Steam-plowing.—Although it is not yet a quarter of a century since cultivation of the land by steam came into successful operation, it is about two centuries and a half tma since it was foreseen to be possible. So long ago as 1618 David Ramsey and Thomas Wildgosse took out letters-patent for engines and machinery to plow the ground with out the aid of oxen or horses; and nine years afterwards, other ingenious men obtained letters-patent for machines to effect a similar purpose. It is the opinion of Mr. Wood croft of the patent pflice, who compiled the Abridgments of the Specifications Relating to Steam-culture, that steam was the motive power intended to be employed; but, as the first patent was taken out nearly 40 years before the Marquis of Worcester described the steam-engine in his Centary of Inventions, the grounds for such an opinion do not seem quite satisfactory. In 1769, however, after the strain-engine had been applied to other purposes, there was lodged in the patent office a specification for a new machine or engine, to plow, harrow, and do every other branch of husbandry, without the aid of' horses. The patentee was Francis Moore; and so confident was he of the merits of his plan, that he sold all his own horses, and persuaded his friends to do the same; "because the price of that noble and useful animal will be so affected by the new invention, that its value will not be one-fourth of what it is at present." Moore, however, was much too sanguine; his method of cultivating the land without the aid of animal power failed, as those of others before him had done.
The next invention necessary to mention was one by maj. Pratt, patented in 1810. His plan was to have two engines, one on each headland, drawing, by means of an end less rope, an implement between them. In 'order to save the labor and loss of time in turning the plow at the ends, he attached two plows, back to back, making work upon a fulcrum in the center of a frame, so that one could be raised out of the ground when the other was working. This was the first adoption of (he balance-prin ciple, now employed in most implements used in steam-cultivation. Maj. Pratt's ratns, like those of his predecessors, never came into practical operation.
In the interval between 1810 and 1812, when Mr. Heatlicoat, m.P., a Tiverton lace: merchant, patented the first steam-plowing machinery that ever wrought successfully in the field, there were many inventions, but these being of 1,ttle utility, need not be particularized. Mr. Ilenthcoaf's machinery was principally intended for drainage and breaking up of soft or swampy land. It consisted of a locomotive stentn-engine, with a broad, endless, flexible floor or railway attached to the wheels, so as to prevent them from sinking in the boggy soil. Opposite to this engine an auxiliary carriage was placed, and between the two the plow was drawn backward and forward by en end less chain or band—engine and carriage moving along as the work proceeded. In 1839 this plow worked with tolerable success in red moss in Lancashire, and in 1837 it was tried near Dinn fries, under the auspices of the highland and agricultural society of Scot land; but here its performance, though in some degree satisfactory, was not sufficiently so to warrant the judges in awarding to it the prize of £500, which hail been offered for the first successful application of steam-power to the cultivation of the soil by the society. The apparatus was very cumbersome and expensive to work, the engine being 25 horse-power, and the of men and boys employed in the operation no less than tell. The amount of work done was at the rate of 8/ acres per day. Mr. Heatheoat abandoned the machine after having spent about £12,000 on it.
After Mr. Heatheoat, the inventors specially worthy of mention are Alexander M'Rne, who, arranging his motive-power in the same manner as maj. Pratt, made the important addition of a barrel to the plow-frame upon which the slack-rope was to be wound up; Mr. Hannam of Burcotc, who, in 1849, designed an apparatus to be driven by an ordinary portable engine, to be stationed at the corner of the field, which was surrounded with wire-ropes in the same way as will be afterwards described iii Howard's method; and Mr. Tulloh Osborn, who, in 1840, patented a plan for two engines running opposite each other on the headlands, having two drums fixed to them, one for the winding of the tight, and the other for letting out the slack, gear. This apparatus was tried-by the marquis of Two ddale for seine time at Yester; but it wns found, in consequence of the great power required, and other defects in detail, to be very expensive, and was ultimately given up. To the marquis of Tweeddale, therefore, belongs the honor of being the pioneer of steam-cultivation in Scotland.
In 1855, the Messrs. Fisken of Stamfordham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, took out a patent for a much more perfect apparatus for eultivaiing the land by steam than any that had previously appnred. The power was transmitted by a stationary engine to a hempen rope (the Messrs. Fisken being anxious to dispense with wire-ropes), which was worked at a bight velocity, and, passing round pulleys on two self-moving anchors, turned a drum upon the plow, whose revolution imparted motion to the implement upon which it was fixed. The important features in this system were the self-propelling anchors, the arrangement of the plows on the balance-prineiple. and the mode of steerage. This plow was exhibited at the annual show of the royal agricultural society of Eng land in the year the patent was taken out, and excited great interest, but failed to obtain any award. Three years before this, the highland and agricultural society of Scotland had thought so hopefully of the idea, that a grant was voted out of its funds to assist the author ill maturing his project In 1854 Mr. Fowler exhibited his patent steam draining apparatus at the Lincoln meeting of the royal agricultural society of England; and from this time may be dated the practical history of cultivation of the land by steam; for the idea that such an apparatus could be wrought ndvantageously in other field-operations entered the mind of a practical farmer, Mr. Smith of Woolston, near Bletchley; mind, under the direction of Mr. Fowler, he got constructed an apparatus, which, with modifications, lie worked successfully, The inventions since that time need not be enumerated. It may be staled generally that they have included plans for engines traveling over the surface of the ground, draw ing plows or other cultivating implements along with them; engines working on tram ways, and drawing implements after them; engines moving along opposite headlands, and working implements between them by means of wire-ropes, and stationary engines driving implements tt;so by means of wire-ropes. The first two principles have been mostly abandoned—the one on account of the great consumption .of fuel, and the large amount of wear and tear occasioned to move the engine over uneven and soft ground; and the other, on account of the expense necessary to lay down rails over a farm. The only two systems in practical operation are what are called the direct and round-about the former where 11:e pull of the implement is directly to and from the engine; and the latter where the implement is drawn at right angles.