130 
STATE AGKICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 
of Scotland. Machinery and Implement Department perfectly magnificent. 
Number of entries 6,094, witli a total valuation of $500,000. One spirited 
exhibitor has implements here worth $25,000. English implements are gen¬ 
erally characterized by too great weight and clumsiness. Some American 
hoes and forks, remarkable by contrast lor handsome shape, lightness and 
finish, attract much attention. The exhibitor—a progressive and shrewd 
English dealer—imports them because, as he says, the English manufacturers 
seem to be incapable of acquiring the Yankee knack of making them. These 
few imported implements are good agricultural missionaries. 
GREAT TRIAL OF STEAM PLOWS. 
For want of suitable land near the Exhibition Grounds, the Royal Society 
made arrangements for a trial of steam plows at Farningham, some 24 miles 
out of London, in the county of Kent. In making the excursion I was fortu¬ 
nate in having the company of my excellent friends Hon. C. L. Flint, of Mas¬ 
sachusetts, and Hon. Frederick Smythe, of New Hampshire. After a rapid 
whirl through the far-reaching suburbs of Loudon, and a dash into the coun¬ 
try, passing numerous highly cultivated fields of wheat, barley and hops, the 
scene of action was soon reached, and the motley crowd of curious visitors, 
representing nearly every nation, piled out and hurried up the road to the 
field where the trial was already in progress. 
Just before reaching the spot, a short turn in the road brought us sudden¬ 
ly before an iron monster, with heart of fire and breath of steam, snorting 
and dashing up the hill, like a very devil of the olden time ! This singular 
looking creature proved to be Aveling’s Agricultural Locomotive Engine. It 
had been sent a mile distant for wood and water, and when its wild scream 
first startled us, had in train several tons of these essentials, though moving 
up the steep grade with all the majestic ease of an elephant drawing a light 
barouche. We afterwards saw it climbing steep hills in a stubble field, with 
its attending car full of curious spectators. A single engineer directed its 
movements with perfect facility, causing it to make graceful curves or short 
turns, as occasion required or pleasure dictated. 
This engine has an improved patent extra large boiler, fitted with 37 
2f inch tubes, external plates of the best Butterley iron, fire box and tube 
plates of Bowling iron, with extra stays for high pressure. The fire grate 
measures 31 inches by 34, and is suitable for wood or coal fuel. The cylinder, 
ten inches in diameter, is surrounded by a jacket and placed on the forward 
part of the boiler; by which arrangement priming in ascending steep inclines 
is prevented. The crank shaft is of common iron. The engine is fitted with 
improved governor, reversing link motion, patent tender and water tank, 
under foot-plate, driving chain and gear, steam pressure gauge, extra lock-up 
safety-valve, steam jet blower, firing tools and wrenches, driving wheels 6 ft. 
6 inches in diameter, 12 inches wide, patent steerage and screw brake for 
descending inclines. It is remarkable for simplicity and power—being capa¬ 
ble of drawing ten tons up an incline of one foot in six, and is easily managed 
by any ordinary engine driver. The two prominent plows in England are 
those of Fowler, of Cornhill, the original inventor of the steam plow, and of 
the Messrs. J. & F. Howard, of Bedford. Both of these, together with others, 
engaged in this trial. ***** 
But the great question arises, is steam plowing in England economical ? 
To this we are bound to reply. No, we think not. The best work that we have 
ever heard of either plow doing was ten acres in ten hours ; and this is re¬ 
markable success. Six to eight acres is probably the average. And when 
we consider the cost of the apparatus—$1600 to $2000, though the engine 
may be used for other purposes—the wear and tear of ropes and machinery, 
the consumption of fuel, the number of men employed and the liability to de¬ 
lays by breakage and other derangements, it looks to us like small results for 
the investment. 
Such work as we saw could have been done equally well by four men with 
each an ordinary Yankee plow and one span of horses, at an expense of, say, 
$10; while here were employed an expensive engine—costing more than 
eight horses, and of much less general use’ on the farm—a horse and cart to 
