Wet Scaso7i of 1872 on Steam-Culti cation. 187 



does not hold up his practice in this instance as worthy of 

 imitation, but woukl rather hold such custom to be " more 

 honoured in the breach than the observance." 



In the same way the interesting report from Mr. Bolden 

 shows clearly that the bad results that disgusted some of those 

 who tried steam-cultivation for the first time arose simply from 

 its injudicious application. Deep ploughing by horses would 

 have been even more injurious to poor clay, or to land in a 

 wet state. On heavy land it is no real disadvantage that the 

 ■engines slip upon the headland after hard rain, for harm may 

 be done by cultivating such land when it is only wet enough 

 to hinder the engines without making it impossible to work 

 them. No such remark, however, can be fairly made upon 

 the experience narrated by Mr. Bulstrode. In his case the 

 substitution of horse-power for steam was not only thought to 

 be advisable, but the result obtained was satisfactory. The 

 ■explanation of this difference of experience is doubtless to be 

 sought in the difference of soil. On clay all cultivation does 

 harm when the land is almost, though not quite, wet enough to 

 stop the engines from travelling on the headland. A moderately 

 free- working loam, on the other hand, will not be injured by 

 being ploughed late in winter. On such a soil the engines may 

 slip upon the headland before any harm is done by the plough 

 •or cultivator. This, however, was not the case on Mr. Bulstrode's 

 farm, for the tackle he uses is one of Howard's round-about sets, 

 ■driven by one of Clayton and Shuttleworth's 10-horse power 

 double-cylinder engines ; and, in answer to a further inquiry, he 

 says : — " I was unable for various reasons to cultivate very early in 

 the autumn of 1872, and during the long subsequent wet period, I 

 Icept creeping on with the horse-ploughing till all my stubbles 

 were turned over. Ploughing has certain advantages over 

 smashing, unless the latter is done early and followed by dry 

 weather, as, for instance, in the destruction of annuals and such 

 weeds as will decay when buried. Probably had I a suitable 

 plough for my tackle I should have used it in preference to horses, 

 but none of the steam jdoughs I have yet seen seem to me well 

 adapted to the 10-horse power round-about tackle." With this 

 <?xplanation, this last of the unfavourable reports resolves itself 

 into the statement that, under certain circumstances, the work of 

 a cultivator is inferior to that of a plough. The soil being 

 loam, and not clay, no bad effects resulted from working it in a 

 wet state by horses. 



Every case in which steam-power appeared to disadvantage 

 in the wet season has now been considered. One or two cor- 

 respondents briefly remark that they tliink steam shows most to 

 advantage in a very dry season ; and a few others, as already 



