Eeed.] Report on Steam Cultivation. 121 



For roots, the stubble is broken up in the autumn, dung'ed 

 in the frost, ploughed by hoises in the spring'. If the weather 

 permits, the land is deeply crossed and recrossed by steam. It 

 is horse-ploughed with a \ery shallow furrow, to form a fine 

 seed-bed ; the turnips are then drilled on the flat, with 2 cwts. 

 of superphosphate. 



Cost of Work. 



Manual and liorse labour : average day's wage, Is. 8c?. : — • 



£. 8. d. 



Engine-driver 1 10 .. Is, a daj' extra. 



Ploughman 1 10 .. Cc/, a day „ 



Anchor and 3 porter-boys . . . . 4 3 



Boy, car^ and horse 5 



12 11 



Coal 12 9 



Oil 10 



16 8 



N.B. — Coal, "Langley Hard" and "Portland," 17s. per ton, home; con- 

 sumption per day of 10 hours, 15 cwts. 



We inspected the tackle, which was not working. The engine 

 had just journeyed back from Leeds, where it had been repaired 

 and renovated, with the plough and cultivator, at an expense of 

 200/., including 40/. for carriage to and from Leeds. Over the 

 engine a light iron awning has been thrown, to protect the 

 works and shield the driver from sun and rain. 



No. 10. Mr. John Prout, Blount's Farm, Sawbridgeworth, 

 Herts, September 20. Mr. Prout, a gentleman practically con- 

 versant with farming in Cornwall and Canada, has afforded on 

 this farm a valuable exemplification of what may be done 

 towards rapid land improvement, either by the owner of the 

 land or by the tenant, if protected by covenants calculated to 

 foster enterprise. The tenant whose capital is just sufficient 

 to conduct the ordinary processes of cultivation, cannot hope to 

 do what Mr. Prout has done, it is only where the occupier has 

 larger powers than these, that we catch a glimpse of the revolu- 

 tion which might be wrought on the agricultural surface of our 

 island. Mr. J. A. Clarke, who inspected this farm in November, 

 1865, has given so good a record of his visit, that we cannot but 

 avail ourselves of it. 



" In the autumn of 1861, Mr. John Prout purchased two farms 

 near Sawbridgeworth, Herts. The land, comprising 450 acres 

 of clay and strong loam upon a subsoil of drift clay and cre- 

 taceous gravel, was undrained, except in parts by shallow thorn 

 drains — extremely foul with root weeds, and so out of condition 



