Lord Saltoiiii on Steam Cultivation 



447 



different advantages of steam cultivation ; 

 but there is no doubt that, beneath the pre- 

 sent surface of the land, lies a rich mine of 

 wealth, to be got by deeper disturbance of 

 the land, by turning up other soil, and by the 

 augmentation of crops in consequence of 

 that ; and the only caution that is necessary 

 is that people must not suppose that that is 

 to be the work of a moment. It must be 

 done gradually. The best soil is at the top, 

 no doubt ; the worst, which Avill become 

 better, is below. But if you go for very deep 

 cultivation at once, and turn up the old soil, 

 then you put all the bad on the top. It must 

 be done gradually, and mingled, and therefore, 

 the only caution that is to be given to those in- 

 terested in steam agriculture is to go gradually 

 from the present depth 2 or 3 inches deeper each 

 year, until they get a much better depth of 

 friable soil, such as some of those corn lands 

 that are on each side of the lower banks of 

 the Danube, where they have tilled the same 

 soil for 100 years without manure. Although 

 we can never expect to do that in this 

 country, yet we may, perhaps, produce some- 

 thing of the same sort of soil to a consider- 

 able depth. There are other advantages, and 

 one of the most curious advantages, and a 

 fact well worth recording, has been stated in 

 a letter from a gentleman now present in the 

 company, to Sir Alexander Anderson, and 

 with that gentleman's permission I will read 

 an extract from that letter. It is from a 

 gentleman in Kincardineshire, who says : — 

 Our new set started in March, and got just 



in time. We worked over 1055 acres, 2 

 roods, 5 poles, and earned ^^442, 10s. 2d. 

 This season a much larger part of our 

 country would have been fallow but for 

 steam power, and in the Howe, where deep 

 stirring, especially in autumn, prevails, finger- 

 and-toe has not as yet shewn itself; while in 

 deep friable loam about Fettercairn, where 

 they used to carry the sweepstakes, a few 

 loads will be all off large fields.' Of course, 

 his Lordship continued, experience will 

 shew whether that absence of finger-and-toe 

 constantly attends deep cultivation, and the 

 proper mixing of the land by deep cultiva- 

 tion ; but at all events it is a curious fact that 

 in Kincardineshire, where there has been 

 steam cultivation, finger-and-toe has not 

 shewn itself; and where there has not been 

 that cultivation, in the very best 'land that 

 used to carry off the prizes, finger-and-toe has 

 shewn itself to that extent, that a very few 

 loads of turnips will be all that will be got 

 off large fields. And there is a good reason 

 for it, and I can perfectly understand why it 

 should be so, because the steam cultivator 

 and other implements in use mix the soil so 

 thoroughly that it is all equal, and every part 

 of the root gets its fair share of good com- 

 ponent parts and nutritive qualities of the 

 soil; whereas, under the old system, the 

 soil being imperfectly mixed, some parts of 

 the plants were better nourished than others, 

 and that may have been the great cause of 

 the finger-and-toe which it has puzzled so 

 many agriculturists to explain. 



