The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-28 00:00:00

FOWLER'S STEAM PLOUGH.

Mr. E. HOLLAND, M.P., being called upon to
respond to the toast of " Succesgiro the Gloucester-
shire Agricultural Society," confined himself en-
tirely to agricultural subjects. He recommended
the general abolition of hirings at mops or statutes,
and gave some interesting details ofithe working
of Fowler's steam plough, which he had himself
used on his Worcestershire farm with a great sav-
ing in cost and an improved result on the work
done. He said he had ploughed 272 acres with
the steam plough, at an average of four acres per
day, making 68 days in all. He estimated the cost
of these four acres per day as follows :

s. d.
Half a ton of coal, at 12s. per ton . 6 0
Oil
Horse and water cart
Boy to attend the same
Man, working the gear 3 0
Four men, at 2s. Gd. each lO 0

£1 4 0
If, however, he hid had his own instead of "Mr.
Fowler's tackle, he could have saved himself the
work of two men by substituting boys instead, at
a saving of 2s. 3d. per acre. 11Ir. Fowler also
put a charge of ls. Gd. per acre for wear and
tear of his machinery, and that, added to the
£1 4s as above, made it .£1 103 per day for the four
acres, or a daily cost of 7s. Gd. per acre. Then,
again, they must look at the depth which steam
ploughing attained, and the saving of horses and
horse keep. It would, he supposed, have taken
four horses to each plough to have ploughed the
four acres, and he thought an acre per day would
not have been done by four horses. He calculated
the cost then would have been II per acre, or £4
for the four acres, so that it would at once be seen
that a difference existed of £2 10s. as between steam
and horse ploughing in the four acres alone. The
cost of his new machinery altcgether, from begin-
ning to ond, was something like £BOO. He had re-
duced this, boy, ever, by, selling off £3OO worth of
horses and a small engine, thus leaving him for the
establishment of the steam plough a capital of 1:500.
Upon this sum he charged himself 20 per cent., or
£lOO per year. His breakages daring the time
had come to a little less than 1:50, and this, added
to the per tentage, made a sum of Xl5O to be placed
against the steam engine. Then the saving of £2
10s. in four acres per day in favour of steam as
against horses, for 68 days, was £l7O, to which
must be added £240 for the keep of eight only' in-
stead of the number formerly required, making it
£4lO. If from this amount was deducted the £l6O
for interest and breakages it was apparent that an
annual balance of £260 existed in favour of steam
over horse ploughing. But besides this the work
was very much better done; the ground was
ploughed deeper and cleaner, and the soil was not
trampled by horses, which was a great consilera-
tion on stiff clay soils.
Numerous other speeches, chiefly of a practical
character, followed.

THE ACCIDENTAL POISONING AT
CANTERBURE

An important inquiry took place on Friday last
at Canterbury, before the magistrates, which re-
sulted in the committal of a young chemist in that
city, named Reeve, on a charge of manslaughter.
Since the close of the magisterial investigation
into this unfortunate affair many fresh facts con-
nected with it have come to light ; and we regret to
say that it has assumed a magnitu'le which seems
likely to rival, if not excel, the recent case of whole-
sale poisoning by " daft." This morning, the coro-
ner for East Kent, Mr. T. T. Delasatir, was waited
upon by the widow of a man named James Copping,
who stated that having heard of the symptoms of
the deceased Cole, she feared her husband had
met his death by the same means. He had been
taken ill, she said, rather more than a week ago,
and a black draught was sent for from Mr. Reeve's
shop. A bottle, labelled " The aperient draught,"
and purporting to be the mixture usually known as
the black draught, was obtained and administered
to the deceased, an old man. Very soon after taking
it he was seized in precisely the same way as Cole;
lie becalm insensible, breathed hard, and turned
black in the face. A medical man was sent for, and
one came in the course of an hour or two, but the poor
old man had died without recovering for a moment
his consciousness. He was buried last Sunday, and
nothing more would have been thought of his case but
for the publicity given to the death of Cole. The co-
roner directed that another witness should come and
speak to the same facts before he could feel justified
in ordering the exhumation of the body. A neigh-
bour of the deceased accordingly came and made a
statement to the effect of the one given above. He
also said that he .had known the deceased smile
years, and that he was not subject to fits. Under
these circumstances the coroner considered that he
had no alternative but to issue an order for the ex-
humation of the body of the deceased. This has
been done; and a post mortem examination, and
probably an analysis of the contents of the stomach,
will be made. The coroner has had a jury sum-
moned, and the inquest will take place on Monday
afternoon or evening. The greatest excitement
has been occasioned in Canterbury by this
dreadful occurrence, especially as there is
but too much reason to fear that we
have not got to the end of it. It is stated
on good authority that a woman is now lying dead
at Harbledown, near the city, whose death cannot
be accounted for on natural causes; and it is under-
stood, on the highest authority, that more bodies
will have to be exhumed. The public have been
startled to find that but for a circumstance almost
accident 11 the unfortunate persons whose death is
now the subject of so much inquiry would have
gone to their graves and no suspicion been excited
but that their end was natural, for it is certain that
had not the accused by his conduct and voluntary
statements set the inquiry afoot, it never would
have taken place. In many cases where the pri-
soner's black draughts were swallowed they pro-
duced great pain and vomiting, which lasted many
hours; but the poison having been thus thrown off
the stomach death did not follow.

MR. FREDERICK DOUGLASS.—Mr. Frederick
Douglass, of Rochester, passed through Toronto yesterday,
on his way to Quebec, from which place he sails for Eng-
land on Saturday, in the Nova Scotian. He lies been en-
gaged to go to England for some time, and his present visit,
therefpre, is not the result of the late Harper's Ferry in-
suirection. It is a fact, however, that United Statc
officials visited Rochester for the purpose of arresting him,
and it is, perhaps, just as well that he will bo absent for a
time.—Tironto Globe.

CRYSTAL PALACE. HALF-A-CROWN DAY.—
SATURDAY, Nov. 26.—Admissions on payment, 291;
ditto, by season tickets, 796; total visitors, 1,087.