THE CONTENTED PLOUGHMAN.
Page 15
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r HANKS, To the courtesy of Sir Charles Cheers r Wakefield, in whose possession is the original r Wakefield, in whose possession is the original print—part of a collection of many quaint exauspice of contemporary opinions of the earliest of steam engines—*e are able to reproduce a cartoon entitled "The Contented Ploughman," published when the utilization of steam for power purposes was first mooted and when the kettle was the only familiar exposition of steam production, so far as the artist of the day was -concerned.
Coming at a time when we are celebrating throughout the country the centenary of the close of the life of James Watt and on the eve of the first. great trials of the power-driven agricultural plough the cartoon is of more than usual interest. Evidently some enthusiast of the period had mooted the idea of applying the new-langlgd steam engine to ploughing and the artist set out to caricature it—for caricature was in those days the first expression of humour, serving, however, as a useful check on harebrained ideas, and yet, curiously enough, containing many a notion that subsequent scientific and. -technical development has enabled to be put into practice. The artist was keen on giving his ploughman the dress of the dandy and the material comforts of the hour, but we wish he had given us a better idea of the practia,a1 application of power. He provides for the boiling of the water (and seeminglya was ignorant of the need for lagging the steam pipe) and for disposing of the exhaust steam, but we see neither engine nor transmission, we dislike the method of steering and miss all details for lifting and dropping the ploughs at the headlands, whilst we doubt whether the wheels would stand up to the work] Still we are glad the artist made some attempt at a difficult proposition!