508 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



tion, and consequent fructification." If the consolidation 

 of stiff clays in damp weather by pressure renders them 

 infertile by the exclusion of air, which I practically 

 know to be the fact, the opposite of this, by steam cul- 

 tivation ia dry weather, must be a great gain. Mr. 

 Smith's comparison of horse and steam power confirms 

 my own calculation, that four hours of unremitting 

 draught, without a rest, is an ample day's work for a 

 horse. In the midland counties, where the barbarous 

 practice of four hoises in a line and two drivers still 

 exists, the ceremony of turning at the headlands, the 

 alternate coaxing and threatening to get the horses into 

 working condition, consumes no end of time. Even 

 in our own well-ploughed pair-horse county, I have, on 

 a fine May tranquil morning, been highly amused by 

 the colloquy, if I may so term it, between a pair of 

 knowing fat horses and a good-natured but indignant 

 ploughman, as the ejaculations of " Boxer and Wiolet," 

 "worree," and " Hike, come hither," came ringing on 

 the morning air, the horses taking especial care to re- 

 serve their effort to pull for the ploughman's last burst 

 of iudignant excitement, sometimes accompanied by a 

 small clod : stern, untiring steam will destroy much of 

 the poetry of agriculture, and give it a Manchester 

 character. 



The Great Economy of Steam-power is proved 

 by the Judges' report of comparative trials at the 

 Chester Sliow : Hay cut into chaff in 3 minutes, 128ibs. ; 

 roots cut for sheep, 314 lbs. ; ditto for bullocks, 620 

 lbs. ; ditto for ditto, 1,278 lbs. ; roots pulped, 490 lbs. ; 

 thick oilcake, broken, 165 lbs ; corn winnowed, 

 761 lbs. ; corn dresssd, 400 lbs. ; wheat thrashed and 

 dressed in 13 minutes, 200 sheaves; barley thrashed 

 and dressed in 5 minutes, 100 sheaves. I know that 

 such results as these could not be obtained by ordi- 

 nary farm-labourers, because in these trials the machines 

 and men are well " up to tho mark," every energy 

 strained to the utmost, and the engines in first-rate 

 order ; but even making an allowance for these circum- 

 stances, steam is, indeed, a wonderful economy. Every 

 farmer ought to study the Judges' reports in the Royal 

 Agricultural Society's Journals. The trials of steam 

 cultivation are as follows : Fowler ploughed six inches 

 by nine (equal to three-horse work), one acre per hour 

 at a cost of 9s. 2d. per acre ; and trench-ploughed an 

 acre twelve inches deep and fourteen inches wide, at 

 18s. 4d. per acre. The gain over horse-power in the 

 latter case was enormous, as I know practically. Messrs. 

 Howard of Bedford's Smith's steam-cultivator for the 

 two operations of cultivating and cross-cultivating, or 

 smashing up to the depth of from six to seven inches, 

 gave a charge of 14s. per acre, which was considerably 

 cheaper than horse-power. I have reason to believe 

 that both these implements have since been working 

 even more effectively and economically on ordinary heavy- 

 land farms. On our railways 240 tons can be carried 

 one mile for two-pennyworth of coal, and three minutes' 

 time of the stoker, guard, and engine-driver. Compare 

 this with horses on the common road at 7d. per ton per 

 mile 1 which would amount to £1. 



Drainage and Irrigation effected by Steam. 



— The great fen district of the Bedford Level, once a 

 swamp of 200,000 acres, owes its value and fertility to a 

 steam-power of 1,200 horse, which, distributed at inter- 

 vals towards the coast, works enormous pumps or 

 wheels, which, creating an artificial fall, by raising the 

 water, cause an outfall for the drainage. Some of these 

 engines throw up 120 tons per minute. Again, the 

 great Whittlesea Mere, a sort of inland sea, is now a 

 garden of cultivation, having been pumped dry by 

 Appold's steam pumps, such as we saw at the Exhibi- 

 lion of 1851. These lands, like the great Bedford 

 Level, are preserved from inundation by steam-power 

 always acting or ready to act. — " Elton, Oundle, 19th 

 April, 1859 : Sir, — I beg to acknowledge the receipt 

 of your letter of the 15th. The Appold Pump, at 

 Whittlesea Mere, drains upwards of five thousand acres 

 of low land, exclusive of the water-shed from the high 

 lands, which will include four or five hundred acres. The 

 engine, pump, and buildings, including extensive piling 

 for foundations, cost £2,500. (The drains and ditches 

 are not included in this sum.) The cost of the first 

 three years' working an! repairs — 1851 to 1854 — ave- 

 raged one shilling per acre. In 1852 the newly-formed 

 banks broke, and one thousand acres of land were inun- 

 dated. This had to be pumped out, and the average of 

 the cost was raised by this circumstance: 1855, 6d. per 

 acre; 1856, 8d. ditto; 1857, lOd. ditto; 1858, 8d. ditto. 

 This includes coals, repairs of engine, engine-man's 

 wages, oil, &c., &c. The quantity of water raised six 

 feet is 16,000 gallons per minute. The lowest lift is 

 four feet six inches, the highest ten feet. The engine 

 works now about three days a-week, and runs four or 

 five hours per diem — not consecutively, but at intervals? 

 the supply of water not being sufficiently rapid for the 

 discharge by the centrifugal pump. There is no publi- 

 cation containing these facts ; you are welcome to them. 

 — I am, sir, your obedient servant, John Laurance." 

 This is an instructive- communication. If we add to 

 the Is. per acre 53. or 6.?. for annual interest of the 

 drainage, we have the average value of one bushel of 

 wheat, as the charge of converting a lake into a fertile 

 field ! ! Messrs. Eaton and Amos are now making 

 Appold's pumps for the West Indies, capable of throw- 

 ing or raising 30,000 gallons of water per minute ! I 

 mention this to show that you must bring your minds 

 to the consideration of artificial drainage combined 

 with irrigation for even your stiff clays. The drainage 

 of the country, by wells for steam-engines, by large 

 water supply for your towns, by railway tunnels and 

 cuttings, by the removal of trees and fences, and, above 

 all, by the evaporation of a great and deep arable cul- 

 ture, are causing you a diminished rain-fall, which may, 

 in time, render irrigation by steam a necessity for your 

 grass lands and root crops. I know of much sea- 

 walled land now in a state of nature, that might be pro- 

 fitably improved by steam drainage and irrigation. It 

 must not be forgotten that much of the manure placed 

 in our land finds its way in solution to our rivers and 

 brooks, and that what we look upon as pure water con- 

 tains the most valuable elements of our manures. Hence 

 the value of mere water for irrigation ; and I am astonished 



