1-14 



THE t"ARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



to a depth of five inches ; passed over again to a further 

 depth of five inches with the ploughs ; and at fifteen 

 inches belovr, in the subsoil of a hard yellow clay, drawn 

 an anchor with a palm of nine inches width through 

 the subsoil; thus ploughing and breaking up the ground 

 to a depth of twenty -five inches." Although — as we 

 understand — Mr. Halkett does not advocate the use of 

 a rotary cultivator in the first instance, yet he has 

 succeeded in obtaining some remarkable results in re- 

 ducing obdurate clay to a state of amazingly fine tilth 

 by using a rotary implement after the plough has 

 broken up the land. The implement used resembles in 

 character the well-known Norwegian harrow. Imagine 

 this revolving in contact with the soil previously acted 

 on by the plough ; dashing the clods and lumps of clay 

 against an inclined board, forming part of the casing 

 in which rotary implements work, and which is 

 dragged along by the main phtform, which fall back 

 again to receive the action of the revolving tines, till 

 finally the couch and weeds are deposited apart, 

 on one side, to be easily takeu up and laid aside, to 

 be burned, or otherwise disposed of; and the soil, in a 

 state of fine tilth, deposited on tlis other. We saw, at 

 the late meeting, the clay in its original condition, which 

 give apparently but little hope to any reducing system ; 

 and also its condition after it had been subjected to 

 the action of the rotary cultivator, with the collection 

 of couch which had been extracted from it ; and 

 certainly the results obtained were very satisfactory. 

 All the implements and machines in use on a well- 

 conducted farm can be worked by means of the plat- 

 form with as much facility as the ploughs. Mr, Halkett 

 has used, we believe, harrows, clod-crushers, hoes, 

 drills, and has even reaped with the machine. Another 

 novel feature in the system is what is called " under- 

 ground watering : " this consists in " supplying to the 

 roots of the crops, while at the same time the ground 

 is stirred and hoed, water (or liquid manure), by 

 drawing hollow bars between the row's of the plants, at 

 the bottom of which the liquid escapes at any desired 

 depth. By this means the fluid i? economised on ac- 

 count of the evaporation from ihe surface being pre- 

 vented ; it does not cake the soil, which agriculturists 

 object to as the result of the usual practice of watering, 

 and it does not draw the roots to vhe surface in search 

 of the moisture, afterwards to be injured by the parch- 

 ing of the ground." 



We have now to consider, under the third division of 

 our subject, the cost of the apparatus. The cost of 

 putting the machine in operation on a farm would be 

 about i;20 per acre for the rails and £3 for the ma- 

 chinery; it is calculated, says Mr, Halket, to last as 

 long as a horse, and may therefore be put down at 21 

 years' purchase. The following table shows the cost of 

 the rails, and we may here state that Mr. Halkett is 

 considered to have given a very liberal estimate of the 

 cost of all the items, so that there is every probability 

 of the cost per acre being reduced below that mentioned 

 ia the table. 



Cost per acre of yuideway upon burnt clay ballast, in wJiich 



angle iron and angle tram bricks are used. 

 800 feet of tram brick . . . . . . ..£364 



Laying down and providing ballast and leveiUng for 



tram bricks . . . . , . . . ..3100 



Angle iron, 14 lb. to the foot, and 14i. per ton .".' 7 17 



I^olts 12 



Fittmg fish joints 10 



Fishing joints ,, .. 10 



Punching holes in iron . . ,, , . ..070 



^ .. £IQ 12 4 



Contiugencies at 10 per ceui 1 13 



Cost per acre £18 5 4 



We now come to the consideration of the last division 

 of our subject, the "results cultural," or as Mr. 

 Halkett, at the meeting at the Freemasons' Tavern, oa 

 Thursday the 11th December, termed it, the "pith of 

 the matter— the pounds, shillings, and pence part of the 

 question." In proving the "large profits to be derived 

 by this system of cultivation," Mr. Halkett, at the 

 meeting already referred to, stated that he based his 

 calculation on the following principles : — 



" Spade labour is often used to cultivate the same crops as 

 those farmed by horses. Spade labour ia far more costly than 

 horse farming ; and being more costly, it must also be richer 

 in produce. That it is so is universally admitted to be true, 

 and, I may also add, with the same amount of manure iu both 

 cases. Now my system of cultivation is performed, at a cost 

 iucluding the interest for capital to pay tor the rails, and 

 depreciation and wear and tear, together with all charges for 

 labour, while the work performed is equal iu amount and 

 depth of tillage to common farming, at a smaller annual charge 

 than is now done by horses ; while, if I increase the depih of 

 ploughing, and the number of hoeiugs, stirrings, &c., so that 

 the cost of my system is raised to that of common farming, 

 while the work done is equal to spade cultivation, then all 

 that is produced in extra crops is pure gain to a very consi- 

 derable amount. If I take the usual computations of horse 

 field-work, I find that the average is from £2 iu country dis- 

 tricts to £3 near towns : and if I take spade labour I find that 

 it varies from £5 to £6., iu fact to £3 per acre above tbe cost 

 of horse farming, but the produce is at least worth £4 per 

 acre more." 



In corroboration of these views Mr. Halkett gives the 

 following table from " Morton's Cyclopedia of Agri- 

 culture." 



Table in article " Capital." 



Other tables and evidence are given by Mr. Halket, 

 which space does not allow us here to insert ; but all cor- 

 roborative of this, that the cost of spade husbandry per 

 acre may be set down at between £0 and £6. 



In proof of the assertion that by his system he can 

 plough hard land at Is. 7d. per acre, and light soil at 

 Is. 3d., Mr. Halkett gives the following tables : — 

 Steaji-i'lougiiing and Horse ploughing 

 Compared theoretically, ploughing in both cases at the rate 

 of an acre and one-fifth per hour. 

 Steam-plougiiing. 

 40 horse-power 

 X 8 lbs. of coal per hour 



320 



X 8 hours 



2560 lbs., or 23 cwt, at Is. per cwt 23 



Oi), &c 2 



5 



3 



Men [ J 



33 

 333. for 8 hours and for 24 aces == Is. 5d. per acre. 

 Or 443. 6d. for 12 hours and for 3G acres = Is. 3d. per acre. 



Ploughing by Horses. 



40 horses, the day's keep at 3s 1203. 



20 men, at 2s 408. 



160?. for 8 hours and for 24 acres = 6?. 81). per acre. 



1608. 



