking place in general farm practice from the 

 extending employment of these things. Lord Wil- 

 loughby de Eresby's steam plough, the only one ex- 

 hibited in the great glazed forcing-house of invention, 

 is perhaps the most workable engine of the land yet 

 constructed. From the accounts which have appeared 

 respecting its performances, it seems able to turn over 

 land of anything like a favourable kind ; but whether 

 the expense of the operation, the laying down of tram 

 rails across different parts of the field, the difficulty of 

 adjusting the ploughs to varying circumstances during 

 their work, &c., will be compensated by the rapiditv 

 of execution and other advantages, must be left to 

 experiment and the judgment of ^those who have seen 

 it work. The steani-engine is portable but not locomo- 

 tive, and drags the ploughs towards it by a chain 

 There are four iron ploughs, with coulters before them" 

 and subsoil tines behind, ail fastened in one iron frame 

 and so arranged as to follow each other at a suitable 

 distance in four separate furrows. The frame or car- 

 riage, composed of longitudinal and cross bars/ is 

 mounted upon three small wheels, besides two in front 

 apparently intended for steering. Each end can be lifted 

 or lowered by means of two levers, the handles of which 

 meet about the centre of the carriage, where there is 

 a platform seemingly for the driver to ride upon. An 



ine engine to a pulley hxed at some distance down the 

 held, passes double through friction rollers on the car- 

 riage ; and, by pinching either of the chains with two 

 wedges and levers, the frame, with its ploughs, travels 

 either forward or backward at the rate of five miles 

 per hour ; and, by letting the chains go, the progression 

 can be instantly stopped. The difficulty in such 

 machines has hitherto been the power wasted by the 

 engine in drawing the ploughs back again from the 



2!! f'T t] f PUU f y ; bUt thlS 8ee ^ S t0 d *™ the 



ploughs backwards, and out of work, to the far side of 

 the plot to be ploughed, and thus perform the work only 

 by a direct puU-the land being all turned one wav Z 

 m turn- wrest ploughing. The* engine is mounteTbv 

 springs upon wheels with flat tires, so as to run on 

 common roads, and in the field it traverses tram 35b a 

 right angles to the direction of the chain and tl e fun w 



SS- 1 sr^ *&•*■ *& £sx £ 



fire-box, wfaieh work an axle with fly- wheel and 

 work turning the drum underneath the boiler „,>on 

 which the cham is onee or twice wound. There aw T™ 



hnrirnnfoi «™„j v™ ^ joint to the end of a 



horizontal spmdle. When motionless, the bar * ' 



"flkii 



After reading his capital id^ ^tK °\ Wi *^ 

 required, which should revolve with ^^^^ 

 pendent of its bodily advance, we cerUuJv?? ? **> 



machine in the tt*Mk;<. * > autlcl P*Wi 



sight of h 



Exhibition 



the idea in any altered form is to Ui , n 

 A few contrivances of a differ!. tA^ *■■ 



different natur 



b »t not *^ 



e are 



however, for stirring or turning the srul 

 ing it. A ponderous machine, bv G Th^ **** 

 Great George-street, Westminster, we' tal ^^ ' 

 apparatus for digging ; seeing that u . f « ' *> he 



*^*QtoJ5* are unable to divine SS 



-. 



boi 

 at 



together 



o — -r y — ~-»" n*«*4.c k> room lor ore • 



haps this has yet to be added, Bering that 1 

 poles or shafts are attached, no force of W<o ««!* 

 possibly drag it along. This V ^^ 

 immensely strong timber rectangular framT 1? 

 1 1 feet by 8, horizontally resting on an axle wuhT* 

 carnage-wheels, each of nearly 7 feet diameter £ 

 of these wheels is iron, having internal tooth-work n5 

 its circum erence, and driving by two motions 2 

 along the hinder end of the frame. This tf t £5 

 cranks, three pointing one way, and three, wluchX 

 nate with them, pointing in another direction at r\ll 

 angles with the first. Six iron spades are suspeX 

 from these cranks by what we may call their « Ii^lm 

 ends ; and about three quarters of the way dam 

 the shaft of each, is a cross piece with friction wheA 

 working up and down in slides, so that aa tW 

 cranks revolve the spades ^receive much the same 

 ;motion as that given to a common spade in the 

 hands of a labourer. Three spades enter the ground a- 

 once, and three deliver their load together,-* ^ 

 knife or scraper taking the earth cleanly off from them. 

 Just below the point where the spades deliver are six 

 scuppets or boxes fixed on an axle, which receive the 

 soil from the spades and tip or turn it over. * There a*e 

 two axles, one inside the other, and three scup 1 

 attached to each, so that three receive, and three tumble 



the axles being partly turned and then back 

 again in a rapid manner, by means of short lever* at 

 their ends actuated by two eccentrics on the opposite 

 ends of the crank axle. Immediately preceding the 

 spades, and close to the ground, is an axle turned by 

 small wheels at its extremities running on the ground ; 

 this carries one row of six teeth like harrow tines, appa- 

 rently designed to cut and separate the land into as 

 many slices or ^stripes as there are spades, and thus 

 render it looser and readier for digging. The spades 

 measure about 9 inches broad across the upper part or 

 shoulder of the blade, tapering downward like draining 

 tools, but are very short. Their distance apart, measuring 

 from the middle of each, is about 1 5 inches, and they 

 rise and fall about 22 inches. The spur- wheel and 

 pinion, connecting the crank-shaft with the driving 

 wheel, can be slided out of gear by a lever. 



In order for the spades to work, the progressive 

 motion of the machine must be very slow indeed ; and 

 we presume that the inventor's design is to have a 

 steam-engine upon this large frame, which shall work 

 the digging machinery and propel the whole concern 

 slowly forward, leaving the soil turned over and broken 

 behind it. But we should say that, on loose sandy soil, 

 the spades will either not lift the earih, or else let most 

 part of it escape undug between them ; aud on land 

 tenacious enough to rise up in huge spadefuls, the Hades 

 will be at once cracked or the shanks snapped off. The 

 aspect of this engine is certainly calculated to alarm a 



quiet farmer ; and in another part of the implement 

 court is a model which, had it been constructed the full 

 size of the machine, would be still more terrific. Asa 

 particular account of this instrument, accompanied by 

 a correct likeness, has been published in the " Expositeif 

 we shall be brief in our description. The " Arclnme- 

 daean Agricultural Machine" was invented by D.d. 

 Murphy, of the Chamber of Commerce, Cork, Irem 

 and the main portion seems to consist of a large barre , 

 or roller, upon the surface of which fixed cutters are 

 arranged in a spiral manner. These cutters may be 

 either heart-shaped knives, radiating from the sBrtett 

 of the cylinder, with their flat sides towards iteena* 

 and with conical spikes between the different row! 

 of these knives in a direction at right angles to tn» 

 or a continuous blade maybe curved round the cy m 



* -the different forms ben* 



for varying soils and purposes. The weight ^ 

 barrel sinks the knives into the ground, horses * 



it onward and causing it to revolve. It , ma ^^ ott id 

 *vs in its frame to greater or less depth- v e ^ , 

 expect it, on trial, to be immediately clogge d ^ 

 dirt ; and all we have to say respecting ™ e * or £ 

 account given by its explanatory handbill of t ^ 

 it "will" perform, and the immense .benefited ^ 

 confer upon the farmer is, that a satisfactory 1*^^ 

 ance at Pusey would have recommended the _ .^ 

 far more effectually than the unwarrantable a^ 



of the placard hung upon it . ^0* 



The first year of another half century can snow _ ^ 

 improvements in agricultural mechanics ; ^ 



wonderful tool that is to shame the p ou & ni * ave3ti 

 banish the ploug is yet to be modelled m m » 





or 



like the thread of a screw 



foundry of time. 



if the p 



dousl* 



>u*4 





last week, we omitted one, viz., that on wok* ^ ^ 

 shank, held between two pairs ol *tuds ? x _* ^ ^ a 

 on a moveable plate beside the beam, u> m^ u ^ 

 staple and screw against a wooden wedgi 



