THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



119 



it is idle, can be used to take this extra work, and so 

 reduce the liorsc hibour of thj farm to an uniformly 

 monthly amount, then its cost has to be compared, 

 not with that of the horses which it has displaced only 

 during the few weeks in question, but with the cost of 

 those horses throughout the year. It is this titness of 

 the engine for the cultivation of our stubbles in autumn, 

 and so its power to displace so many teams throughout 

 the year which would otherwise be kept just for the 

 few weeks of most laborious time, that greatly heightens 

 the economy of its emjdoyment. And as to the supe- 

 riority of its work of cultivation, I will just quote the 

 statement of a ploughman on the clay land of the old- 

 est steam-cultiviited farm in England — Mr. William 

 Smith's farm, of Little AVoolston, in Buckinghamshire 

 — that in turning back the wheat stubble in the autumn 

 with the horse-drawn plough, he used often to uncover 

 the foot-prints of the horsei' shoes which had trod 

 there at that depth when turuing in the bean stubble 

 for the seed twelve months before. Ofcourseitis no 

 part of good agriculture that all the produce of the 

 land is to be made out of a pariicular layer called the 

 soil, wliich has to be cultivated, turned to and fro, 

 and stirred and mixed upon an impervious floor hard- 

 ened by a perpetual trampling, below whiehliesthe sub- 

 soil. All I'ecenl improvements of the soil have pro- 

 ceeded upon the idea that there is nonessential or neco- 

 sary distinction between it and the subsoil — that 

 #/io;-«i/y/t drainage and deep cultivation both increase 

 fertility, and that the existence of anything like a pan 

 within thirty inches of the surface is injurious. The 

 ability of steam-power for the deepest cuUivaiiou, and 

 its applicability at the same time to the thorough culti- 

 vation of any dcjith to wliich it may be desired to stir 

 or turn the soil without any pressure on it except by 

 the wheels of the implement employed, must ultimately 

 obtain for it the preference over horses for all mere 

 ploughing and Stirling, especially of clay land. And a 

 very large share of the horse-labour of ordinary agri- 

 culture will thus be handed over to the steam-engine. 



Let us consider how much. I will refer to three in- 

 stances. On a farm of G75 acres, occupied by Mr. 

 Melvin, at Bonington, near Ratho, in West Lothian, 

 the whole horse labour of cultivation and carriage be- 

 ing converted, as I have already said, into weight lifted, 

 amounts to upwards of 100,000 cwt. pulled, i. c.,liftetl 

 one mile per annum. Of this the ploughing and scaii- 

 fjing alone amounts to 27,000 cwt., or more than one- 

 quarter; the harrowing, rolling, and drill cultivation 

 amounts to upwards of 20,000 cwt. ; and the carriage 

 of dung, crops, and produce amounts to GO, 000 cwt. 

 lifted one mile. The carriage is here an enormous pro- 

 portion, more than one-half of the whole Lorse-labour of 

 the farm, and much beyond its average amount in ordi- 

 nary experience ; but still even here one-quarter of 

 the horse-labour goes in mere ploughing, which can 

 allbe doneby steam-power, andi'odone as that an eight- 

 horse-powcr engine shall displace more than eight 

 horses, and do their work much more effectually. 



Again, on a farm of fen land of 790 acres, occupied 

 by Mr. Aitken, near Spalding, Lincolnshire, where the 

 horse-labour of the farm is nearly the same as in the 

 last instance, or equal to 100,000 cwt. lifted one mile 

 per annum, the carriage does not exceed much more 

 than a quarter of the whole, while the ploughing is 

 nearly 40,000 cwt., 4-lOths of the whole labour, and 

 the harrowing and rolling about 35,000 cwt. per an- 

 num. 



On Lord Ducie's farm at Whitfield, Gloucestershire, 

 260 acres, the horse-labour umounted to 37,000 cwt. 

 lifted one mile per annum ; and of this 12,000 (one- 

 third) was carviage, nearly 15,060 (or 4-lOths) was 

 ploughingand cultivating, and the remainder harrowing, 



rolling, and drill culture. This seems to be a prettY 

 ordin-.iry division of the labour ; and if it ajiplies gene" 

 rally to arable land, it would appear that though farm" 

 carriage and all the lighter work of harrowing, rlrilling, 

 and rolling continue to be done by horses, there are 

 still 4-lOths of the horse-labour of the farm which may 

 be done by steam. I know that a great deal ought to 

 be said of the great advantage of this substitution, 

 owing to the more thorough performance of the culti- 

 vation which steam-power will accomplish. Ample 

 evidence exists on steam-cultivated farms in this coun- 

 try on this point ; but I will have it to be adduced by 

 others who may tollow mo, and I will continue to speak 

 merely of the saving of the expense which is thus 

 effected. It appears, then, that on arable land two- 

 fifths of the horse-labour of the farm can be handed 

 over to a power which is capable of nearly twice as 

 much duty for about one-halt the expense. One other 

 remark on this point, and I have done. On examining 

 the horse-labour of a farm of 240 acres of arable land 

 under alternate husbandry, it will be found that it does 

 not much exceed 500 days of a pair of horses in the ye ar, 

 and that need for it is distributed amongthe months ex- 

 tremely unevenly. Not more than 35 days of a t( am 

 per month are wanted in December, January, and 

 February 5 abou? 45 days a month are wanted in 

 March and April, May, and June ; about 15 days are 

 wanted in July, about 60 in August, 90 in September, 

 and 55 in October, November, and December. August 

 and September stand highest ; and as there are not 

 generally more than 24 w orking days in each of these 

 two months, there must be a provision of at least 3.j 

 pair of horses all the year, in order that the work of 

 August and September may be done. Now the two- 

 fifths of the horse labour, which is proper for steam 

 power, is not going merely to displace two^fifths of 

 these seven horses through the year; for the ploughing 

 and cultivating, being done by steam, will take, not 

 two-fifths, but more than half of the labour of the in- 

 cumbered months of March and April, May and 

 August, and September and October, and so reduce the 

 amount to something like 35 days' work during each 

 month of the year, which two pairs of horses will more 

 than easily accomplish. 



I believe, then, that by steam-power at least three 

 out of every seven horses on arable land may be dis- 

 pensed with all the year, at a cost not exceeding the 

 cost of these horses during the three or four months 

 when alone they are really needed on the land. 



The first-class of operations then upon the farm, 

 which includes the ploughing and turning of the soil, 

 will be taken by steam-power out of the field of horse 

 labour, just as threshing, and cutting, and grinding have 

 been taken by it out of the field of hand-labour. 



To the second division of farm work I shall refer but 

 very shortly. It includes such cases of ploughing and 

 cultivation as are taken, by very rocky subsoil and very 

 crooked hedgerows, out of the scope of the steam- 

 driven plough ; it also includes the lighter class of horse- 

 work, such as harrowing and horse-hoeing, which how- 

 ever might very well be done by steam; and it more 

 especially includes the work of carriage, which, consi- 

 dering the scattered position of the produce to be col- 

 lected, and the crooked roads along which it must be 

 drawn, I see no probability, as long as these remain, of 

 getting done except by horse-power and manual labour 

 in the usual way. Mr. Halkett does, indeed, propose 

 to remove these obstacles, and is therefore able to ac- 

 complish all by steam. The third class of operations 

 includes the lighter work, requiring skill and thought 

 as well as labour. The planting of seed equidistantly 

 within the land may be done by machinery, but the cul- 

 ture of the young plant, much of the hoeing of the land 



