504
EXPOSITION AT VIENNA.
with cattle, such as the absence of much constant trampling of the soil by the feet of cattle, the more regular and thorough work accomplished, the shorter time occupied in preparing the land, and other lesser advantages. The obstacles in the way of the adoption of steam-ploughing are chiefly the high cost of the necessary implements and the consideration that no one should he intrusted with the responsibility of superintending the working of these implements who does not know every particular detail of their mechanism, and who cannot instantly detect the cause of any breakage or imperfection in their working.
The sooner the constant trampling of cattle, incident to preparing our soil for crops, can be done away with, and the improved methods of working the land be established, the sooner will a great advancement in agriculture have been made.
Our home-made implements are much better adapted to our needs than foreign ones ; but, while foreign manufacturers may be able to learn and profit by our displays in the Agricultural Halls, at Philadelphia, in 1876, I trust that we shall also be able to learn much from similar displays of foreigners.
A Bohemian Farm.
In order to give an instructive account of some of the most improved systems of farming, as carried on in the Austrian Empire, I cannot do so more truthfully than by giving those extracts from the report of one of her most successful farmers, which relate to my subject and which are thoroughly substantiated, as being the basis of his successful farming, by the financial exhibit which ends his report.
While at Vienna, through the kindness of the Austrian Secretary of the Agricultural Ministry, an invitation to visit the estate of Mr. Franz Horsky, at Kolin, in Bohemia, in company with the Agricultural Jury of the Exposition, was secured for me, and I passed a most interesting day viewing the results of a knowledge acquired by a life devoted to agricultural study and practical work.
The report from which my extracts are taken was prepared by Mr. Horsky, in response to a request from the Directors of the Exposition, and contains a description of the com-