Eeed.] Report on Steam Cultivation. 137 



No, 16. Mr. F. Battcock, Hemingford, St, Ives, Hunts, 

 Sept. 13tli, We found everything about Mr. Battcock indica- 

 tive of sound sense and good practical farming. As in some 

 other cases, so with him, steam is no plaything. If it could not be 

 used profitably, it would soon be abandoned. Two farms united 

 — one, Capt. Douglas's ; the other the property of the Rev. J. 

 Linton — make an occupation of 970 acres. Of arable land there 

 are 700 acres. The two farms extend 3 miles from end to end. 

 One consists of 450 acres of heavy land, with blue clay subsoil, 

 where 3 horses find ploughing 3 roods a day 6 inches deep to 

 be stiff work ; the other consists of 450 acres of pair-horse 

 land on a subsoil of gravel and yellow clay. The heavy 

 land is drained 3 or 4 feet deep, the drains being from 10 

 to 11 yards apart. The fields are of a good size — 30, 40, 50 

 acres. There is still a great deal too much timber about, which 

 the landlord objects to remove. A plentiful supply of water 

 exists in the ponds, but in quality it is not good. Some 

 difficulty is experienced on the heavy-land farm to procure 

 water in dry seasons. Mr. Battcock has searched through 

 70 feet of blue clay and 50 feet of clay and limestone for 

 Avater, but without success. The heavy-land farm was taken in 

 1854. 



One of the greatest advantages attending the introduction of 

 steam, which took place in 1858, was, that the drainage, which 

 had been undertaken earlier, began at once to act much 

 better. This may be considered the key to every after improve- 

 ment, tending as it does to increase the fertilizing power of 

 every pound's weight of manure. It was soon found that the 

 ridges could be turned down, and the crops grown on the flat. 

 In 1861 so much improvement was experienced in the weight of 

 the grain-crops as to make it politic to abandon the four-course, 

 and to adopt the five-course system, which allows two white 

 straws in succession. The landlord gave permission for this 

 deviation from established custom. The tenant finds that though 

 the 5-course gives less straw, it gives more corn ; in fact, to use 

 his own expression, '■'Five crops pay better than four." The 

 change entails less harvesting, and less trouble with the men, 

 who always endeavour to shirk the heavy-laid crops of the 

 4-course system. The rotation is as follows : 450 acres are so 

 divided into 5 plots of 90 acres each, that the land comprised in 

 these plots lies together, and can be cultivated with the smallest 

 amount of shiftings possible ; they are in beans and seeds, wheat, 

 barley, oats, and roots. The land was strikingly clean, and the 

 hedges, stacks, and general details all bespoke good manage- 

 ment. The stock carried by the farm is 100 beasts and 1000 



