Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1877-08-23
PLANTATION ENGINES.

An ESSAY heAu DelOTe Lne SuIHheI mcotlhG
of the State Grange at Anderson, s. c.,
on the 9th Of August, 1877, by Richard
Tozer, ESQ.,, Of Columbia, Vice President
Of the State Agricultural Society.
Within the last 100 years steam has been
used for almost every purpose where power
has been required. No motive power known
to man is equal to it. Engines of every form
and size have been made and used. 1t has
aided mankind in spreading civilization and
Christianity to the most remote part OF the
known world, and without it the commerce OF
the world would be brought to a standstill
The plantation engine may be said to date
from 1S49, when Mr.. VIM. Libby, of Charles
ton, built the first plantation engine that we
have any record Of and WAS used on a rice
plantation on the Combahee river. Previous
to the war between the States, this class OF
engine was unknown in the upper part of this
State, but the change in our labor system
compelled our planters to adopt labor.saving
machinery, wherever it could be adopted.
And know of no piece of machinery that
has responded more pro6tably to the farmer
than the steam engine No investment will
pay better interest for the amount invested.
To gn cotton with horse power, it takes four
good horses to run ifty-saw gin, and if they
turn out four bales per day, they are doing
pretty we'll. 1t costs about $3.50 per day to
feed this stock. A good six-horse engine is
capable of running two fifty.saw gins, and if
the gins are in good order they should turn
out from ten to twelve bales per day, at cost
not exceeding fifty cents for fuel, for an en-:
CINE constructed on proper principles should
not consume over half cord of wood to per-
form the above work. So you can readily
perceive that there is much advantage in
using steam over animal power. The same
economy is obtained at whatever work you
apply the steam engine to-threshing grain,
grinding corn and sugar cane and saving
lumber, for even as small as a six-horse en-
CINE can be made to saw with thirtysix-
inch saw mill, costing about 5000, from twelve
to fifteen hundred feet of lumber per day.
And here let me say believe the plantation
engine will do more to solve the fence ques.
ton than all the legislation that can be
brought to bear upon the subject 1t is only
the scarcity of fence material that agtates
the question so much. With good stock Of
fence lumber on hand, the farmer can easily
keep up bis fences Besides his fences, with
a small saw mill and steam engine, he can
always have stock of lumber on hand for
any Improvement he may desire to make.
There have been many improvements in the
plantation engine since its first introduction,
but others are yet in store for this little friend
of the farmer. Whenever it is requisite to
move the present engine from one locality to
another, team has to he taken from the
field to move it. This is not economy; for
the plantation engine having double the pow
er it takes to move its own weight, should be
made to propel itself and draw whatever ma
chine it is to work. This is done in other
countries. The argument that arises here is
our roads are bad. True, our roads are bad
indeed, but they can be improved, and there
is ample room for our County Commissioners
to show US what they know about road ma
king. Gentlemen, give US good country
road and we will give you plantation engine
that will move over the country without ia.
king the team from the field at your busiest
time, when your crops need working most.
A few words on the construction of a plan
tation engine, and close: The first and most
important part is the boiler; this should be
built of the best of iron. The locomotive
type is the hest steam generator that has yet
been produced. The fues should, for burn
ing wood, be not less than two inches, nor larg-
er than three inches, and sufficient number
introduced, with the surface of the fire box,
to give from ten to twelve square feet to the