Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1868-11-12

lit assume form and dimensions of para.
mount national Importance. ). -
In discussing the subject of steam plow-
ing the FIRST and most important considera-
tions which suggest themselves are the
standard Of perfect cultivation; so that
the soil shall be in the best possible condi.
tionaog exert its greatest power In thsIeoo:
nomieal growth, development and perfect
maturity of the various crops it is expected
the land to produce, and the best and cheap
est means Of attaining that most desired
END. -. ..........- -
There can be. no doubt that if all the
ways and means heretofore known or re-
sorted to for the purpose of producing the
greatest possible yield of crops, the. deep
spade husbsndry, pursued by gardeners,
was the very best, and most successful. %
The chief advantage Of the deep spade
culture is and was the thorough loosening
and perfect admixture of the soil, and this
most desired and important object can now
be much better and more cheaply accom-
|plished BY the deep steam plowI system
than by any other known process. '''l<<
The SUCCESS of al crops depend entirely
upon the number of cubic feet of earth
that the roots are able to penetrate; The
smallest portions of plant food cannot Of
themselves leave the spot in which they
are firmly held and fixed by. the soil and
We can easily understand what immense
influence must be exerted on the fertility
Of the land by careful mechanical admir-
ture and thorough subdivision.
The common plan breaks and turns up
the soil without mixing it, and only dis
places the spotseon which plants have al
ready grown. The spade and the steam
plow breaks, turns, mixes, and pulverises
the soil thoroughly. . ..' q
A team of four horses plowing a furrox
ten inches wide, will leave over three hun
dred thousand foot prints on each acre
planted-almost converting every inch Of
the ground, and firmly packing the subsoil
beneath the plowed ground, neutralizing
to great extent the growth Of the crops
and the advantages Of the good plowing.
The improved cultivation Of farm lands,
and the greatly increased yield Of all kinds
of crops, planted and raised under the steam
plow system, when it is taken into consid-
GRAFTON; that you; ;dispensewith one-third of
the herses and one half of the farm labo-
rers, over the old system, will. necessarily
show in very short period enormously in
creased productions Of all kinds of human
food and subsistence. F.. e., =
There are at this time, only two complete
sets of steam plowing machinery, success
fully working in the United Ststes--one in
Illinois and one in Louisiana-both are
working daily and have proved perfect
success. The Vicroy ofEgypt "a Bedouin
Arab) has over two hundred sets of steam
plowing machinery, most of them from the
machinery of Messrs. Fowler & Co., of
Leeds, in England, and all of. the largest
size,. with which he plows more than two
hundred thousand acres of land on the Low
er Nile, and plants it in rice, sugar and
cotton. The cottons raised by him on the
steam plowed lands have commanded from
two to four cents per pound above the
highest prices Of Mobile and Louisiana
cottons in the Liverpool market.
It is said that the most approved steam
plowing machine, manufactured in Eng
land, are those made at the machine shops
of the great Quaker House of John Fowler
& Co., Of Leeds, who are the inventors of
the balance plow, of the clipp drum tackle,
and many other inventions and useful i'm
proyements only found upon the machines
manufactured by their house. The steam
plow in Illinois, and the one at work on
the Magnolia plantation are both manufac-
tured by that house, and the manufactured
number on the locomotive engine is nine
hundred and eighteen, showing nearly one
thousand sets of steam plow machinery
made in one mandatory. No 918 con-
sists of two fourteen horse power double
cylinder fraction engines, each having self
moving and reversing gear, water tank,
steerage, with road wheels twenty two inches
wide, winding drum with patent self-acting,
coiling gear spuds, tools, tool boxes, com.
plete for steam cultivation, also eight hum
dred yards steel,wire rope; one six furrow,
balance plain; one seven tyre, balance culti-
vator; costing about fifteen hundred pounds
sterling, the entire machinery. Rattoon
|plows for cultiyating and bearing off the
staplecane, can readily be attached to the
machinery, at small additional, expense.
The large sugar plantations in Louisiana
are laid of in lots of from three to four
acres long, with a road at each end, upon
which the locomotives stand, and they haul
the balance plows back and forth with a
speed faster than man can walk. Two
negro men ride on the plow, one to steer,
one to aid in case of stumps or distractions.
One negro man on each engine runs the
machine, keeps it in order, and does his
own firing. A man with team of three
mules. and cart haul the water and Goals,
making force of five men at one dollar per
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS" .-u, % w
Cart and three mules, worth per day 2 so
Each engine burns seven barrels Of
cOal................... .@