THE MECHANICS' MAGAZINE. LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1859. AN AMERICAN SHIPBUILDER ABROAD. Custom House Registry more than 100 years 66 him to state the case in this way, but we must guard shipbuilders against proceeding blindly The paper next deals with men-of-war, in the matter. American white oak is a thing and enumerates 9 line-of-battle ships averag- of very variable nature. The States' white oak ing 38 years of age; 5 frigates averag- (which is generally better than the Canadian) is ing 26 years; and 19 sloops and 4 brigs of totally different qualities when grown under averaging 22 years. At the end of this different circumstances. That grown on the list Mr, McKay asks, somewhat trium- hardy soils near the sea-coast, where it is subWE announced to our readers a few weeks phantly as it seems to us,- "Can the Eng-jected to the rude retarding influences of wind since that Mr. Donald McKay, shipbuilder, of "lish navy present a result more satisfac- and storm, possesses a stoutness and strength Boston, United States, had arrived in this "tory than this?" Now, in considering this which is nowhere to be found among the oaks country on a professional tour. Remembering question, we must remind ourselves and our that spring up in the moist inlands rapidly and the outery which was made eight or nine years readers that all Mr. McKay tells us of these untried to maturity. The timber from trees of since, when we happened to reduce Mr. Grif- ships is, that they are "in perfect preservation the latter class-a light and free-splitting mafith's American volume on Shipbuilding in the "and in an efficient state up to this date." terial-is what we see most of in this country, Well, if this be all, we may answer at once,crucible of English science, we resolved, as soon and what, we fear, is most frequently used in as we heard of Mr. McKay's arrival, to do our "The English navy can present a result more America itself. If it does not pay the Ameribest to show him all the consideration which so satisfactory than this." In the English navy cans to use the high-priced better kind, it is distinguished a member of a distinguished prowe have 9 line-of-battle ships, not only over exceedingly doubtful whether we can afford to fession and a distinguished nation deserves. We 38 years of average age, but of 50 years of do so. feel compelled now to offer a few remarks con-age-every ship of them-and all "in perfect cerning our visitor's opinions and statements, "preservation and in an efficient state up to Foudroyant, Victory, Egmont, Queen Charlotte, "this date." These are the Ajax, Implacable, Impregnable, Hogue, and Edinburgh. We have upwards of twenty such ships individually of the age of Mr. McKay's average. So much for line-of-battle ships. As to frigates we venture to say we have nearly half-a-hundred of them each reaching Mr. McKay's average of five frigates, viz., 26 years; and in smaller sailing" ships also we doubtless exceed his average of 22 years. With regard to steamers of war, it is only necessary to say that against nine American which Mr. McKay mentions, averaging 144 years, we could set as many averaging double that age! We have at least forty reaching Mr. McKay's average. Only last week we were ourselves looking at the Salamander sloop in the basin at Deptford Dockyard-a ship built 27 years since and learnt that new boilers are preparing for her at the Sheerness factory, in the expectation that after certain necessary repairs are made, she will still be perfectly sound and fit for service. We need hardly enlarge upon these points. in which we shall be found to differ seriously from him, but hope to do so without departing in the least degree from our resolution. 66 Many facts respecting Mr. McKay's present visit to England and his contemplated tour on the Continent of Europe became privately known to us from time to time, but the first thing which brought the subject formally under our notice was the receipt of a printed paper, bearing a London imprint, and entitled "A "Practical Refutation of the English Pre"judices regarding the Durability of Ame"rican-built Ships and American Timber. "Illustrated by a List of American Ships (Merchant, Men-of-War, and Steam Ships); distinguished by their Long Durability. Prepared by Donald McKay, Shipbuil"der, of Boston, United States." On the title-page we are informed that these lists of ships were prepared for the purpose of "proving "by facts' that ships built with carefully selected American timber-viz., live oak, white oak, pitch pine, &c.-will last as long as ships built with the best English oak, "in "contradiction to the views entertained by "Lloyds' Committee, and in support of the "favourable opinions entertained by British "merchants in regard to the efficiency and safety of American ships." We are likewise told that this paper is extracted from the manuscripts of "a comprehensive and richly illus"trated work" on the theory and practice of Naval Architecture, which is shortly to be published by Mr. McKay. On examining the paper we find that it comprises, first, a list (extracted from the New York Marine Register for 1859) of merchant vessels built in America, and with American timber, that have been found in an efficient sea-going state after more than twenty years of service, and are yet in actual service in 1859 This list gives 102 ships of an average age of 24 years; 40 barques of an average of 25 years; 54 brigs of 25 years; and 12 steamers averaging 18 years. We think we need hardly say there is nothing extraordinary in this list. If Mr. McKay will take the trouble to look through Lloyd's list, and to count the number of English-timber-built ships therein of an age exceeding 20 years (an operation which we have not leisure to amuse ourselves with) he will find that his American list will stand no sort of comparison with that for which Lloyd's furnishes material. We have glanced casually through Lloyd's list, with this question in view, and we predict that if Mr. McKay will do the same he will be not a little astonished. We have, we venture to say, many scores of vessels not only 24, but between 50 and 100 years of age; indeed, there are several vessels in our Mr. McKay appends to his list of United States men-of-war ships over fifteen years of age a foot-note, which stands thus ;-"The term "[15 years] assigned to the average duration "of British men-of-war ships, after which they require a complete and extensive repair. Statement of the Surveyor of the Navy." But if the Surveyor of the Navy's remark is rightly interpreted, it implies nothing whatever in Mr. McKay's favour. Does he wish us to think that the American ships averaging 38, 26, and 22 years of age have never undergone such repairs as the Surveyor refers to? Surely not. If they have not, we should like to possess some authentication of their alleged state of "perfect preservation" and efficiency. The next and last division of Mr. McKay's printed paper consists of certain tables and observations on the weight and strength of American ship-timber, which we reprint, for the sake of convenience, upon another page. The frames of American ships of war are built of "live oak," their planking being of "white oak ;" and live oak and white oak take prominent places in these tables and observations. To tell the whole truth, we ought also to say that one part of Mr. McKay's business in this country appears (from what has passed between him and some of our shipbuilders) to be to get orders for American timber-white oak in particular. He would have us believe, as the article on another page shows, that American white oak is not only equal, but superior to English oak: "the alvan age of lightness combined "with strength, is entirely on the side of "American white oak." It is all very well for But we can do more than place our opinions in antagonism to Mr. McKay's. Examples of building timber-of its early and general decay, the failure of the American white oak as a shipthat is have come under our notice even in the American war navy itself. The Scientific American of a few weeks since published an announcement, which we think may be reproduced here to good purpose. It is to the following effect:"The steam frigate Minnesota, which was found to be rotten, and is now "undergoing repairs at the Charlestown Navy"yard, is only five years old, and has made but one cruize. All her outside planking, from "the water-line to the plank-sheer, is decayed. "Many of her knees are also unsound, so that "she will have to be rebuilt to fit her for "service. All the decayed timber is white oak; "and some of the yellow pine, with which the "oak came in contract, is also rotten. Yellow "pine is considered rot-proof in consequence of "the great amount of rosin which it contains ; "but the presence of the decaying white oak produced eremacansis in the pine in this case, in the same manner that a little leaven pro"motes fermentation among a large quantity of "matter. The live oak in the Minnesota has "not been the least affected with the rot; it is as fresh as when put in. These are important "facts for shipbuilders." We agree with our contemporary; these are important facts for shipbuilders-particularly for British shipbuilders, who must keep them in mind during Mr. McKay's stay among us. Having had an opportunity of seeing the prospectus of Mr. McKay's contemplated work on the "Theory and Practice of Naval Architecture," we had almost persuaded ourselves that something of real value upon this subject was at last coming to us from America. But our expectations have been sadly stricken down during the last few days. Mr. McKay, like every other American, is writing home elaborate descriptions of what he sees in this country, and some friend (or enemy) of his at home has published extracts from his letters in the American journal before referred to. In these extracts we find things which greatly depress our estimate of Mr. McKay's professional ability. That he should tell his friends (as he does) that the clipper ship Lightning, designed and built by himself, "is this day considered the swiftest sailing vessel under the British flag," is perfectly natural; it is equally natural that he should have no hesitation in "asserting that our (American) models for "speed are very superior to any that I have yet seen in the Royal dockyards" of England. But in one part of his let er Mr. McKay expresses an opinion or two which certainly should be noticed. During his visit to Liverpool, he writes:-"The Donegal, of 101 guns, 66 "is at anchor in the Mersey. She is of a very "full and clumsy model, and does not seem "capable of going more than four knots with "steam and sail combined. The man who de"signed her appears to have derived his ideas "of naval architecture from a Dutch galliot. "Her model is a disgrace to the Board of Ad"miralty that sanctioned it." Now, we shall write quite courteously when we say that these remarks render it almost impossible for us to feel any further respect for Mr. McKay's professional opinions. He goes to the Mersey and sees a splendid line-of-battle ship at anchor, and predicts a maximum speed of four knots under steam and sail together; whereas, on the 16th of July last this very ship, the Donegal, made at the measured mile at Plymouth, under steam alone, TWELVE knots within a fraction-11912 knots being the exact speed recorded! The fact is that this ship, which this guest of ours deems a disgrace to the Admiralty, is an exceedingly good ship. In the Admiralty tables which we published in the spring we have the particulars of two ships of the line, the Conqueror and the Marlborough, of the same nominal and nearly the same indicated horsepowers as the Donegal, and in respect of speed the Donegal is the best of the three, that of the Conqueror being 10-853, that of the Marlborough 11:06 on one occasion, and 11.866 on another, while her's was, as we have said, 11.912. We will only add that the disgrace attaches itself in this case, not to the British Admiralty, but to the American shipbuilder who can deliberately pen such trash about us; and we almost feel as if a little of the discredit clung to us because of our condescending to refute the nonsense he has written. THE FORCES USED IN AGRICULTURE WE are exceedingly proud of ourselves, we meh. The spirit within us is very conscious of itself, and not a little ambitious. Not Plato's sense, not Bacon's wisdom, not Shakspere's poetry satisfies us. Genius may light the land, and cover the race with glory, but our conception of what man might and ought to be is still far from realisation. On the very mountain tops of thought our cry still is-Excelsior! Excelsior! This is one way of looking at ourselves. But there is another way of doing this -a way equally true and just, but marvellously different. Spiritually we are, for all practical purposes, unrivalled. No loftier beings, no brighter intelligences, meet us in the arena of life, and compete with us for gifts or blessings. But, physically, how differently we are placed! Here the dumb brute, the lifeless machine, not only compete with, but beat us. As motivepower machines especially, the beasts of the field outstrip us, and steam-engines, the works of our own hands, surpass us immeasurably. At the Society of Arts, a few evenings since, Mr. J. C. Morton instituted a very interesting inquiry into the relative values of men, horses, and steam-engines as agricultural labourers, and the parts which they are severally destined to play in the fields and farms of the future. His paper is one of the most valuable contributions to agricultural literature that the past twenty years have produced, and well deserves the attention of scientific readers. Mr. Morton first points out the fact that there are three classes under which all the operations of the farm may be arranged, and they correspond exactly to the three forces which we have at our command. In the first, where the greatest uniformity obtains, the greatest power is needed; and a purely mechanical force, acting through levers, wheels, and pullies, is in this way sufficiently under our control for their performance, and this class of operations increases in extent and in importance with almost every permanent improvement of the land, that is, with everything which tends to the uniformity of its condition. In the second class, as much force is needed; but rocky subsoil, awkward hedgerows, crooked roads, and scattered produce, interfere with any possibility of uniform procedure. Some machinery more pliable than cranks and rods is needed by which to carry out the purpose of the mind; and here, therefore, it must work by means of the teachable and powerful horse. This class of operations diminishes in extent and importance with every permanent improvement of the soil, that is, with every removal of the obstacles referred to. In the third class, the care and cultivation of individual life, vegetable and animal, are concerned: no great power is needed, but there is need for the constant and immediate exercise of the will, varying, it may be, at every successive moment; and here, therefore, the human mind can work only by its most perfect instrument -the human hand. It is plain that everything by which, on the one hand, land is brought to a uniform condition, and by which, on the other, the quantity of its living produce is increased, will extend the first and last of these three fields of agricultural operations, and will diminish the necessity of employing horses. And this," says Mr. Morton, "is no mere "speculation; it is the principal lesson of the "agricultural experience of the past few years." 66 form a very extensive subject, and one upon The forces used in agriculture, thus considered, which Mr. Morton has thrown much new light. In the first place, he makes a more particular comparison of steam-power, horse-power, and hand-power for the cheap performance of mere labour. In describing steam-engines the term "horse-power" is used as a unit of force, and is assumed to be equal to the pull or lift of 33,000 lbs. one foot per minute; and to this agricultural experience agrees, Mr. Morton says, for a pair of horses will draw a plough along with an average pull of 300 lbs. at an average rate of 23 miles per hour, or 220 feet per minute, and this is the same as if the 300 lbs. were pulled over a pulley, or lifted that height in the time; and 300 lbs. lifted 220 feet per minute is just the same as 66,000 lbs. lifted 1 foot high per minute, which, as the performance of a pair of horses, is exactly the 33,000 lbs. each at which their force is valued by the engineer. But in a comparison merely of the cost of horse-power in the animal and in the engine the great superiority does not appear which really belongs to the latter. In addition to this, the performance of which they are severally capable must be taken into account. An ordinary 10-horse power locomotive agricultural engine will, according to the Chester judges of the work done by Fowler's steamplough there cost in coals, oil, water and attendance, and wear and tear of implement and engine (but excluding interest on capital employed), nearly 45s. a day, or about 4s. 6d. an hour, which is 54d. per hour for each nominal horse-power exerted; but as the real force exerted is more often that of 20 horses in the case of a 10-horse power engine, we must really divide this by 2, and call steam-produced horse-power worth 3d. per hour. The cost of horse labour on 21 farms in different parts of this country, of which the particulars have been given to Mr. Morton, was 5d. per horse for each of the working hours of the year. Besides this, the estimated expense of Fowler's engine was excessive, and the nominal power of it was cer tainly below the actual force at which it could be worked with the estimated quantity of coal consumed-11 lbs. of coal per hour for every horse-power produced, which is the consump tion named for Fowler's engine, and the majority did not consume more than six to eight pounds. Again, a horse at plough with an average length of 120 yards of furrow, loses one-third of his time on the headland in the mere act of turning the plough. At the dung-cart not onethird of his time is employed in the actual conveyance of the load. Indeed, this loss of time is a necessary part of his employment, however he may be engaged. He can pull 33,000 lbs. one foot high in a minute, but he cannot keep that performance up for 10 hours at a time. On six farms, the details of which Mr. Morton has so ascertained as that all the ploughing, scarifying, harrowing, rolling, horse-hoeing, carting-all the horse-labour, in fact, on eachis converted into lbs. lifted so many feet per minute throughout the working year, he finds that the actual performance per hour through the year is not 33,000 lbs. one foot high in a minute, but more nearly one-half that quantity, varying from 14,000 lbs. in the lowest case to 19,000 lbs. in the highest. No doubt, even in the case of steam-power, there must be periods of waste labour-ploughs must be turned upon the headland even if it be done by steam-but these occasional periods of comparatively fruitless work are, as he says, no necessary condition of steam-power; it is better if maintained continuously, and machinery will be invented to reduce this waste time to a minimum with a positive advantage to the efficiency of the engine. Moreover, the relative cost of the two forces is affected not only by the question of time during which each can be continuously maintained, but also by the quality of the performance of which each is capable. In threshing, uniformity of speed is a condition of good work; it is more easily maintained by steampower than by horses. In ploughing, the avoidance of trampling and of pressure generally is almost a condition of good work, and it is more easily obtained by steam-drawn machinery. We next come to the estimation of the cost of manual labour engaged in mere work—that is, where the least degree of skill is called for. From a series of statistical facts prepared by him, Mr. Morton finds that the mere force of a man, at a cost of say 3d. an hour, as equal to a lift (in four different instances) of 250, 330, 500, and 370 lbs. per minute; the two former being cases where the load has to be detached as well as lifted, and the third being performed under the influence of good harvest fare; and he compares this with the duty of the steamengine-or 33,000 lbs. one foot high per minute for 3d. per hour, and also with the actual average performance of the horse-16,000 lbs. lifted one foot per minute for 5d. an hour. In order, at the best rate named, to do the work of the steam-engine, 66 men would be required at a cost not of 3d. but of more than 15s. per hour; and in order to do the work of the horse 32 men would be needed at a cost of 8s. instead of 5d. an hour. It is plain that if we can take much of the mere labour of the farm out of the hands of the labourer, and avail ourselves of steam-power for its performance, there is an enormous amount of saving to be made in the cost of agricultural production. It is plain that it is but folly in the labourer to think that as regards the mere labour of the land he can compete with either steam-power or with horse-power. It is manifestly, therefore, in the cultivation not so much of mere strength of body as of skill and intelligence, that the safety of the labourer lies. were sold last year, and the Cuthberts, of Bedale, who have just begun the manufacture of their equally clever machine, sold 100 before last harvest, and could have sold four times as many. In all, probably 4,000 reaping machines were at work last harvest, capable of cutting more in a day than 40,000 labouring men, and yet there never was such a harvest as the last for the difficulty of procuring harvest men. Yet, notwithstanding all this addition to the forces and the machinery of agriculture, more labourers than ever are required, and as more labourers are not forthcoming, wages rise, as Mr. Morton shows by an array of unquestionable facts. THE CASE OF HENRY CORT, AND OF BRITISH IRON. BY of benefiting the agricultural labourer, and not of injuring him, as many predicted. The exAs the matter at present stands, then, and planation of this fact which Mr. Morton offers, confining ourselves to that large and increasing and which seems to us to be the correct one, is class of operations in which the power required this: that agriculture is more and more beis great and the process almost uniform, and coming the work of intelligence and skill as looking only to the cost per unit of work done, well as power-those parts of its processes we have seen that steam-power stands decidedly where intelligence and skill are wanted, are first in the race, horse-power is a tolerably good becoming a larger portion of the whole. Culsecond, and the agricultural labourer is literally tivation is more perfectly performed, and over nowhere. There are, however, as Mr. Morton a greater extent of land-the crops cultivated points out, two considerations which greatly require more labour and are more productive affect the position of horse-power in this com--the stock consuming them is proportionally petition, and place it much farther back than it larger and needs proportional attendance. But, would at present seem to be. They both affect whatever the explanation be, the fact is certain, its fitness for those acts of cultivation where it as he says, that the use of steam-power on a is plain that there is the greatest room for an farm is a part of that system which employs extended use of steam-power. We refer, first, most labourers in agriculture. Mr. William to the injury done to the land by the trampling Smith, of Woolston, who has an 8-horse engine of draught animals; and, secondly, to that for 110 acres of arable land and 70 acres of HIS INVENTIONS IN THE MANUFACTURE irregularity of employment on the farm for pasture, and works this engine only 14 days a horses during the year, which in effect makes year in cultivation, and not more in threshing, you keep upon a large farm several horses all employs regularly throughout the year seven the year round for the sake of their work during men and four boys, equal to nine men upon the a few weeks of spring and autumn. We have whole, or one to every 12 acres of arable land "THE sanguine hopes" entertained by Mr. not space to enlarge upon these two considera- and eight of grass-"more than any farmer in Dundas of Cort's inventions becoming productions, but the reader will see their very great "the neighbourhood employs." His steam tive were of course much heightened by the importance without difficulty. Suffice it to cultivation costs him on the average 10s. 10d. successful commencement, early in 1789, of the say, Mr. Morton after making careful calcula- annually per acre on his clays, and 8s. 3d. colossal forges and mills, which had been two tions estimates that by steam-power at least annually per acre on his lighter soil. It has three out of every seven horses on arable land displaced exactly 2-5ths of the former horse-Dowlais, &c., &c., under the superintendence progress at Cyfartha, Penydarran, may be dispensed with all the year, at a cost power; and he says that 70 per cent. of the and instruction of Henry Cort and his workmen, not exceeding the cost of these horses during cost of engine work is manual labour and only and the letters written to Cort by Sir Jeremiah the three or four months when alone they are 30 per cent. engine food, while of the horse work Homfray, a man of honour (the predecessor of really needed on the land. The first class of displaced only 20 per cent. is manual labour his brother, Samuel Homfray, in the manageoperations then upon the farm, which includes and 80 per cent. is horse food. Mr. Morton ment of the Penydarran), in Feb., 1789, and the ploughing and turning of the soil, will be accumulates a large mass of facts of a similar from Mr. Cockshutt, the resident and expetaken by steam-power out of the field of horse- tendency. "Agriculture is, in fact, experiencing rienced managing partner at Cyfartha, describlabour, just as threshing, and cutting, and "the truth taught in the history of all other ing the very successful commencement of Cort's grinding have been taken by it out of the field "manufactures that machinery is, in the long process at all these works, and in which they of hand-labour. run, the best friend of the labourer. This had proceeded so well as to be able in the sum"truth is taught even more impressively by a mer to take the Government contracts for iron, "review of agriculture generally, than it is by "the case of any individual farm." To the second division of farm work Mr. Morton refers but very briefly. It includes such cases of ploughing and cultivation as are taken, by very rocky subsoil and very crooked hedgerows, out of the scope of the steamdriven plough; it also includes the lighter class of horse-work, such as harrowing and horse-hoeing, which, however, might very well be done by steam; and it more especially includes the work of carriage, which, consider ing the scattered position of the produce to be collected, and the crooked roads along which it must be drawn, he sees no probability, as long as these remain, of getting done except by horse-power and manual labour in the usual way. Mr. Halkett does, indeed, propose to remove these obstacles, and is therefore able to accomplish all by steam, although at what cost we at present know not. The third class of operations includes the lighter work, requiring skill and thought as well as labour. The planting of a seed equidistantly within the land may be done by machinery, but the culture of the young plant, much of the hoeing of the land immediately around it, and its treatment during growth according to its condition, must be left to the haud. When ripe it may be harvested by horse-drawn implements; our corn crops are reaped, our potatoes may be dug, and roots are cut from the ground by horse-drawn machines -they must, however, be gathered into bundles or heaps, and ultimately removed by the help of manual labour. When stored they are threshed, and ground, and cut, and steamed by steam-driven engines, but they must be administered as food by manual labour. There is one happy fact which Mr. Morton, by facts and figures, places altogether beyond doubt, viz., the introduction of steam-machinery for agricultural purposes, which has had the effect THOMAS WEBSTER, M.A., F.R.S., &c., Barrister-at-Law. years in previously supplied from Cort's works at Fontley. Soon after (as ascertained by the Naval The statistics which Mr. Morton has Commission), that is, on the 13th Aug., 1789, brought together to illustrate the extent to some proposals were made to Adam Jellicoe which agricultural machinery is coming into by the Treasurer and Paymaster respecting an use are most impressive. He has had returns extent upon Cort's premises for Jellicoe's desent to him by all the leading manufacturers of fault. But however unfortunately Jellicoe may steam-engines for agricultural purposes. Within have been led into appropriating public money, the past ten years upwards of 40,000 horse- under a system which appears from his melanpower has been added to the forces used in choly letter, and from the general inquiries of the agriculture in steam alone. Messrs. Clayton Commissioners, to have been at that time the and Shuttleworth of Lincoln, Garrett of Sax- "official routine," yet he had the reputation of mundham, Hornsby of Grantham, Ransome of being otherwise an honourable character. He Ipswich, and Tuxford of Boston, alone are appears, therefore, to have felt deeply any profurnishing 10,000 horse-power annually to the posal to ruin Henry Cort, whom he had defarmer. Messrs. Tuxford-among the first to ceived in common with others, who believed start the locomotive agricultural steam-engine-him to have large private property, out of which informed him that for the earliest suggestion of he was supposed to be finding money for the it they are indebted to Mr. John Morton, of iron-works as a provision for his son. And it Gloucestershire, then agent to the late Earl of is very doubtful if Mr. Dundas could or would Ducie, who twenty years ago recommended them have dared to proceed to extreme measures to put these little engines upon wheels, thus fore- while Adam Jellicoe lived. It was ascertained seeing the fitness of these powers made loco- by the Commissioners that when Mr. Dundas motive to the circumstances of English agri- required money he procured Mr. Jellicoe to culture. Messrs. Ransome, of Ipswich, were draw cheques as if for naval service, and approthe earliest to receive the commendations and priated the proceeds to his private purposes. the prizes of the Agricultural Society of Eng-Two of these cheques were identified, one for land for their engines, and now the leading £10,000 in 1782, during the first Treasurership manufacturers of them, Messrs. Clayton, of of Mr. Dundas, and a second for £20,000 in Lincoln, send out 10 of them each week, or 4,000 1785, during his next term of office. It is a horse-power per annum. Of reapers, again, since singular coincidence, and it may be nothing 1851, Burgess and Key have sold upwards of more, that these two sums so nearly approach 1,900 of their improved M'Cormick's reaper, of and cover the sum of £27,500, sworn to as the which 771 were sold last year; and they now hold default of Jellicoe, for which Cort was made four times as many orders as they did twelve answerable; but nothing is more possible than months ago. Crosskill's have sold 500 of Bell's that the advances to Cort were made by the reaper, and 800 of Hussey's; Messrs. Dray principals of the office, who so well knew the have sold 800 of their improved Hussey's value of the patents. However this may be, it reaper; Messrs. Garrett have sold 600 of is clear that Jellicoe could not easily have Hussey's; 250 of Wood's clever little reaper | escaped ruin by recrimination. Mr. Dundas was in a position to have effectually stifled the recriminations of a defaulting subordinate; and it appears he continued to press upon Jellicoe the necessity of making good his deficiency, for on the 29th of August, sixteen days after the first proposal of an extent, an accountant was called in, and a schedule of Adam Jellicoe's effects drawn by him was found by the Commissioners, estimating the whole, including Cort's property, at £89,657. It should be particularly noticed that the patent contracts, which were considered to be of such value as and I have it in charge from them to acquaint you that your invention appears of that utility as to induce them to give encouragement to the manufacture of British iron, performed according to the methods that have been practised by you. "I am, Sir, "Your most humble servant, couraged. The ordinary device of setting up of the rival claims of others was a sufficient indication of the course intended to be pursued. The real point is evaded, and Mr. Cort is left to the hopeless task of fighting with interested officials backed by a public purse, and in possession of the patents, the only title by which he could enforce his legal rights. "JNO. MORRISON, Secretary. "Mr. Cort, Devonshire-street, Queen's-square." This condescending testimonial to a value to induce Mr. Dundas to countenance, as he that was undeniable is, indeed, a singular piece states, the diversion of nearly £30,000 of public Cort's object was of course to call attention to of cold-hearted equivocation and mockery. Mr. money upon "sanguine hopes" of their produc- his own claims. The Secretary reminds him tiveness, and for securing which he anticipated that the methods which have been praca parliamentary reward, are set down at £100tised by him and others are now to be enonly; so that the value of Jellicoe's estate was not swelled by any sanguine estimate on this head. The day after this schedule was made, Adam Jellicoe died by his own hand-a very singular circumstance, when coupled with his references to sudden death in the melancholy memorandum already stated. It is clear he would not countenance, and he could not live in the disgrace of witnessing, the execution of the nefarious designs of his superiors against his confiding and deceived friend. Mr. Trotter lost no time in a prolonged mourning for the decease of his senior, under whom, before 1782, he commenced his official career as a clerk at £50 a year, thence promoted by Mr. Dundas to be his useful Paymaster, over the head of an officer who had risen through forty-two years of service, and had been Deputy-Paymaster since 1777. On the 1st of Sept., only three days after the sad event, he performed the necessary swearing at a convenient distance from London, adding, to make the document complete, that Henry Cort-who was executing a contract with the Navy Board, from which the oath proceeded, for 450 tons of iron, value at the foreign price over £15,000, and upon which for what had been executed he held more than £4,000 of Navy Bills; and who in addition, as was equally well known to Mr. Trotter, had patent dues of £15,000 per annum coming in to him, without the least difficulty or dispute-"is, as he verily believes, much decayed in his credit, and in very embarrassed circumstances." The premises at Fontley, Fareham, and Gosport, stock-in-trade, good-will, Navy bills, &c., &c., were valued at £39,452, and Samuel Jellicoe was put into possession of them by Mr. Trotter. In 1800, when this method of realizing public property for eleven years had left, as Lord Melville states in his memorial, £24,846 of Samuel's father's default unliquidated, out of effects valued at £89,657, the Treasurer's own default on quitting office that year, as nearly as could be estimated in 1803 by the Commissioners in the absence of documents, exceeded £193,000; and during the whole term of office he had retained yearly balances of public money averaging £600,000 for his private emolument. It may even yet come to light how much he received as the price of not enforcing the patent contracts against the ironmasters. These patents and contracts disappeared, and have not yet been found. Where are they?, A return from the Navy Office of all iron supplied for naval service, and by whom, from 1782 to 1800 inclusive, will show who were the first to benefit by the ruin of Henry Cort. In July, 1791, the following reply was received from the Navy Board to a letter addressed to it by Henry Cort: "SIR, The Commissioners of the Navy have received your letter of the 4th instant, In 1794, after three years more of such cruel and, under all the circumstances, infamous neglect, the following appeal was addressed to the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Wm. Pitt : "SIR,- We take the liberty respectfully to state to you the unfortunate case of Mr. Henry Cort, late of Gosport, at which place he had, some time ago, iron contracts under Government, and among the rest a contract for making malleable iron with raw pit-coal only, and manufacturing the same by means of grooved rollers by a process of his own invention; we are sorry to add that, through the very great expenses necessarily attending the prosecution of these important instruments, this gentleman failed, when on the very eve of reaping the harvest of his patents, which were taken possession of under extents from the Crown. "We have therefore been induced, not only from compassion, but from the good opinion we entertain of him, and from the great national benefits which now actually result from these his discoveries and improvements, to join with many others in a subscription to afford some temporary relief to him and his destitute family, consisting of his wife and twelve children, (nine of whom are wholly unprovided for, only one able to maintain himself). This, however, cannot possibly produce any other effect than merely to supply his present urgent necessities, without rescuing him from that state of poverty and ruin to which we are very sorry to find his meritorious exertions have reduced him; a circumstance which will appear the more unfortunate, when it is considered that the same pursuits have been attended with the greatest success and profit to others, who, availing themselves of his experience, have enjoyed all the advantages without encountering the labour practice of any new process. and difficulties ever inseparable from the first "From these considerations we beg leave, Sir, to recommend Mr. Cort to your notice in the strongest manner we are able, as deserving of such encouragement from Government as may be thought most expedient, either by an appointment in some situation in one of His Majesty's Dockyards, the Customs, Excise, or any other office or place in which his talents and industry may prove useful to the public and himself. In any of which departments we will confidently engage that Mr. Cort's abilities and conduct will be such as by no means to discredit our recommendation, or any other countenance which you, Sir, may have the SAM. THORNTON, M.P. Russian Alderman L. MESURIER, M.P. Sir GEORGE JACKSON, Bart., M.P. J. & W. WILSON & SON." (Mr. Brook Watson undertook to deliver this letter to Mr. Pitt.) to This appeal obtained Mr. Cort a pension of nominally £200 a-year, actual receipts about £150. It would have been more to the honour of the Minister to have restored to their owner his patents, then producing £25,000 a-year, than to tax the public purse even to the extent of this paltry pension. The impenetrable mysteries of office were not pierced by Mr. Henry Cort; he was ruined, but does not appear have known why. The transactions of Messrs. Dundas and Trotter were very secret; sixteen years afterwards they burst like a thunder-clap on the public ear. Their contract with certain men to annul the patent claims had been snugly made, and the quid pro quo received, and the whole affair managed so cautiously, that the fact of H. Cort's ruin having been a great State secret has only recently been disclosed. A pension during pleasure was the best step to hinder disagreeable inquiries into the title of the son of a defaulter to all his possessions in Hampshire. In 1800 Cort, after witnessing the expiration of his second patent for rolling, died a memorable victim to official delinquency. £125 was then extended to his widow, net receipt £100, as stated in the petition to the iron trade. On her deccase in 1816 pensions of £25 6s. each were granted to two unmarried daughters, subject to deduction, the amount of which is estimated at not less than £500. The journals of the House of Commons record the following remarkable facts in connection with the foregoing "House of Commons, Impeachment of Henry Viscount Melville, 1805, Present, 433 Members, including the Speaker; 217 for Impeachment, 216 for Criminal Prosecution. Burning of Books and Papers. "That during the time the said Alexander Trotter held and enjoyed the said office of Paymaster to the said Henry Lord Viscount Melville as aforesaid, and whilst the said Henry Lord Viscount Melville held and enjoyed the said office as Treasurer of the Navy as aforesaid, he the said Alexander Trotter kept with the said Henry Lord Viscount Melville an account current entered in certain books of account, containing entries of all the sums paid and received by the said Alexander Trotter in the account of the said Henry Lond Viscount Melville: and by agreement between the said Henry Lord Viscount Melville and the said Alexander Trotter, bearing date the 18th and 23rd February, 1803, it is stated that they had either mutually delivered up to each other, or resolved and agreed mutually to cancel or destroy, all the vouchers or other memorandums and writings that any time theretofore might have existed, passed, or been SHOW. interchanged between them relative to the said | THE SMITHFIELD CLUB IMPLEMENT | tines of these implements not travelling in parallel accounts, and the different items and articles of which the said accounts were composed or constituted, and the said books of account containing the said account current, together with all vouchers, with other memorandums and writings in possession of the said Alexander Trotter, and also of the said Henry Lord Viscount Melville, relative thereto, were burnt or destroyed by the said Henry Lord Viscount Melville and Alexander Trotter; and the said stipulations contained in the said agreement for the said Henry Lord Viscount Melville mutually delivering up to each other, or for mutually concealing and destroying, all the said vouchers or other memorandums or writings relative to the said accounts was so entered into, and the said books and accounts, vouchers, and memorandums, and writings were so burnt and destroyed, with a view to conceal and prevent the discovery of the several advances of money made by the said Alexander Trotter to the said Henry Lord Viscount Melville, and of the several accounts and considerations for or upon which the sums were advanced." noticing in detail the exhibition of implements in GREAT pressure upon our space has prevented our the Smithfield Club Show until the issue of our present number, in which we shall endeavour to give a short but accurate statement of what few novelties presented themselves to us while examining this important although subsidiary portion of the long-looked for Christmas gathering together of cattle and implements, showing the progress of the preceding six months. In drawing attention, however, to what may be termed the novelties of the show, we labour under disadvantages unknown to those writing for the information or amusement of the general public, inasmuch as we unfortunately know that the greater part, if not the whole, of these "novelthe Show itself, and to some portion of those who ties" are no novelties at all, except in respect to visit it; the generality of the schemes having, in all probability, been before both us and our readers, at least upon paper, perhaps, for many months, and in some cases for years. Notwithstanding this, however, the appearance of an implement at the Smithfield Club Show is interesting even to The facts as stated in the above article were those who knew of its previous existence, for it not disputed, but the conduct of Henry Lord may be pretty generally assumed that it has, Viscount Melville was declared by a majority prior to its exhibition, known the test of exof 88 over 47 Peers (the impeached command-perience to some extent at least, and has become ing as it was supposed 40 proxies) not to be “a one of the wants of the agriculturist. It is not high crime and misdemeanour." The acts of easy at any time to invent an entirely new mathe accessories to the transactions were declared chine, or even to invent one which shall perform to be inadvertent; the most glaring inconsis- a similar operation to those already in use in an tencies and forgetfulness occurred in the evi- entirely new way; this latter is, however, very dence of implicated parties. The solicitor former, although the utility of any great variety much more frequently accomplished than the employed to issue the extent stated, that he of machines for doing the same thing is somewhat did not consider it his duty to see that the questionable. At least it is quite certain that if annual payments from Cort's estate in the pos- three-fourths of the manufacturers of the almost session of his late partner Samuel Jellicoe were endless varieties of root pulpers and chaff cutters regularly discharged, conceiving that duty to of the present day were to receive forthwith a rest with Mr. Trotter, who also excused himself friendly "advertisement" or recommendation to on the plea of ignorance from all knowledge of desist from making their specialities, British the matters as to which he was interrogated. agriculture would not be in quite a hopeless condition. Indeed, we feel sure that farmers in that case would save a vast deal of time now very unprofitably spent in ruminating upon what particular machine to buy. Besides the variety of machines for performing the same operation, there are also a great variety for differently treating the same substance. Take, for example, that favourite root the "sweed." Into what forms has it not been cut, torn, or ground? One machine slices it like pancakes, another cuts it into long square bars or fingers, a third makes it into veritable pills, and a fourth reduces it into shavings. Whether or not all these forms are absolutely necessary, in order to suit the more than epicurean tastes of fastidious swine, we cannot venture to say, but their production is sufficient evidence of the difficulty of anything new being done in turnip cutting. It may be that the difficulty of getting even pigs (whilst undergoing the finishing process for the Show) to eat at all when the idea that in the event of a homely slice of so required, has been so great as to have suggested turnip being refused, the offer of a delicate finger would be more acceptable; or failing this, a still more delicate pill or shaving would be irresistible. If this be so, these varieties of forms are doubtless highly scientific, though after all only suggestive of still greater refinements for the saving of unnecessary labour in the way of mastication. A machine could be devised for removing the sharp angles from the fingers before-alluded to, or one for fairly smashing turnips combined with a force pump might find favour, and would constitute the multum in parvo of pig-filling machines. Thus was Cort deprived of all his property; no one took any part in the matter, or could recollect what part they had taken or permitted to be taken; no one knew what had become of patents under which property to the amount of £200,000 might have been realized. Lord Melville, after having enjoyed possession for eleven years of freeholds and patents of ten times the value of the alleged default, obtains a further grant of £24,846 of public money after the death of Henry Cort, being discharged of this sum as the balance of the debt remaining due to the Crown by Cort and Jellicoe. The evidence of Samuel Jellicoe in 1803 is as follows: "An extent was issued against the firm of Henry Cort and Samuel Jellicoe. Upon my being put solely in possession of the trade and effects, I engaged to pay all the debts of the firm, which I have done." If this be true, and no doubt it is, the trade being very lucrative, why were Cort's patents retained and withheld by the Treasurer from their rightful owner? The alleged default had been repaid twice over, once out of Cort's estate, and again to the amount of £24,846 out of the public taxes. The only actual result of this impeachment was, as usual, the punishment of the minor offender, Mr. Trotter being dismissed his office. Well might Mr. Fox, in his speech on the 10th of April, 1805, remark, "The House may depend upon it the question will be a subject of consideration out of doors for a long period, and be agitated over and over again." The present Marquis of Landsdowne, then Lord Henry Petty, was eloquent on the stigma affixed by these acts to the British Peerage.+ The greatest novelty of the show was perhaps Marriott's Canadian revolving harrow, manufactured by Samuelson, of Banbury. This imple ment consists of two or more separate systems of horizontal rings which continually revolve as they are drawn over the ground, thus relieving them See Report of Select Committee on the 10th Naval Report, May, 1805. + See Journal and Debates of House of Commons and selves from weeds, &c., and so lessening the Lords.-Session 1805, power required to work them; the paths of the lines, but forming curves crossing one another, makes these machines more effectual than the made, but the arrangement is very ingenious and common harrow. Few trials have as yet been pulper patented by Mr. Lambert and manufacdeserves fair testing. We next notice a new root tured by the Trustees of Mr. Crosskill, of Beverley. These machines are made for hand and power, and consist of a cast iron cone, into which hooked knives are fitted which work against a ribbed fence. They are certainly very simple, and are said to pulp faster than any other machines, but this we cannot vouch for, and indeed we think it very unlikely to be the case. Messrs Goss and Peene's improved root grater also deserves special notice, although it has been out for, we believe, nearly three years, though never exhibited at the shows. It consists of a cast metal ring (which acts as a fly-wheel) having a flat plate attached to this class of machine. It is very cheap and appears it with cutters formed therein in the usual way of railway, a model of which was exhibited, although to be very effective. Romaine's patent portable not new, having been shown at Warwick, yet deserves a passing remark. In this apparatus each bearing wheel is made double, the two halves being fixed a few inches apart and having separate systems of shoes, as in Boydell's plan, but so arranged as that the centre of each shoe in one system should bear the weight when the ends of the shoes on the second system are in use. This prevents the ends getting embedded in the ground, and increases the bearing surface. Hornsby's patent plough also claims our attention here, although brought out at the Warwick meeting. breast, attached to the slide or sole plate, instead These ploughs have the share, turnfurrow, or of to the frame as usual. By this mode of construction the heavy handles and frame are solid pieces of wrought iron, very light and very strong. The draught of these implements appears very light, and seems to have astonished those who have witnessed them in operation. Mulgrave Brothers, of Belfast, were new exhibitors in London, and showed an excellent assortment of railings, grates, stable fittings, wirework, standards for corn, rick stands, &c., all of which appeared of the best workmanship, and very moderate in price. Edward Palmer and Son, of Thetford, exhibited a new chaff engine in which the cutting blades, instead of being curved and attached to the arms of the fly wheel, are made quite straight, and attached to the fly-wheel shaft. These blades as they rotate pass a fixed cutter placed at the end of the feeding trough, and so cut the hay like a pair of shears; the revolving blades being fixed at an angle, the cutting commences at the lower ends, and progresses, as it were, along the edges. A machine with three knives, 15 inches long, has cut a truss of hay in less than two-and-a-half-minutes. Hancock's washing machine is comparatively a new machine, and consists of a case containing rollers carrying an endless band, upon which the clothes are laid, and upon which latter rest loose both vertically or horizontally, so as to allow the wooden rollers or discs, which are free to move clothes to pass under them. The only other matters we can notice are the brick-making machine of H. Clayton and Co., and the model of Fowler's steam-ploughing apparatus. The former, however, having been fully described in system some months ago, we need not now recabur pages a fortnight since, and Mr. Fowler's pitulate what we have already said. Mr. Fowler is making good progress, as he deserves to do, in steam-ploughing, and publishes, with his present catalogue of prices, a very imposing list of testimonials of the advantages of using steam in place of horse-power, and the saving effected thereby. With regard to the future site of the show, it appears that for the next two years little, if any, change can be made from the existing arrangements, but the committee are now earnestly at work seeking a fitting place to hold the Christmas shows, where ample space may be had for both |
