The Sun.
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THE ST EAM-PLOII Ci

"I. A. C." writes to a contemporary as fo:

lows :---

Sir,----On Friday last I had the pleasure of witnessing
Mr. Fowler's new steam-plough at work_ on the farm of
Mr. Chater, near Slough ; and I wish the public to knew
that machinery has at last been set in motion which
really can plough with economy as well as efficiency.
Since the Chelmsford and l3oxted trials last Jul.* very
great improvements have been made in the framework
and steering of the ploughs ; the anchorage at the ends
,ot the work are now self-acting, being shifted forward,
when required, by the same wirerope that hauls the
plough up and down the field, and this is supported upon
friction rollers, mounted on light frames so as to lighten
friction and reduce the draught. The engine I saw was
one of Ransome and Sims' 10-horse portable engines, and
so stationed along with the windlass that a length of
more than half a mile of rope could be led out to em-
brace about two days' work on one side, and, when that
was completed, plough an equal extent of ground on the
other. Owing to a wrong pressure-gauge being then on
the engine I was unable to compute the power engaged ;
but the attendant considered it to be about eight or nine
horse-power; and this kept three ploughs in work at
once, with about half a mile of rope out, at a pace of
about two miles and a quarter per hour. In two hours
the extent of ground ploughed was about 1 acre 25
perches—say at the rate of five acres in a short winter
day. Five men were working in the engine, windlass, and
plough, and a man and horse were fetching water; and
the total expenses—including se. per day for interest,
wear, and tear, &c., and allowing one removal of
the engine and tackle every fourth day, I estimated at
385., or about 7s. 7d. per acre. But the machinery was
not working at its full advantage ; the four-plough im-
plement ought to have been used instead of the smaller
three-plough frame, which would be best had the land
been heavier, and thus a smaller percentage of power
would have been consumed by the tackle and a larger
proportion been available for ploughing. Were it allow-
able so to trespass on your space I could give you figures
for all I assert ; and I believe it to be a fair statement
of the ca,,abilities of the apparatus, as I saw it in
work, to say that it could just as well have been
ploughing six as five acres per day, thus making the
cost Os. 4d. per acre. By adopting another form of
windlass, with self-winding mechanism, it appears to
me that the labour of one man might be dispensed with,
bringing the expense down to only Os. per acre. The
field was a very level wheat-stubble, and the ploughs,
going 5,1- inches deep, an operation considered by farmers
and labourers on the spot to be good stiff work fur a
pair of horses in a common plough, and worth, I sup-
pose, about 7s. per acre at the lowest computation of
the expense of horse-teams. The furrows were beauti-
fully straight, the bottom smooth and even, the slices
well turned and laid ; and the only improvement needed
seemed to be the addition of skim-coulters, to bury the
surface vegetation perfectly. Mr. Fowler is able to
plough very light land, I was informed, for 35., and
heavy land for Os. per acre ; and he is now trenching
for his Royal Highness Prince Albert, on Shore Farm,
10 inches deep, at 158. per acre. For turn-wrest, or
one-way work, it is now proved that the steam-plough
can operate more cheaply than horse-ploughs ; while
there are other general practical advantages which com-
pletely establish its superiority.
And now, Sir, suffer me to ask whether Mr. Fowler
has received the encouragement that he deserves, not
so much from the general public as from the Royal
Agricultural Society—the professed patron and rewarder
of all great improvements in tillage machinery ? The
society offered a prize of 5001. for " the steam-cultivator
• which shall in the most efficient manner turn over the
soil, and be an economical substitute for the plough or
the spade." Only one of the competitors who appeared
,at Chelmsford attempted to show how much land could
be " turned over" in a given time. Mr. Boydell's trac-
tion-engine did not actually perform enough ploughing
to determine the cost of its labour ; Mr. Smith's steam
implements did not plough at all, but effected a novel
kind of tillage not answering to the society's " condi-
tions ;" but Mr. Fowler's plough and trenching plough
were evidently so nearly equal to the duty demanded
that an adjourned trial was resolved upon. The judge's
report of the trials at Boxted-lodge has not been publish-
ed, and the consulting engineer's determination of the
power, expenses, and other items remain, therefore, un-
known; but the newspaper accounts at the time stated
that in a level field of great length (and so requiring an
excessive length of wire rope to be travelling at once),
about 21 horse power was employed ; the work proceeded
at the rate of about acres per day of 10 hours (turning
at the ends included), and the total expenses, with inte-
rest, wear and tear, removal to the field, &c., amounted
to a trifle over 7s. per acre, while the cost by horse labour
would have been about the same sum. The quality of the
work was universally considered to be very regular and
well done ; and the germs of improvement were easily dis-
cernible in various partied—the apparatus. Last week
the Moiety itetd stepeciel comma to decideczespecting tbz
adjudication of the prize, 4.lthough so closely alifioach-
ing to the cost of horse labour, the steam plough had not
fulfilledthe strict letter of the "conditions," and so the
"undivided sum"of 5001. could not be awarded. Perhaps
a handsome pecuniary remuneration was thereupon
spontaneously voted by the council for Mr. Fowler's
wonderful exertions and success in the:solution of a great
agricultural problem ? No. A geld medal, as some mark
of distinction and encouragement ? No. Not a farthing
—not a tangible acknowledgment in any shape has been
offered him. After six years of astonishing public success
in the application of portable steam-power and wire-rope
and pulley-apparatus to drainage and tillage—after ex-
pending lay thousands of pounds, overcoming extraor-
dinary mechanical difficulties, and the still stouter pre-
judices of the farming world—after training many thou-
sand of acres by his novel and marvellous method, and
achieving at last a greater measure of success in steam
ploughing than any other inventor has yet shown us,
John Fowler has received from the Royal Agricultural
Society (the great promoter of all improvements that can
benefit husbandry), the munificent encouragement and
assistance of—nothing. I beg pardon. At the Lincoln
meeting'in 1854 the judges manifested their apprecia-
tion of his genius by conferring upon him a silver medal;
and, if I remember rightly, an exceedingly useful cottage
cooking stove, a one-horse cart, and some corrugated
piping obtained for their exhibitors the like high honour
on the same occasion.
I do not know that any great blame attaches to the
society ; the good souls keep to their rules, and carefully
watch against the creeping in of " precedent ;" but the
point is, if they go on year after year giving handsome
presents to the identical old ploughs, hoes, drills, &c.,
that have duly pocketed and puffed the honour for many
successive meetings, and have nothing to bestow, either
in accordance with the " terms of their offer," or beyond
and in spite of them, upon an inventor who stands
almost in a class by himself, and who, by amazing exer-
tion of thought, physical energy, and outlay of eapital,
has produced a novel order of machinery sufficient to
revolutionise our method of draining and cultivation,
will not the public begin to inquire where are the
national spirit and enterprise of such a society !
However, if the society dare not remunerate John
Fowler, I have no hesitation in affirming that his inven-
tion is now so far advanced and so thoroughly recognized
and appreciated by the agricultural community that his
personal success is independent of all prize-lists what-
ever.