TilE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



385 



into the hollows and furrows ; then all over-grown 

 hedge-rows and rootings will have to be carefully dug 

 close, to give room for the steam- ploughs, and prevent 

 harm and breakage. Then comes the cartage of 

 lime, chalk, and manures from fold-yard, where 

 required. I also anticipate a large increase of 

 cattle and sheep required for the consumption of the 

 root and straw crops : these will during the winter 

 months require a large amount of cartage : the roots 

 from the fields to the fold-yards, the manure from the 

 fold-yards to the fields. I also anticipate a large amount 

 of field labour will be done by steam-power during 

 the winter— such as trench- ploughing in fine weather, 

 subsoil ploughing, and the ordinary ploughing of such 

 lands as were unavoidably left over in the autumn, or 

 were required for some specific use. Then there are the 

 winter thrashings — the chafl'-cuttings ; for I am san- 

 guine enough to think that most of our cattle fodder 

 will be ultimately cut into chaff. Then the cake- 

 breaking, turnip-cutting, pulpings of mangolds and 

 other roots — all these, I consider, will be greatly ex- 

 tended, owing to the enhanced produce of the farm by 

 deep steam culture ; so that from one source of employ- 

 ment or other, the teams will not have much idle time 

 during the winter. 



But spring is coming in, and all attention must 

 therefore be given to get in the spring crops 

 well, and in good time. The steam-ploughs and 

 cultivators are again at work ; and as there is no tread- 

 ing by horses in the culture, the land will work freely, 

 and is soon ready for seeding ; this is put in by the 

 horse teams with the greatest expedition ; so that the 

 spring crop has the whole spring to grow and luxuriate 

 in. This is very different from the old course, which 

 generally occupies the whole spring up to the month of 

 May before all is completed. Moreover, the land has 

 had the advantage of a thorough pulverization, which 

 as it disintegrates the ammoniacal salts, &c., in the soil, 

 adds much to its fertility, and produces the more abun- 

 dant crops ; and in a way which could not be accom- 

 plished by team labour. This is more particularly the 

 case with the autumn-worked soils : the more they are 

 cultivated in suitable weather, the more calculated are 

 they for producing the most abundant crops of 

 wheat. The spring seeding then I call occasion 



number three, when all team labour finds full employ- 

 ment. 



We now come to the fallowing and the putting ia of 

 fallow crops. The ways are various ; but all concur in the 

 view that fallows cannot in reason be too highly worked. 

 We have broken them up in the autumn at fjreat depth ; 

 some we have laid up for the winter in trenches. These 

 we respectively desire to cultivate at great depth, and 

 very frequently, in suitable wf ather : for this purpose all 

 our power of steam and team power is required. The 

 steam power we would employ to cultivate deeply ; the 

 team power in the top scaiifyings, barrowings, rollings, 

 and draggings, and subsequently in the m.inuring, ridg- 

 ing, and nicer work of seeding. In carrying on these 

 various operations simultaneously the whole strength of 

 the farm will be more than requisite, and it will be found 

 to yield a far more profitable return than the tardy slow 

 process now generally followed, to the manifest waste of 

 much manure, and much valuable time in its growth : 

 besides, if a fallow crop, i. e., mangolds, turnips, &c., 

 is put in quickly and together, it will all grow up more 

 steadily and safely. The fly has no power over a large 

 field growing all at once ; but after the old fashion these 

 pests can find food at one side of the field which is first 

 sown and fresh come up, and so feed their way to the 

 other as it comes up, to their liking. The fallow-seed- 

 ing then I call occasion number four. 



Well, now come hay and corn harvests, and the 

 clearing of the fold-yaids and preparations for these 

 harvests. The horse-hoeings of the fallow crops, and 

 the little necessary works and imjirovements generally 

 left for completion between seeding and harvest, occu- 

 py the teams. I need not say that the harvest occu- 

 pies all hands and all teams. This I shall call occasion 

 number five. 



Now, I think I have fairly shown that the 

 adoption of steam-power will not necessarily dis- 

 place much other labour ; but if it is to be carried out in 

 its full efficiency, I believe the farmer may best look 

 upon it as a great and powerful auxiliary, and which he 

 ought not to be slow in adopting. It will, he may rest 

 assured, better execute his harvest work than it can be 

 done by horses, and will always make him in a great 

 measure independent of our fickle climate, so that he 

 will never lose his season if he only acts judiciously. 



THE HARD TIMES — AND HOW TO MEET THEM. 



There's no doubt about it. Expenses must be cut 

 down. Sixpence must be spent where a shilling was 

 spent before. The pony chaise about to be ordered 

 must be dispensed with ; and that cheap pony, now grown 

 very dear, must be sold : he is eating his head off. The 

 luxuries must be lopped off. Dress, where it can be, 

 should be simplified. The relaxation of the chase, with 

 its attendant expenses, needs strict limitation. That 

 hunter, clad in fine wool, and standing at the door of his 

 lordly box to sun his nose in the beams of a January 



noon, represents, beyond the cost of his own keep, a 

 neglect of business quite incompatible with the pressure 

 of hard times like these. The greyhound, that offers his 

 cold-nosed salute to your hand, implies the same fact ; 

 and that group, composed of aruddy boy, setters, and gun 

 (a pretty picture in itself), awaiting the appearance of 

 the young master, presents to the calculating eye an 

 unwarrantable item in the year's expenses. 



It is of no use saying that wc cannot do without these 

 things ; we must. Men in trade toil on and on and on, 



