The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-09-21 00:00:00

agriculture.

HOW TO PLOT OUT A STILtil FARM—The Chester
meeting is past. The judges have reported steam
ploughuig is solved, and 1. Fowler, the fortunate
solvent, receives the prise of 21••. But we are as far
off steam cultivation as ever. We want steam farming,
not merely ploughing. What we want is steam even
from the preparation of the seed bed to the cutting of
the corn. I remember two or three years since, Mr.
Howard, of Bedford, stated at the Central Ferman'
Club "there was no difficulty in ploughing land by
steam power i,f people would but go to the expenee."
He was right, and knew it. After this award of the
Royal 'Agricultural Society, how stands the case?
clumsy,
Unless the work to be done be heavy and and
the power required great and constant, these gigantic
'team-ploughing apparatua—these powerful paying-out
drum nentrivances—will never answer or be universally
adopted, since when the present laborious ploughing is
over, what farmer would continue such powers in action
merely to drill corn at 94., or roll land at 6d. an acre?
Yet these are the prices likely to be called upon to pay
for the mechanic agency. Again, having created a great
power, and by it accomplished one field labour only,
you suddenly reduce this power to • dormant state. Is
this mechanical science? Is this an eaonomical applica-
tion of steam power? You create a ten-horse giant,
and after the first labour find the second and remaining
require but a dwarf 'like power. This is your position;
your power is constant, your work is inconstant, and yet
you (a mechanic, perhape) fancy you can solve the prob-
lem without alteration of the farmer's method. Let me
call the attention of your readers to the position of that
trio of similar inventors, Messrs. Williams, Smith, and
Fowler. They are now in the attitude and eating pre-
(wisely as certain perverse inventors did in respect to the
railway system. I well remember some 90 years ago,
when there was constant talk of conveyance by steam,
and palpable hints given that the old road must
be abandoned and a new system adopted, oar-
tain otherwise clever men, (the celebrated Mr.
Hancock being the most prominent), said "It
need not be, it shall not be; we can run steam
after the present method." They proposed running a
coach to Brighton or Oxford on the ordtliary road. They
expended thousands upon thousands in this kicking
against the pricks, yet did not succeed. Their aim was so
small, their ideas and philosophy so limited; the utmost
they aimed at WWI to convey 90 or 30 persons in one ve-
hicle to Brighton and book in a day. Could this by
possibility have paid for the use of steam; Other pito.
plc had hit upon the right method, and what was the
result? By the use of a similar amount of steam, and
even more shnple anethaniaal combination, they soon
managed to convey frost 900 to 300 people to Brighton
and back in a day. Now this is just the difference be.
tween a right and wrong method. The whole profitable
twilit lies ln the method, and it points a moral which
ought not to be lost upon our steam ploughmen. I re.
pest what I have so often stated in the A/rice/terra
Gandhi, that the battle of steam agriculture will be '
fought not so much over a new Uleolllllo as over a new
method. It is not of much use my writing, I have long
sines come to the conclusion I must seek the power to
show and practically illustrate my tillage views ; but I
may hers observe there is a key to this problem of steam
cultivation, width all inventor' ;thee the present time,
have overlooked. I possess this great door key. This
key Is contained under these significant words, vis., the
actualisation of the labours of the field. By a method of
tilling land different to that which now prevails, vie.,
by my circular or cellular method, I know how to equalise
the labours of the field en as to render ploughing equal
to hoeing and lc; on through the series. I regret to sae
the present steam ploughman shaping his contrivanoes
so as to take things just MI he finds them. He hoe no
Idea that the really profitable development of steam in
the field required; precaution, Le, previous preparation.
He has no notion that the material must be arranged or
omnpoled for the machine, but thinks only that his ma-
chine must be adapted to an improvised meterial. Op.
posed to all poet experience interested people seem lo
me to expect, In agrioulture„ a grand roinit without a
radical revolution F Did you ever hear of such an in-
donee as greaf progress without great clanger I have
just witnessed the -thd of harvest in Norfolk ; the fields
are clear, the long evenings drawing near, and the eel-
oulturist will soon have mantras to his newspaper or
books for recreation and amusement. Now my theore•
tioal views can do your readers no harm, therefore if
you Oen spare me spew I will give them my views on
" How to plot out • steam farm." Amongst other
novelties it will show them ; lit, how to arrange or die-
pose lend in minute parts, es as to bring It gado the
power of steam ; find, bow to prevent consolidation or
pndie hardthiqg of its moil, site; the ant ye: Wan
fird, how to coiled and provide water in the torque"
for the dalgeand annual gee of the striam engine, or for
repeated i 111 without <Wisp by horee-power, or
eotriploise y'll pressure pipes I 41h, how to provide
Wetter manure oath allfs erlendi2tr.o.o.t and nufaoe
ierlionithilen, within two of the plot
on which sulk manure is glea'ai7XiTlith• bow to

prevent curly all cartage on to and off the land ; 6th,
how to box feed animals on the land, taking the bead
to the bulk instead of the bulk to the boast ; 7th, how
to abolish barns by storing in depots or whew on the
land; Bth, how to render all drainage, except epri
drainage, unnecessary; sth, how to combine an hortf-
cultural operation with an agricultural, that is to say,
how to grow routs or high priced plants by horticulture,
and the cereal or low prioed plants under agriculture,
all on the same farm ; besides many other well-consi-
dered points in my proposed now husbendry, the result
of 12 years' patient philo4ophising.—C. Bercliatn, 8,
Upper John•etreet, Goltlen•square,
Tits Tussle Cenr.—l was much Interested bye letter
giving en account of the reeves of a turnip grub. Many
of our neighbours, in common with ourselves, are coin-
plalning ; and unless the grub speedily change into the
chrysalis state, much injury will be dune, and the Tun
nip crop, already deficient from the beetle, dry weather,
and caterpillar, will be in a great degree a failure. I
fear from numerous exam inetions I have made that
there is but little chance of the grub disappearing very
soon, as I find them of all sines—some an inch long and
fat, others quite small, and often four or five working
away at the mime root. They appear to eat into the
root about an inch from the surface, and continuo to
feed downwards. Sometimes, but not often, they leave
the plant before quite eating through the stein, but this
is not usually the eau; when removed irom the soil on
the hand they exhibit considerable activity., but soon '
die when placed in dry soil without food. I see by the
remarks of Mr. Curtis, which you append to the letter,
that he makes no mention of this grub. It is probably
therefore either a new pest or so greatly developed this
season as to attract attention. It is certainly not en-
tirely oonfiried to turnips, as we have found them in our
garden where no turnips or grown, and a few days
fence I found one at the root of a thistle which was
growing in the centre of a gravel path. Mr. Buckman
has taken the subject into his care, and is preserving the
grub to as3ertain its origin. It is the more unfortunate
for us that we were not aware of the grab until the
turnips were 'tingled, and it was only on going over
them • second time that we found failing plants, and on
pulling them uy, discovered the cause. Besides the grub
I frequently find a number of little centipedes surround-
ing the root, which are no doubt what Mr. Curtis cells
snake millipedes, and probably aid in destroying the
plant, though I cannot believe they do much injury, or
at least do not destroy the vitality of the plant. Wire.
worm is also May in one of our fields. A piece of early
turnips (Norfolk Bell), planted in the middle of May,
are so entirely ruined by the attacks of insects, that I am
pulling lip and consuming the few that remain. First,
their leaves were tidied through and through by the
&Hies memorum, presenting a regular net-work ap-
peeiranee. This checked their growth, but genial weather
assisting, they gradually grew away from the fly, arid
were singled out as even and promising a looking crop
as one Gould wish. On second hoeing, however,
numbers were found withered up, and on examining the
root we discovered maggots, apparently precisely simi-
lar to those hatched from the eggs of the cowman fly,
about a quarter to half an inch long, with a white body,
thick at one end, and tapering to a point at the other r,
they had eaten into the root, and were firmly imbedded
and sometimes nearly buried. I see Mr. Curtis men-
tions the maggots of flies, so I conclude it is the same;
however, whatever it may be, we have lost a very valua-
ble piece of early keep. I intend sowing mustard on the
ground, and thus securing a little green food. Now, as
to the remedies. I see nothing to be done except the
very tedious and expensive process of digging up the
soil round every failing plant. We are pretty sure to
find the grab in this way. I tried a small pima with
some boys, but found unless constantly watched they did
very little good. The skin of the moggot is so tough
that they are difficult to kill. The increasing difficulty
in growing the turnip crop must, I think, induce farm-
ers to give more attention to other root crops, especially
mangel, which is remarkably good this year, and is
always a safer crop than swedes, flourishing even in a
dry season. I found an explanation for the latter fact,
a few days einee, on disturbing the soil between the drills
of mange!, which were placed 28 inches apart. I found
a complete network of very minute rootlets, actually
meeting from row to row, and traced them to the bulbs.
The immense absorbing surface thus presented enables
the plant to obtain moieture, even from &palming shower.
As the land wan clear and the soil mild and porous, I
concluded it would be best to leave the crop alone, and
not, as I have intended, again horse-hoed them. Some
farmers entertain a notion that mongols are a very ex-
hausting crop. I have never found them so, and in the
spring they are most valuable. Carrots also on suitable
soils, are a useful crop, though the extent to which they
can be grown must always be limited, on account of the
early season at which they must he sown, and the large
amount of labour they require. The cow cabbage, where
the land is highly manure& is a remunerative crop, and
with a little inanagement may be made to furnish s sue-
cession of food from July to January—John Coleman,
Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester.