The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-01 00:00:00

TELLERS

Hsyter, W. G.
mulirave, Earl

MINORITY—NOES, 61.
Ball, Edward Jolliffe. Sir W. G.H. Ossulsion, Lord
Bankes, G. Jones, David Peacocke, G. M. W,
Barrow, Wm. H. Kendall, Nicholas Fercy, J. William
Blair, Colonel King, J. K. Robertson, P. F.
Booth, Si: R. Katchbull, W. F. Holt, P.
Bremridge, Richard Knox, Col. Sandars, G.
Unser), Musgrave Knox, W. S. Sibthorp, Colonel
Brooke, Sir A. B. Liddell, H. G. Stafford, Augustus
Burghley, Lord Lindsay, Col. Stanley, Lord
Cairns, IL M4Calmont Lovaine, Lord Stephenson, Robert
Carnac, Sir J. IL Al acartney, G. Tyler, Sir G.
Child, Smith Mackenzie, W. F. Vance, J.
Cholm ndeley.Ld. H. Macgregor, Jas. Vane, Lod 11.
Duckworth. Sir J. Mathis, R. . Vansittart, George
Forster, sir G. M. Mandeville, Viscount Verner, Sir W.
Fraser. Sir W. A. Manners, Lord J. Waleot, Adm.
Freshlield, James W. Mitchell, W. Wyndham, ben.
Greenall, G. F ass, Lord
Grogan, Edward Napier, Joseph
Gwyn, Howel Newark, Viscount
Henley, Joseph W. North, Colonel
Herbert, Sir Thomas Oakes, J.

TELLERS.

/Wings J. Randolph
Newdegate, Chas. N.

ROYAL INSTIIUTION.

Plougl'4 and ploughing, ancient and modern, formed
the subject of the lecture on Friday evening, which was
delivered by Mr. John Wilson. The object to be at-
tained by ploughing, as every one knows, is to break
up the soil and expose it to the influence of the atmos-
phere ; and though this is best effected by digging, yet
it appears that man has, from the very earliest times,
availed himself of the means of saving labour which the
plough affords. The application of animal power in
turning over the soil has not, indeed, been much im-
proved in principle since the days of the patriarchs,
though the construction of the implement, which origi-
nally consisted altogether of wood, has undergone great
improvement ; and much advantage is derived from
having
,every part of the plough made of metal. Mr.
Wilson explained, and illustrated by drawings and
models, the forms and constructions of many of the
ploughs used by the ancients, who, though far inferior
to the moderns in mechanical skill, contrived with
their rude implements to plough their land in a
manner that should put the English farmer to shame
Among the requisites of good ploughing, perfectly
straight and parallel furrows were insisted on, and the
curves and irregularities observable in most arable lands
in England would have been regarded by the ancients
as indications of mental aberration. The deep plough-
ing of the ancient Greeks and Romans was also dwelt
upon by Mr. Wilson, as proof of the superior attention
they paid to the preparation of the land. A depth of
twelve or fourteen inches was not uncommon in former
times, but now it is seldom that the ploughshare enters
the ground to a depth of six inches, and far more fre-
quently it only scarifies the surface. Otte of the points
to which the ancients paid particular attention was, that
the animals yoked together to the same plough should
be of equal strength, by which means the regularity of
the ploughing was increased. Little attention appeared
to be paid to this point at the present time, so little,
indeed, that a recent traveller on the Continent had
observed an old woman and an ass yoked together to
a plough. Mr. Wilson dwelt at some length on the
attempts that have been made to introduce a superior
implement to the plough for cultivating the land, and
on the probability of applying steam power successfully
to that purpose. Among the most promising in-
ventions ps a substitute for the plough, he mentioned
Parsons's digging machine, of which a model was exhi-
bited. By that machine a number of spades are driven
with an alternating motion into the ground, and on
being drawn out they turn over the earth on each side.
So far as the action of the model could be observed the
plan promises well, but it has not yet been tested by
experience. With respect to the application of steam
power, Mr. Wilson was decidedly of opinion that it is
incompatible with so rude an implement as the common
plough, as steam power has never been found available
as a direct moving force without the aid of machinery.
He adduced many unsuccessful attempts that had been
made to propel ploughs by steam, and finally brought
under notice Usher's steam ploughing machine, which
he thought might prove, successful. This machine is lo-
comotive, and as it moves along the ground at the rate
of three miles an hour, it keeps in rapid rotation a
wheel armed with a number of inclined cutting blades,
whicn penetrate the soil and turn it over. This
machine would plough seven acres a day, and the
calculated cost of working it is 2s. 6d. an acre, Mr.
Wilson said it was estimated that this steam ploughing
machine would save 75 per cent. on the present cost of
ploughing land, which would be equal to a total saving
of four millions and a half sterling per annum on the
agricultural expenditure of the kingdom. At the close
of the lecture many of the company crowded round the
table to examine and to hear further illustrations re-
specting the action of the ploughing machines exhibited.
Among the objects in the library was a highly finished

model of Mr. Appold's centrifugal pump, which threw
its minature cascade of water from the top of an elevated
tank. A " nugget " of Australian gold, valued at
3501., was!, on another table, tempting gold seekeexhrs to
the diggings ; and M. G. Winiwarter, of Vienna, i-
bited his patent gun primers and composition for fire
arms, occasionally startling timid visitors by explosions.
The peculiarity of the explosive composition consists in
the,employment of a solution of gun cotton, or collodion,
aoa *cement to combine together the different fulmi-
nating substances, by which means the power of the
composition is increased, and it is rendered impervious
to moisture.