68 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



On difference in capital employed — 

 Fixed steam power 

 Ditto horae-power 



£495 

 165 



Extra capital £330 



Showing a profit on investment of 37^ per cent., without 

 taking into conside'-ation the breaking of 30 tons lin- 

 seed cakes per annum for beast and sheep feeding, 

 pumping 8,000 gallons water weekly for cattle and do- 

 mestic use, sawing up old wood and stumps for fuel, 

 timber and deals for the repairs of the farm carts and 

 implements of husbandry, and two days per week 

 steaming refuse potatoes or other roots v?ith the spare 

 steam, independently of offering an opportunity of 

 pulping roots, which I am convinced will prove a con- 

 siderable item of saving if attached to the engine. 



As much, however, depends on the arrangement of the 

 buildings, I have drawn a ground plan of a new farm- 

 steading I am now erecting, and which is calculated, to 

 the best of my judgment, for facilitating the different 

 operations enumerated, at the same time having regard 

 to the saving of labour. On the farm where horse- 

 power is fixed, the aid of a portable steam thrashing 

 machine is occasionally resorted to. The expenses run 

 as follows : 



No. III. 8. d. 



9 men at 2a. 18 



1 man at 23. 6d 2 6 



6 women at la. ... ... ... ... 6 



Allowance ... ... ... ... ... 4 



Fuel 12 cwt. at 88. 6d. per ton 5 4^ 



Blowing over for market 3 



Fetching water 2 



Quarters thrashed 35 £2 10^ 



Or Is. 2d. per quarter. 

 If the engine is the property of the farmer, the wear 

 and tear must be calculated at a higher rate than a 

 fixed one, for reasons to be subsequently stated; and if 

 hired, the price paid averages in my district Is. per qr., 

 to which must be added the value of six horses fetching 

 or returning the machinery, which will increase the cost 

 per quarter, in proportion to the quantity required 

 thrashing, prior to sending the machinery home, and 

 the distance to be fetched or returned. Having thus 

 shown the pecuniary saving effected, by the substitution 

 of a fixed steam engine for horse-power in preparing 

 the produce of the farm for market, and the food for 

 the cattle, I will proceed to notice some of the ob- 

 jections which at various times have been urged against 

 the general adoption of steam-power for these purposes. 

 First, we are frequently told that during the time the 

 engine is working the horses are idle; secondly, that 

 farmers have not generally the command of capital for 

 carrying out such expensive arrangements ; and thirdly, 

 that for want of security of tenure (if even the capital 

 was forthcoming) prudence forbids its investment in 

 such a manner. My answer is, that no doubt in some 

 instances the horses are ntit working ; but idleness and 

 rest are two very different things, and I think I shall be 

 able to prove that the farmer's interest does not sufi'er 

 from the portion of the work we have been describing 

 being carried out by steam in lieu of horse-power. I 

 practically find that on the farm where I entirely use 

 steam, though I have not reduced the number of horses 

 previously employed, I can keep them in the same con- 

 dition with one-third less corn, leaving a clear saving of 

 upwards of £80 per annum, or £4 per horse. This is 

 easily accounted for, when we consider how injurious 

 It IS for a horse to be for hours exercising a cir- 

 cular motion, pulling in such a manner that his 

 muscular strength is not properly balanced; add to 

 this diminution of his physical power the still fur- 

 ther injurious effect of having to stand in a con- 



stant draught whilst in a heated state during the 

 frequent stoppages necessary to rest the work-people, 

 oil the machinery, and clear away the chaff and pulls, 

 as it happens the horse- wheel is invariably constructed 

 in such a manner that every thorough current of air 

 that is possible to be had is obtained. Again, how often 

 do we see in a busy season the poor animal taken to the 

 wheel after a hard day's work, for an hour's thrashing 

 or chaff-cutting, stimulated to go through the additional 

 labour by an extra feed of corn ! This very excitement 

 itself entails a serious detriment to the horse, as a de- 

 pressing reaction must inevitably follow. In reply 

 to the second objection, I think all present will agree 

 with me that the day is past for opposing the adoption 

 of any system which tends jyrofitahly to increase the 

 produce of the soil, on the ground of outlay. The last 

 objection is one which deserves great consideration 

 from all connected with agricultural pursuits. It can- 

 not be expected that tenant farmers will, as a rule, incur 

 the risk of investing large sums in fixed machinery upon 

 yearly tenure, without some prior understanding 

 as to its disposal ia case of leaving their farms. I re- 

 member only last year an occupier in East Yorkshire 

 giving up his farm, and his successor refusing to buy 

 on any terms the machinery which had only been 

 erected two or three years previously by one of the first 

 firms in England. The consequence was, an outlay of 

 nearly five hundred pounds did not realize one-third of 

 the original cost; and the buildings, which the proprietor 

 had erected expressly with a view to the convenient 

 working of the machinery, were rendered useless. In 

 my own case the arrangement was that every portion of 

 the machinery should be put up of the best con- 

 struction, and in the event of my leaving the farm the 

 whole should be taken by the in-coming tenant at a 

 valuation, to be made by two valuers or their umpire in 

 the usual manner. Upon the several estates I have the 

 honour to have entrusted to my management, I have 

 authority to offer the same facilities to any of the 

 tenants who are desirous of adopting similar fixed 

 machinery and power ; terms which all must consider 

 liberal, and which also, if it were not for fear of exten- 

 ding my remarks this evening to too great a length, I 

 should have no difficulty in proving are advantageous to 

 all connected with landed property. In the absence of 

 such an arrangement, or of a lease of the farm, one 

 other course is open, viz., that a prospective yearly 

 interest to the tenant so erecting be agreed upon by both 

 parties previous to the erection, and should the tenant 

 from any cause quit his holding before the expiration of 

 the specified time, compensation for such portion of the 

 unexpired period be allowed him. The farmer who 

 erects a fixed engine and machinery should be careful, 

 when securing his corn to make the dimensions of his 

 ricks correspond with those of his barn. He is then 

 enabled to get a stack under cover when the weather 

 permits, and on the first broken or wet day at his com- 

 mand it can be thrashed out. By adopting this course 

 he will find himself enabled to thrash out one-half of 

 his produce at seasons when, in all probability, his 

 farm-servants and labourers would lack employment, 

 independently of the advantage of having the straw 

 fresh thrashed, sweet, under cover, and on the spot 

 required for consumption, likewise giving him an oppor- 

 tunity of marketing his corn at regular intervals. I 

 may observe, by the way, that this practice on the aver- 

 age of .rears I have found to be the most profitable. I 

 am aware that some farmers object to this course on 

 the ground that thrashing ought not to be carried out 

 during damp weather ; but the advantages I have 

 enumerated will counterbalance any such fancied dete- 

 rioration, more especially when you take into considera- 

 tion that the farmer is precisely in the same position as 



