THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



71 



saving in this portion of the farm expenditure is directly 

 gained by the introduction of steam cultivation. In the 

 whole of the calculations I am going to submit for your 

 consideration the reverse will be found to be the result. 

 Mr. Fowler's plough averages, on two hundred working- 

 days, 10s, 7^d, per day, without including the labour 

 of fetching coals, and the removal of the engine and ap- 

 paratus, but inclusive of water-carriage ; and if I aver- 

 age the work performed at 4| acres per day on 200 

 working days, giving 900 acres per plough per annum 

 of soil turned over, or 3s. 8d. per acre, I trust it will 

 be considered a fair basis to found an opinion upon. 

 Mr. Smith's cultivator averages 17s. 4d., which, on the 

 same calculation, gives 3s. lOd. per acre. So far, there- 

 fore, as manual labour is concerned, both may be con- 

 sidered on an equality. On strong clay-land, it will 

 take one man at 2s. and one boy at Is. to plough, with 

 four horses, an acre of land as deep as the animals can 

 draw the plough, to move steadily, and which will not 

 exceed six inches on the first ploughing, costing, in 

 manual labour, 3s. per acre ; whilst on light soils one 

 man at 2s. per day, with one pair of good half-bred 

 horses, will plough six inches deep an acre and a half 

 per diem, costing in manual labour Is. 4d. per acre, 

 on the calculation of 10 working hours per day, 

 of 200 working days per annum, as per table 

 No. VI. It is, therefore, very evident that in neither 

 case is there any displacement of manual labour by the 

 introduction of steam cultivation. Secondly, as re- 

 gards horse-power, I believe it is universally admitted 

 that to work arable land well it requires, on the aver- 

 age, two pairs of horses for every hundred acres, where 

 steam has not been introduced. In corroboration of 

 this, I may state that, in the year 1850, I applied to the 

 occupiers of ten distinct farms, situate in the counties 

 of York, Nottingham, and Lincoln, varying in area 

 from one hundred to one thousand acres, and represent- 

 ing in the whole upwards of 3,400 acres of strong clay, 

 sand, wold, and warp land, for an account of the num- 

 ber of agricultural horses working on each separate 

 holding. The return I received showed the number of 

 horses so employed to be 137, or one pair for every 

 49^ acres. The cost of horse-keeping at that time was 

 about 25 per cent, less than at present, so that I prefer 

 at the present date, to prevent any comment on 

 undervaluing the expense of maintenance, to take 

 Mr. Morton's tabular statement on the cost of 

 horse-power, published in the Royal Agricultural 

 Society's Journal, vol. xix., p. 451, Table 3, 

 which shows the keep on 21 farms to average an- 

 nually for each farm-horse .£24 2s. 8d. This, with 

 £5 10s. for depreciation of the animal, blacksmith's, 

 saddler's, and farmer's charges, makes a total of nearly 

 £30. My own experience on 50 draught-horses, with 

 interest on average value added, corresponds with this 

 amount. Mr. Robertson, as previously stated, culti- 

 vates his farm of 385 acres by Smith's cultivator, with 

 only eight horses; and Mr. Saltmarshe by Fowler's, 

 with nearly five hundred acres, proposes to reduce his 

 number from 25 to 15. Mr. Redman, of Overton, on 

 410 acres arable land, has dispensed with three teams 

 of oxen and one of horses. Mr. Hallam, M.P., in his 

 speech at the East Gloucestershire Society, stated that, 

 " instead of 20 horses, he only now keeps 12." Mr. 

 Richard Burniston, of Henley-on-Thames, on one 

 thousand acres, calculates to spare 10 horses ; and Mr. 

 Pike, of Stevington, who uses Smith's, says, " I have 

 reduced my horses from 15 to 11, and flatter myself I 

 can do with nine." It is, therefore, a lair basis for 

 calculation, to presume that the introduction of a 

 steam-plough or cultivator will displace eight horses, 

 Mr. Saltmarshe and Mr. Burniston, who take the 

 higher number of ten, not having yet reduced theirs to 



that number, whereas Messrs. Robertson, Redman, 



Hallam, and Pike speak as to the actual deduction. 

 No. IV. 

 Fowler's Plough. — Capitul required. £ 



Tea-i)orae engine (double cylinder), with self-moving 

 and reversiug gear, windlass, water-cart, Buchor, 800 

 yards steel rope, headland ropce, 16 rOi'e-porters, 2 

 snatchblocks, and field tools 622 



Fout-furrow plough (adjustable to any width of furrow), 

 with scarifier irons 81 



Sundry expenses and other implements connected there- 

 with — 8ay 17 



£720 

 Mr. Fowler, iu hia calculation, puts it at £7.'J0, 



L.ABOUR AND EXPENSES REQUIRED TO WORK THE ABOVE 



The C»lculation in the Chester 



Report 18 



Ditto Stirling Report 19 



Ditto Mr. Redman 10 14 



Ditto Mr. Saltmarshe ;0 14 



4) 3 6 5 



£0 16 7i 



1 12 0:11 25 



8 02 91-1 3 



£ 8. d. 



Average manual labour 16 7i 



Ditto coals t) 8 



Ditto removal 2 9^ 



Ditto oil 13 



1 8 7i 



Mr. Bird, who has not divided his calcula- 

 tions, puts down for the four items .. 1 11 







2) £2 19 71 = 

 £1 93. lOd. per day, exclusive of 



WEAR AND TEAR, AND INTEREST ON OUTLAY. 



£ B. d. 



The Chester Reports puts this down at Five per 

 Cent., and Fifteen per Cent, wear and tear, as- 

 suming the first cost £650, which is an error, 

 13a. per day of 200 working daj's 130 



The Stirling Report places the interest at Five per 

 Cent., the wear and tear at Twenty per Cent, 

 on 208 days at lOs. 6d 109 4 



Mr. Redman calculates interest and wear and tear 

 at Twenty per Cent, on £750, or ISs. per day 

 on 200 working days 150 



Mr. Bird takes Twenty per Cent, on £850, or £12 

 lis. 3d. for 15 days, being 168. 9d. per day on 

 200 working days 167 10 



4) 556 14 



139 3 6 



MR. FOWLER ESTIMATES ON A DIFFERENT 

 SYSTEM : £ S. d. 



Renewal of steel rope per year 35 



Maintaining windlass & tackle in order 25 

 Maintaining boiler and engine 15 



75 

 Add contmgeucies .... 25 



100 



Interest on outlay— Five per Cent, on 



£750 37 10 



Total expenses of preserving the effi- 

 ciency of the whole machine, with 

 interest on outlay 137 10 



£276 13 fi 



