lis Report on Steam Cultivation. [Reed. 



Cost of Worh 



Manual and liorse laLour : — £. s. d. 



1 engine-mau 2 10 



Plougliman 2 4 



4 auclior-men 8 



1 boy and horse 5 



18 2 



Coal 13 



Oil 2 



1 13 2 



N.B,— The daily wage iu the neighbourhood is Is. 10c?. Coal — " Ilucknal 

 Hard," ICs. per ton ; consumption, 16 cwts. i^er day of 10 hours. 



He considers that lie lias quite enougli land to employ a set of 

 tackle fully. Were he to hire another farm he should certainly 

 purchase another set. He thinks 400 acres of arable ^and suffi- 

 cient to justify such a purchase. We found the tackle at work. 

 Like the entire farm, it gave indications of being in careful 

 hands. 



No. 9. Mr. E. Roberts, Berden Hall, near Bishop Stortford, 

 Essex, September 19, 1866. This is again a good farm, on 

 which steam cultivation appears to advantage. Things are well 

 done, and farming is carried on for profit and to profit. In all 

 there are 750 acres, 70 acres being pasture. Of the arable por- 

 tion, 500 acres are such that 3 horses Avill barely plough an 

 acre 5 inches deep. The land rests on the chalk. Over a large 

 portion of this is stretched a layer of blue and white clay, 

 and over this, with various depth and incline, lies a loamy staple, 

 more or less partaking of the character of the stiff subsoil. This 

 subsoil, being retentive of water, requires drainage, and has been 

 drained to a depth of oO inches, the drains being 17 to 18 feet 

 apart. Mr. Roberts considers that the results of steam are very 

 perceptible in improved drainage. One part of the farm, about 

 250 acres, called the Potash Farm, belongs to Mr. Robert Gos- 

 ling, well known in the financial world. Five hundred acres, 

 called the Hall Farm, belong to Christ's Hospital. Mr. Roberts 

 entered into occupation in 1852 ; he has since reclaimed 80 

 acres of woodland, at the expense to the landlord of about 20/. 

 per acre. 



The labour account amounts annually to llOOZ. ; the rent to 

 1000/. ; tithes nearly 200/. ; and rates about 150/. 



The heavy land is farmed thus : — wheat, oats or barley, seeds, 

 wheat, beans. 



The favourite rotation for the heavy land used to be wheat 

 and beans alternately, with an occasional plain fallow. Since 



