The Express.
London, England, 1853-10-19 00:00:00

MR. MEM ON STEAM CULTIVATION.

The Witham Labourers' Fund Society held its an-
nual meeting us Thursdi y last, under the presidency of
Lord Rayleigh, and without any abatement of interest or
spirit iu the proceedings. Indeed, as Mr. Alyehi was again
amongst 'lie party, waiving soy little feeling that might
have bef.ore existed, there weined • revival of the olden

character of this gathering. The ploughing took place on
Powers Hall. There were 43 ploughs on the ground, and a

great portion of the work was beautifully executed. In
het, it might he regarded as a county contest in this
branch, as Mr. Deutall had giver, 51. to be awarded to the
best ploughman, opts to all Essex, and this brought ten
einspetiturs from dist►nt parishes which had no connexion
with the society. Nine prizes (from Ws. to 51.) for plough-
ing, three for thatct.kg, three for coin stacking, fifteen
for lung service, four for bringing up families, eighteen for
allotment and gurdtn culture, and three for draining, be-
sides some special pretuiuuss given by Mrs. Drummond,
were distributed to the labourers, with appropriate opetchea
by Lord Itsyleigh; niter which 40 gentlemen sat down to
dinner at the White flirt Inn. When the routine touts

had been disposed ut, .nd due liuuours had beeu paid to
several gentiemen connected with the satiety,
The CIiAIIiNIAN said-1 am sure it gives you, as it does
me, great pleasure to si.e aim:must us • geht:eman whJ,
when he soviets, always Lai laUll:C useful iuturination to

give. I beg to propose "The health of Mr. Meal"—
(elmer.)—aud to rvquest him to give us some little more

. .
information itspectiug that wonderful machine he is get-
ting up in his neighbourhood, by which we may find that
plougkinen are not itti.diul, and will not, therefore, receive
" • - '

our prizes. (Druuk with cheers.)

- ,
Mr. Macut—l ware yon it affords me great pleasure
-nee again to meet you at this table, in furtherance of the
objects of the Witham S .eiety. I never had but one feel-
iog towards it, which was that of the utmost kindness and
friendship, which I live may lung be et.terteintd. (Ciieers.)
It is called the Labourers' Friend Society, and perhaps on
that account I shall not he eubsidered an intruder, sa you
are aware I have spent a g,tod deal of money on my small
piece of land at Ti 'tree, and whether judiciously so or out
it is quite certain that it has conduced largely to the CUM.
fort and the morality of the labourers of the neighbour-
hood. (Cheers.) When I look at the million or bricks I
. .

us:d, ond.ihe.oome.l2o ur 130 milts of drains I by,'

mode nearly all of which wes labour, 1 feel convinced it
was a happy day fur the neighbourhood that I was so in-
clined to spend my money, although tt was great source of
scisfaction to me in other points of view. Ido not admit

I was wrong iu so spending my money. I do Lot say 1 did
everything as cheaply an a might he dune ; but I do think
an investment in brick and slate is very much cheaper
than board and thatch. I think it is. a matter worthy
the consideration of gentlemen, both landlords and
. •

tenants, that brick and slate is the thing a' ter all, pacieu•
tarty fcr cottages and farm buildings; at the end of 10 or
12 years they are as good as the first day they were put up,
and are, therefore, the cheapest things we tan UPC. (Hear.)
I now see a hope that my operatioes will remunerate me.
I have been for a long time asked for my halance.sheet—
(laughter)—and a few days ago I set myself quietly down
to my books to ezetdine the accounts of the year ; I called
in my neighbour here to a.eet me in the valuation, and we
both agreed that we were entitled to a large& valuation for
tillages than last year ; but laying it at the same I found
that I not only derived my improved rental, but I derived
a profit of at least 3001., taking the wheat at 101. a load,
and with the present price of wheat, perhaps I shall get
4001. (Hear.) But 1 beg to state that the difference has
arisen in a great measure from the stock account, and my
improved system of irrigation, hum its enabling me to keep
double the amount of stuck on the same amount of laud ;
that has influenced toy crops more or less, and though I
have purchased 7001. of food, 1 find the dif&rence has been
very much in my favour. To that, quite as much as to the
general advance in price, I attribute my success. lam now
in a better condition than I ever was—more ready to pro-
duce hater crops in future; and I may say I may fairly
congratulate myself on being now safely lased in the
harbour of profit. (Cheers.) The system of irrigation I
have adopted certainly does wondertui things. let will
change a bad pasture tutu a good one in the contae of a
year. There is nut a person in this meeting who will not
be able to confirm what 1 Pay, that do what you will, and
spend what you will, it is difficult to get good pasture on
hard yellow clay; but the irrigation appears
to make the old plants die out, and brings you in a
laew stock of grasses and clover, that makes the animals
look better, and en Orley you to keep more per acre. (Hear.)
That brings ins to the question of drainage ; and the more
carefully I consider that, the more I am convinced I am
right in this principle, for I assure you twat the liquid
manure not only saturates the ground to the depth of three,
four, or five feet, but runs through these solid clays,
coloured highly, and smelling, and you may trace it in the
ditches fur 200, or 300, or 400 yards. Now lam desirous
that every particle of manure should be employed in the
soil in nourishing the plant, bat we leer a great deal in
filtration through the drains, and the more this runs off the
less The lands will be fertilised. I press this upon practical
men present for two reasons; first, that they may have a
larger portion of rich soil at the dispneal of the plant; and,
secondly, that they may no longer think it is unnecessary to
drain heavy clay kids, because the water cannot get through
them, for if liquefied manure will gain its way through the
clay four or five feet deep to the drain you need nut fear
that water will do the tame thing. I think great cala-
mities have arisen to the heavy lands of Essex, the Dengie
clays, this year, for want of drainage. How is it that this
year we hear such woeful accounts of small crops in Beagle
Hundred ?

Mr. Wm. HVTLIIY—From not seeding—there was not'
half put in.
Mr. Macut—l am aware of that, bat where it was put
in I bear of three sacks an acre; in fact. throe, fear, or;
live sacks an acre is this year considered • good crop there
- HUTLIT—" That's within a suck of what you got.")
—I
believe a great deal of that has resulted from the ab-
sence of drainage. But 1 know this has been a disputed
question, and I leave it. And now as to the future pros-
pect of cultivation—l can only say that we are making our
digging or forking machine at lielvechn; 1 hope in the
course of three weeks it will be in a triable state, and
should 1 Bed it acts at all decently, I shall invite all agri-
culturists that like to come to see it—(elners)—not only
one day, but day by day while it is at work, when they can
form their own conclusions. (Cheers.) I have • strong
opinion, which is confirmed more and more every day, that
steam will shortly be the power to cultivate most of our
soils, and for this simple resson,:that horses soon get tired
of hard work. We sever allow them to plough more than
an acre • day, when they are then taken off and sent home,
because you know it would be against your interest to make
them do more. On the road the power of a horse regularly
worked is exhausted in an hour. He takes a coach seven
or eight miles, that is one stage, end he is then taken off
for the remainder of the day—he is worked one hoar, and
he rests 23, and he cannot do that more than six days out of
the seven. But if you get a steam horse, and feed him
with coals and water, you may keep on till the end of time,
or till it is worn out. 1 believe that steam power is as im-
portant in the cultivation of the land as In any of the other
operations in which it is employed. The great difficulty
of the matter has been to get the great weight, that was
thought necessary to give the power, on to the land, but I
think by our machine we shall get the power of 10 or 12,
or 15 hones concentrated into the weight of two tons; and
if we do get it in two tons with the power of 15 horses, we
shall be able to move a great deal of soil at little cost.
Whether the tilling of the soil, the preparing of it, and the
seeding, can be dime all at one time remains to be seen.
The inventor says that • rabbit when it scratches up a
piece of ground covers it by what is scratched up from
that which follows. This will be the principle of the
machine. If it make • hole it will fill it up in
the same way ; and if it succeed in that aad roll
the land it will be a great convenience to the farmers. I
have also to state that the new American threshing ma-

chine has arrived ; the boxes have been sent down to
Cam, and I have suggested to the party that we should
have a trial of it on the same day as the digging machine.
If that should succeed—l have seen a model of it, and I think

on the whole it is an improvement on the other; we have in
the thrashing and dressing part—he says it will thrash two
bushels a minute—l shall be satisfied if it does one ; but
this I am rather surprised at—it is worked by hone
power. We of course shall use steam. As to ski steam
digging machine I ought to state that the power will
he applicable to all other objects in farming—threshing,
pumping, or anything on the farm; end if it should suc-
ceed, it will be let oat as drills are for small farmers, I have
no doubt. I should mention there is another large plan of
steam cultivation under consideration, in which, by the
Introduction of,' system of railways and endless ropes, the
tanner will be able to use an engine of 30 or 40, or SP-horse
power; that is under consideration, and I have seen the
drawings, but I am not in a condition to say whether it
will be carried out. But I think in seven years you will
me 40 different plans fur cultivating land by steam. I esn
only say that so long as I commit any follies or do anything
worth looking at, you will be quite welcome to come and
look at it whenever you please. There is an important prin.
dple connected with the manufacture of bricks, a matter
connected with agriculture, and if it should lead to our
getting them at a smaller price and a beVer quality it
would be a great advantage. Ido not know whether any
of you km seen Beart'e patent bricks, the manufacture
of which is carried on by Mr. Fox, of Sudbury. I do not
know Gladly what they are a thousand—(Mr. W. Staley
said about 229. or 23s.)—but this brick is well thought of
by many engineers and practical men. It is per-
(orated
with twenty holes, the weight is not more than ,
half that of the ordinary brick, and Mr. Ransoms told
me he had tested it, and he could crush the common brick
with the weight of a ton and a half, but it took five tons to
crush this. It takes Ices mortar in building, and altogether
I think it very advantageous lor agricultural purposes.'
Another point is the introduction by Baron Palm of a new ;
kiln for burning bricks, the kiln being divided so that one
part may be emptied and filled again while the process of '
burning was going on in the others. Bat if you do these
things—if you adopt these improvements—you must invest
capital, and that necessarily implies you would have a
larger demand. I am glad to hear that the system of
covered yards is being so generally adopted. and that so
many are being put up by Mr. Bendel, who I should have "
been glad to have seen here. There is another point—a I
gentleman told me to-night that he had tried it, and he
believed that the liquid manure of sheep is the best per- I
tion of it. I will only add, in conclusion, if you wish to
make a profit by farming, you should lay down some iron I
pipes, as I have done, and I think you would find it
answer. (Cheers.)—Abridged from the Essex th I rald.