210 
Application of Steam Funer 
to clear themselves of soil, ready for penetrating and taking fresh 
hold of the ground. The trials with this engine have shown that 
it can draw implements with good effect, without the wheel being 
liable to " skid " or slip, and also pull great loads along ordinary 
roadways ; the blades or projecting fingers being withdrawn at 
pleasure, by simply adjusting the position of the eccentric. 
Mr. Blackburn, of Long Eaton, near Derby, has another form 
of engine, in which the weight is sustained by a large rolling 
cylinder, having the boiler and engine inside it. Messrs. Chaplin 
and Co., of Glasgow, exhibited at the Londonderry Meeting last 
year, an agricultural and self-propelling roadway engine, having 
an upright boiler mounted upon a frame running on tliree w lieels, 
and very simply constructed. The boiler is made to consume 
the cheaper kinds of fuel, such as coal-dross, light wood, &c. The 
price of a 7-horse power, with double 6-inch cylinders, is 225/. 
I have devoted a considerable amount of space to the numerous 
endeavours which are being made to perform the carriage-labour 
of the farm by the same engine that tills and thrashes; and, in- 
deed, it may soon become common to " cart" as well as cultivate 
by steam-power, and so dispense with horses for all except, per- 
haps, the lightest operations. 
Practical Experience. 
" Cases in which steam-power has been employed in the ordi- 
nary cultivation of a farm," are now becoming rather numerous. I 
propose to notice only those which present examj)les of something 
more than experiment ; and out of the number of farms upon 
which steam tillage is a regular part of the business-management, 
I have selected those which I have had an opportunity of per- 
sonally inspecting. 
As a fine example of tlie value of the Woolston system of 
steam-cultivation, I cannot do better than describe, first, the farm 
of Mr. Pike, of Stevington, about five miles from Bedford, on 
the Olney road. On the way from Bedford you pass heavy clay 
land on one side, and gravelly land on the other; then cross a 
range of hills with limestcme cropping out, and find the farm at 
Stevington on the lias clay, having an abundance of sticky soil, 
and partial reaches of drift-clay or till, with pebbles intermingled. 
Mr. Pike's occupation, under the Duke of Bedford, comprises 
about 500 acres ; the arable being about 350 acres, of which 
one-fourth, or 75 acres, is now in green-crop fallow every year. 
The fields are large ; one being 50 acres in extent, another 40, 
and so on (one 35-acre boundary jjiece is three-quarters of a mile 
long). There are some rather steep slopes, with a good aspect; 
the general surface, however, lies well for steam-cultivation. 
