Litchfield enquirer., 1851-10-23
Flowing by Steam.

AGVWAHS " SAUdMs
 l. '> evident to e.ery UjsA'r., nf the ? ores of mechanical science t,a, mo iaeiy Is des'ned souf e CT 1 CT 'o ~upersede all work hy hun,n hml :. lt has been supposed that agr culture done was saf, from invasion in this res pect but with McCormick's reaping machines, patent differs, and steam har- 'ows, even that conviction has given way oef re the ingenuity of man, But one 0! the latest and most astonishing appll cations of this has been made in the ar, of tuning up the sol, which is now done by steam. with as much precision anl completeness as it was ever done by hand, and with much greater celerity.
 Lord WIlloughby d'Ercsby. an opu. lent and practical cullivator of the Gi- rmsA,rope Estate rear Bourne, England, has recently made severa! most success ful experiments in opening and pulver> lzIng the soil by an engine, A writer in the London Neacs, describing them says that steam blowing is no longer q prob-
 ,m. The field selected for the purpose of the last experiment had grown a wheat crop. and was of good malleable ,oh. The engine-a beautiful piece of nachinery-was placed on moveable : am road at the end of the field. By way of testing the relative powers, the plough, a double one, with reversed snnres and coulters, was drawn in one ii'ection by horses, and cortrar;ly by team. The horses, four very powerful animals, had much labor to drag the im> clement. and that only it d slow pace i; whilst the engine, of 26 horse powe", ,uried it back as fast as man could anly walk 10 conduct the plough. Af> tr' several bouts.' a subsoil plough w, t "chsd to a gage of and after wards | 2 inches. This additional burden WI cn the horses could not pnssibly have dawn, evidently s,eadied and improved Lnr motion, and left the work in a most satisfactory manner. Harows were afterwards appended with an eqnslly ,leasiny result, The ploughing took ,:nce across old land which showed in $ me places considerable dips.
 Two engines placed parallel at cac'4 end f the field would. without difficulty with only a double plough, complete four acres of land in ten hours, and if re. quirpd, subsoil i, too. The work is more effectively performed, for it must be borne in mind. that land ploughed by steam has this great advantage that there are no indcntations or basons left, as when ploughed by horses, (fiom the feet,) matter of great importance on clay soils. and where subsoiling is re- quired, an advantage that cannot be too highly appreciated.
 The account in the News then pro- ceeds 10 show the relative cost of plough ing field of 24 acres by anhnal power and by the aid of the steam engInes :-- Balance in favor of steam power, @ l6. By steam power the weniy.fo"r acres woull be completed in week. It would require ten horses 'oplcugh it I i' ll,e same period. Some lands must have more horse and manual labor, and If course at q greater cost than m th" above calculation No estimate is made [ of the value of sub> oiling which wit steam power, would be better acc"m pIished without addition expense, excrp' one man, perhaps, for guiding the plough.
 Prejudices. we know, prevail amongst the agriculturists against the adoption of steam power for ploughing ; it was equally strong against the use of steam for threshing and otLer operations. all of which have been dispelled. We are not blind to the fact tha, there are diff culties still prevailing against the pracli- cal use of steam for ploughing ie Limine |: to very hilly and irregular lands it is. at present, and perhaps always may be inapplicable but that it may be ef- fectively and probably used on great breadth of land in this country will short ly be shown to be "a very great fact"
 ~, F. EVs. Post.