Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1869-07-15

PLowIyG BY SrE,M-Tbe y Y World
rontsins description of the trial ola new
English steam plow in New jersey =
We quote from the account as follows:
The f Id was in the shape Of an fob-
long square. and must have contained At
I least one hundred acreS. tolerably level,
but uneaven from having been in corn
the wear before. The soil was rather i
sandy loan, which had never been cult
waited over four inches. and therefore. be-
low that depth. offered more than usual
resistance to the plow. The engines were
stationed on each side of the field, oppo-
site each other. and distant three hum
dred yards. They were fred up and al
ready commenced work. The engines
English standard. and were on the loco
motive plan. The blowing apparatus
consisted Of two gangs Of six each, hung
upon an iron frame moving upon three
wheels, one of the wheels running in ev
cry sixth futrow, each pair easily eleva
ted when not in use. A flexible wire ca
bic was wound round drum on the un-
Der side of the engine, and wound up
when the plow was at work by the en-
gine, towards which the plow was drawn.
When the plow had reached tie opposite
side of the field, the signal whistle was
blown that gang which had been elcva-
ted, was dropped after both had been cl-
evased till the engine had moved ahead
and placed them in position. when the
forward gang was lowered and starte! on
its journey. They were gauged to seven
inches deep and some thirteen inches wide,
or the six cutting six feet and half at
each time it crossed tue field The speed
was at the rate of five and half miles per
hour, and the work was at the rate of
twenty and twenty-four acres per day of
ten hours. By noon a large crowd had
gathered, some to witness the predicted
failure, some the hoped for success and
many to crafty curiosity Among the
the crowd were many intelligent farmers
and gentlemen of that reign After the
plow had gone several times across, the
skeptical acknowledged that steam-plow.
ing in shat kind of soil" was complete
success, and that, though the first outlay
OF capital was larger than in old way of
doing the work by teams and men. in the
aggregate It would not prove so great as
appeared at first view.
When the people had largely assembled,
the Colonel directed his manager 70 have
the engines change front and one of them
90 down towards the lower end, or front
Of the field. And then it was that the
magnitude and efficiency of the power
which bad been haInessed to the car of
agriculture was manifested. The enci-
neer at once started off his huge machine
acros. the damp and yielding and uueaven
ground with the same ease that a plow-
man would have unhitched from his plow
and driven his team to the opposite end
Of the field. One could think of nothing
but huge elephant, obedient to bis dri-
yer, perched on his back, was shutting
along over the field. A span of mules
was hitched to the cable, and it was drawn
down and attached to the grubbcr or cul-
tivator the cable from the other engine
was fastened to the other end, and it COM
menced vibrating between the two en-
gines, often at pace the attendant, when
on the ground, at smat trot to keep up.
At this point the interest of the specta-
tors was much heightened by General
Capron, the Commissioner of Agriculture,
getting on the machine and taking the
steering apparatus in hand, and riding
several times across the field. Among
the distinguished gentlemen present, who
seemed to regard the experiment with
great interest, to consider it a marked
success. was General titz John Porter,
The universal opinion of all was that steam
blowing was marked success 1t is ouly
question of capital aud detail.