THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



145 



as much. The balance-sheet is therefore thus drawn 

 up:— 



Capital required for stock, £2,500. 

 Locomotive cultivator, with 25-hor8e power 

 engiiiea and shunting machinery complete, 

 £1900, and implemeuta £300, at 15 percent. 310 



10 trucks. £300, at 8 per cent 24 



Coal at 203. per day, 250 days 250 



Engine-driver 4s., man 23. 6d., boy Is. per day: 



313da,v8 117 



Five constant labourers. 155 



Labourers for hand-work on the crops 50 



Interest and depreciation of rails . 



926 



1000 



£1926 



Statement for a farm of 200 acres of well-tilled laud, 

 given by a valuator, and confirmed by a farmer : — 

 Capital for eight horses, four ploughs, harrows, 

 &c., £500, at 15 per cent, for interest and 



depreciation 75 



Horsekeep 245 



Tour carters, at 1 23. per week. ... £124 16 



One horse-keeper extra 31 4 



Three labourers 105 6 



100 acres of corn-hoeing, 43. per acre . 

 Cutting 50 acres of corn, Sa. per acre . 



261 

 20 

 20 



£621 6 

 5 



Multiplied by 5, for 1000 acres 



£3106 10 

 Deduct £50 for saving on machuiery on a large 



farm over a small one 50 



Farmers' present field expenses £3056 10 



Cultivatioa by Btearn 1926 



Difference in favour of steam 



£1,130 10 



This is equal to 11 per cent, upon capital for rails ; and, 

 when added to 4 per cent, already allowed, gives a profit 

 of 15 per cent. 



The above is the economic working of the system ; 

 but this does not comprehend ill, or the greatest source 

 of profit. Mr. Halkett calculates that by the superior 

 cultivation of the land and tl.e absence of all unneces- 

 sary pressure on the soil ; by the facility of watering, 

 irrigation, and continual stirri ig of the earth, a much 

 larger produce will be obtaiued, especially with deep 

 culture and the distribution of liquid-manure. A vast 

 number of advantages are g: ined by the adoption of 

 this system, as set forth by t'lie patentee, which will all 

 tend to increase the produce, and which he sums up in the 

 following terms : " I have ploughed, subsoiled, har- 

 rowed, rolled, used the clod-crusher, the Norwegian 



harrow, drilled seed dry and with liquid manure, hoed 

 the crops, used the scarifier, reaped corn, carried crops, 

 carried water, watered crops over the surface af the 

 ground and plants, and watered tipon rows of young 

 plants or seed (to economise water or liquid-manure), 

 drilled seed between rows of standing plants, and per- 

 ormed the new operations of the comminutor, weed- 

 root extractor, and artificial-manure distributor, under- 

 ground watering between rows of standing plants, and 

 ploughing by night. The following hand-operations are 

 also performed with much greater facility to the labourer, 

 economy of time and cost, and greater regularity than 

 can have hitherto been performed, namely, dibbling 

 seed, transplanting, hand-weeding, cross hoeing, and 

 taking off crops, &c., without in any case treading on 

 the ground or spoiling rows of growing plants interlined 

 between other rows." 



One great advantage this system will have, perhaps 

 its greatest, over every other yet invented, is the power 

 of concentrating the operations upon a given time or 

 space. Horses will tire, but a machine wever ; and by 

 a relay of men, Halkett's system may be worked upon 

 as well and with as much precision and effect in the 

 darkest night as at noon-day ; so that a farmer can 

 avail himself of a favourable time to get in his seed or 

 plough his land ; whilst, on the other hand, no weather, 

 except hard frost, need stop the operations of the 

 guide-way cultivator, the entire absence of pressure by 

 the foot of man or beast rendering the state of the land 

 of no consequence to the operations of the plough. 



In conclusion, I beg to say that the above account is 

 taken from Mr. Halkett's paper, which has been en- 

 dorsed by the opinions of some of our most scientific as 

 well as practical men ; amongst whom I find Professor 

 Wilson, of Edinburgh, Mr. C. Wren Hoskyns. Mr. 

 Alderman Mechi, Mr. Edwin Chad wick, Mr. Robert 

 Scott Burn, and many others. And last, though not 

 least, Mr. Smith, the patentee of the steam cultivator, 

 has offered to give £bQ, if other gentlemen will sub- 

 scribe an adequate sum, to test Mr. Halkett's system by 

 laying down a farm on his principle. 



I now leave your readers to judge of the merits of 

 the plan. But, whatever may be their opinion on that 

 head, Mr. H. has assuredly the merit of having been the 

 first to comprehend, and adopt the true and full mission 

 of steam power in the cultivation of the soil, and, still 

 further, of having brought his system to a practical 

 bearing. Yours, &c., 



An old Norfolk Farmer. 



London, Dec. 14. 



THE CROSS-BREEDING OF SHEEP.-COTSWOLD AND OXFORDSHIRE DOWNS. 



At the last meeting of the Botley and South Hants 

 Farmers' Club, Mr. John Twynam, of Winchester, de 

 livered a lecture on " The Cross-breeding of Sheep." He 

 commenced by stating that the experience of late years had 

 fully proved that the sheet-anchor of the cultivator of the 

 soil was the green-crop system— crops to be converted into 



manure by the depasturing of cattle alternately between 

 those and pulse. That the next important consideration 

 which presented itself was the best mode of converting them, 

 and the animals the most fitted to accomplish it ; and that, 

 in reference to at least three-fourths of the arable land of 

 this kingdom, the sheep stood forth as the most prominent 

 L 2 



