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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



worth a straw as to its practicability. There 

 are many dolorous, doubting individuals, who 

 will doubt its payability, or utility, but there 

 have always been such persons, and the world 

 will never be without them ; but let them doubt 

 as they may. the steam plow will yet be a suc- 

 cessful reality, we believe. 



Some persons have inquired of us, "what 

 are the difficulties in the way of steam plowing; 

 on the prairies," and a correspondent from Mo- 

 bile asks, "is itr the want of traction in the 

 wheels of the locomotive plow ?" The latter 

 can never prove a source of difficulty to its suc- 

 cess ; in fact, we do not know that there is a 

 single difficulty in the way but one, and that is 

 the want of spirited persons to make experi- 

 ments. If Mr. B. Murray, and the farmers of 

 Illinois who are interested, would subscribe 

 $50,000, and employ a competent and reliable 

 engineer to build a steam plow for the purpose 

 of experimenting, we believe this sum would 

 be sufficient to test the question, find out all the 

 difficulties, and make such alterations of ma- 

 chinery as would overcome them, and at the 

 same time leave enough of funds to build a 

 steam plow as the final result, that would meet 

 every reasonable demand. 



We are not aware that a single experiment 

 has ever been made with steam plowing in our 

 country; it is far otherwise in England, where 

 wealth}- landlords have not spared expenses to 

 bring about such a desirable system of cultiva- 

 tion. Some very recent trials with steam plow- 

 ing on Lord Hatherton's estate in Staffordshire 

 appear to have been very successful, according 

 to the account of them in the London Engineer 

 An engine of eight horse power plowed eight 

 acres in one day, and put it into far better or- 

 der, and at less expense than could be done by 

 the common plow and horses. The engine was 

 portable, but was kept stationary in the field 

 while the plow was drawn by an endless wire 

 rope passing around a windlass, and over stan- 

 dards. The whole cost of the engine, wind 

 lass, and apparatus was only £400 — about 

 $2,000. This system of steam plowing is held 

 to be the most economical ; it is asserted by its 

 advocates that there is a great waste of power 

 in the locomotive plow to draw the weight of 

 the engine over the field, all of which is econ- 

 omized in keeping the engine stationary, and 

 the plow only moving. This is no doubt true ; 

 it saves power, but requires a great amount of 

 apparatus, ropes, belts, windlasses, turn tables, 

 and standards, to carry it out, and only a small 

 portion of a large field, (circumscribed in 

 length by the endless drag rope) can be plowed 

 at once. This, however, is not a serious objec- 

 tion, because a large field may thus be plowed 

 acre by acre as well as by taking in long and 

 extensive landings at one continuous operation. 

 We are extremely partial to the locomotive 

 plow moving over the field and dragging a gang 

 of plows at once — plowing up five or six fur- 

 rows. With broad, flat wheels, such a steam 



plow may be rendered successful, and the en- 

 gine used (when not required for plowing) for 

 threshing, grinding, corn-shelling, and various 

 other purposes. It is certainly the most sim- 

 ple plan, and simplicity is one of the main 

 points desirable in all agricultural machines. 



On a former occasion we directed attention 

 to this subject, and we have returned to it again 

 in order to incite farmers to plowing experi- 

 ments, which may be conducted from this pe- 

 riod up to the month of next November or De- 

 cember. Parties interested in mechanical im- 

 provements relating to agricultural machinery, 

 consider it to be a question of vast importance, 

 and exhort us not to let it sleep until it is com- 

 pletely resolved. — Scientific American. 



Limestone Soils. 



[We are much indebted to Prof. Gilham of 

 the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, 

 for the following, in explanation of a subject 

 interesting to a great part of our readers, and 

 throwing upon it some valuable light, that will 

 be new to many of them. — Eds.] 



The remarks of a correspondent in one of 

 the late numbers of the Country Gentleman, 

 on the use of lime upon limestone soils, sug- 

 gests the idea that a few remarks upon the ori- 

 gin, composition, and peculiarities of these 

 soils may not be uninteresting to some of your 

 numerous readers. 



True limestone soils are such as rest upon, 

 and owe their origin to beds of limestone, and 

 in accounting for peculiarities in their compo- 

 sition and properties, it is necessary to know 

 by what process they are formed from the rock. 

 In the formation of soils from sandstones, 

 slates, &c, a comparatively small portion of 

 the rock is removed by the action of air and 

 water, by which the mass loses its coherence 

 and falls apart, or the rock undergoes disinte- 

 gration, forming beds of sand, clay or loam, 

 which by well-known ameliorating causes, 

 finally result in soils suited to cultivation. But 

 in the formation of most limestone soils, the 

 limestone yields only after all of its carbonate 

 of lime has been removed by running water 

 charged with carbonic acid ; the soil which re- 

 sults is composed therefore of nothing more 

 than the substances which constituted the orig- 

 inal impurities of the limestone. Many facts, 

 might be adduced in proof of this, one of which 

 I mention. In railroad and other cuts made 

 through limestone rocks, in old limestone 

 fences, and in weather-worn ^masses of lime- 

 stone, the various stages of decomposition may 

 frequently be traced, from perfect and unaltered 

 j limestone in one part of the rock, to fine clay 

 or loam, in which there is not a trace of carbo- 

 nate of lime left in those portions that have 

 been long exposed to atmospheric influences. 



If this view of the origin of these soils be 

 true, it follows that they, although resting upon % 

 close contact with limestone, are themselves 



