Class IX.]

CARTS AXD WAGGONS- MOVEABLE STEAM-ENGINES.

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is experienced in high carts when going up or down hill.It also diminishes the danger of an upset in rough ground oron a hill-side. So long, however, as the shafts of carts wereattached in the ordinary way, it was found that when cartswere much lowered, a slanting direction was given to theshafts, which caused a top load to slide backwards; andthis tendency it was scarcely possible to counteract whengoing up a steep hill. The mode of attaching the shaftsobserved in Busby’s cart, viz., of fixing them to the side,very much diminishes this difficulty, as, when once the planis abandoned of making the shafts a prolongation of thesole, their position is no longer dependent on that of thebody of the cart, but may be varied to suit the objects forwhich it is built, or the size of the horses employed by theowner. By this arrangement for preserving in a greatmeasure the horizontal position of the shafts in carts withlow bodies, together with the form of harvest frame pointedout above, these carts are enabled to carry coni or hay ivithas great safety as any four-wheeled I'ehiclcs ; and this pointbeing once established, it is clear that there is no longerany necessity for incurring the expense of having waggonsor carts expressly for harvest purposes, as the ease andquickness with which single-horse carts can be workedmore than make up for the additional load carried bywaggons. On the whole, the principles of construction ofMr. Busby’s cart are considered more correct than those ofany other in the Exhibition, and he has made great advancestowards the production of a good cart-of-all-work. His carthas therefore received the distinction of being named in theaward of the Council Medal: but it should be borne in mindthat the medal is awarded to the improved principle of con-struction, and that it is not intended to stamp this cart as amodel in respect of shape, size, and other points of second-ary importance, which may be varied to suit the taste orthe wants of the purchaser.

2. Crosskill’s wheels are deserving of notice, being madeby machinery, and accurately fitted. His operations beingconducted on a large scale, he is enabled to furnish them ata moderate price.

3. The cart made by the Messrs. Gray, of I'ddingston,near Glasgow , has been awarded a medal, though it is con-sidered too high, and that the naves are unnecessarilyloaded with iron. The wheels, also, are too much out ofthe perpendicular, showing that the arms are bent, andtheir under surfaces not horizontal. As this determineswhether the weight of a cart, and consequently of the load,shall rest on a level bed or an inclined plane, it is a point ofimportance. The deviation in this instance is small; butas it is a fault which a few years back was almost universal,and was in many cases carried to a very mischievous extent,no opportunity should be lost of calling attention to itwherever it is observed. Having thus pointed out what areconsidered to be the faults of Mr. Gray’s cart (the samemay be said of the Scotch carts as a class), it is but justiceto him to point out that in many respects it is deserving ofgreat praise. The Scotch iron-work is notoriously excel-lent, and in Mr. Gray’s case it is just what it should be,substantial and well finished, and (with the slight exceptionabove mentioned) with nothing redundant. It is also dueto the Scotch wheelwrights to bear in mind that during the darkages of English agriculture , when it teas scarcely possible tomeet with even a tolerably well-made cart in the central orsouthern parts of Great Britain, and when there seemed to be arivalry amongst implement makers which could pile up the largestamount of unnecessary wood and iron in the form of a waggon ,the Scotch carts universally returned their compact form andworkmanlike character; and from being used by improvingfarmers in various parts of England , tended very much to origi-nate that reform in carts and waggons which is now making suchrapid progress.

Waggons. —It is difficult to conceive why use of the waggonsis still retained in particular districts, unless for the purposeof wearing out what has been already paid for, and cannotbe disposed of without a great sacrifice. The fact that thosewho use waggons are also obliged to have carts for leadingmanure, root crops, &c., ought to decide the question, inas-much as it necessarily follows that a double amount ofcapital is required in the first instance, and greater expensesustained ever after in repairs, renewals, and providinghouse-room for this unnecessary number of wheel-carriages.On a large farm it is certainly convenient to have a waggonfor the removal of poles, furniture, or other bulky articles;but these are exceptional cases, and the ordinary routine offarm-work can be at least as well carried on by single-horsecarts as by' waggons. This has been proved on several dif-ferent occasions by experimental trials, undertaken by therespective advocates of 2 ami 4 wheeled vehicles for the

express purpose of deciding the point. The great necessityat present existing for the introduction of every practicableeconomy will doubtless eventually substitute light carts forwaggons, and in the meanwhile something would be gainedby’ introducing light, cheap, pole-waggons in the place ofthe cumbrous shaft-waggons which are too frequently metwith.

Mr. Crossbill's waggon was considered a very good speci-men of an improved waggon, being light, low, and cheap(price 26/., including both pole and shafts). The advan-tages of a pole over shafts are, that horses can draw agreater weight when yoked abreast than at length; thattwo horses share the load down hill which is frequentlyinjuriously heavy for one; and that the team can turn inless room, and is altogether more manageable.—11. S.Thompson.

Mr. Busby, it will be observed, by placing his shafts onthe side of the cart, has lowered his cart, lie has loweredit as much as one in four, thereby diminishing the toil offilling carts with dung, stones, earth, &c., to the amountof one quarter. If we calculate how many thousand armsare employed in this way throughout England for manyweeks in the year, we shall find that this improvement,simple as it is, will save no small aggregate amount ofmisapplied strength to the country at large.

Having gone through the three classes of implementswith which the land is first prepared, the crops next cul-tivated, and the grain afterwards harvested—and havingfound them to stand well the test of economy by whichall machines must be tried—we have now to examine thefourth, by’ which the corn is lastly made ready formarket.

IV. Preparation for Market.

1, il loveable Steam-engines.

Every visitor of the agricultural department must havebeen struck with the little steam-engines, which, thoughof pigmy dimensions if compared with the great railwayracers, showed the same compactness of form and thesame disposition to work. They connected the rudertools of husbandry with machinery fitted for more intri-cate ends, and showed palpably that agriculture had notkept aloof from the spreading dr.miniou of steam. Fixedsteam-engines have been long used in Northumberlandand East Lothian , in which spirited counties every* farmhas its tall chimney. These moveable steam-engines havebeen called forth by the Koyal Agricultural Societywithin the last ten years, and appear preferable in generalto the fixed engines, for the following reasons:—

If a farm be a large one, and especially if, as is oftenthe case, it be of an irregular shape, there is great wasteof labour for horses and men in bringing home all thecorn in the straw to one point, and in again carrying outthe dung to a distance of perhaps two or three miles. Itis therefore common, and should be general, to have asecond outlying yard. This accommodation cannot bereconciled with a fixed engine.

If the farm be of a moderate size, it will hardly—andif small will certainly not—bear the expense of a fixedengine: there would be waste of capital in multiplyingfixed engines to be worked but a few days in a year.It is now common, therefore, in some counties for a manto invest a small capital in a moveable engine, and earnhis livelihood by letting it out to the farmer.

But there is a further advantage in these moveableengines, little, I believe, if at all known. Hitherto cornhas been threshed under cover in barns; but with theseengines and the improved threshing-machines we canthresh the rick in the open air at once as it stands. Itwill be said, How can you thresh out of doors on a wetday ? The answer is simple. Neither can you moveyour rick into your bam on a wet day; and so rapid isthe work of the new threshing-machines, that it takes nomore time to thresh the corn than to move it. Open-airthreshing is also far pleasanter and healthier for thelabourers, their lungs not being choked with dust, asunder cover they are ; and there is, of course, a saving oflabour to the tenant not inconsiderable: but when thesemoveable steam-engines have spread generally, there willarise an equally important saving to the landlord iu