Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1860-10-12

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AGRICULTURAL. j
ASrEAM Prov IN Missouri. The
st. Louis Democrat notices the arr.
val at the Fair In that city. Of snewly
invented Steam Plow, which created .
great sensation on its advent, owing to
its great size and queer appearance.-'
The Democrat says: bslore,sr
steam pillow was made at Han,
nibal, Mo-, and has been brought thence
to our Great Fair. It 1ds built last
spring, b. Messrs Steam l. Roberts,
upon which il claimea as new princi-
pie, that Of applying the locomotive
power near the periphery OF the wheels.
Mr.. Robert 1. Steam, the first above
named, is the inventor, and has fled an
application for : patent in the csse.-
The machine weighs seven tons, and is
twenty feet long BY ten wide, while the
forward wheels are twenty inches in
width. II il guaranteed to pillow thirty
acres Of land in q day land the san
guins managers believe it capable of
blowing forty. The steam pillow left
Hannibal at II o'clock o. m, Monday
last, on barge rugged with paddles,
which the steam wagon was made to
move! This is . curious combination,
in which barge carries a wagon, and
the wagon propels the barge. The odd
hermsphrodite craft excited much sus-
picious auguring among the boatmen
on the river, despite which it arrived
duly at five o'clock Monday evening.
The wagon being Of last eliminated
from the barge, FIRST ''astonished the
natives on Carr street Yesterday morn
ing. 1t then took up its march for the
Fair Grounds, passing down Broadway
and out w ash street, and causing much
more astonishmeut than the Prince Of
Wales himself. Being . wagon Of
twenty horss power, it cf course Found
mo difficulty in getting along. 1thad
q trial on Friday, of which Saturdays
st. Louis Democrat says:
One of the most interesting features
Of the afternoons exhibition, was the
trial of the steam pillow, brought hithel
from Hannibal, by the inventor, Robert
L. Stean-upon the lot west of tn:
Fair Ground. Steam was raised abou,
IL o'clock, and the huge machine wai
taken around the ground several times,
the delight and curiosity Of hundreds
Not one in twenty could tell what il
was, and when told that it. was q steam
pillow their wonderment increased
About three o'clock it was taken out Of
tho stock gate and q gang pillow with
six blades and rolling cutters fastened
on behind, with this the monster com.
menced to move, and it was soon ap.
parent that the steam pillow is great
su:cess-and that the boast Of its in
ventor that the machine will pillow thir-
ty acres of land per day, could be east
" realized. After turning up earth
Of a distance of about FIVE hundred
feet, it turned around and worked
steadily and with little jarring while
the sod gave way rapidly and regular
ly. 1t is suggested that harrow might
be added, which would combine the
advantage Of blowing and narrowing
in one operation. After the circui,
was completed it was proposed to try a
ditch digger, designed more especially
for railroad work, but the machine had
uever been oiled up and was out of
gear. 1t would not therefore work,
and by the consent of the Superinten-
dent Of the agricultural implement de-
partment the trial was postponed till
Today. There we're many persons
present at the exhibition who are largely
interested in this sort of labor on the
p:airies, and most of whom gave their
opinion at once in favor Of the entire
success of the experiment. Indeed the
result SO elated the crowd that three
cheers were given to the inventor. 1,