158 Report on Steam Cultivation. [Reed. 



whicli is due to drainage and deep culture. The fields are not 

 well suited for steam culture, being very hilly, and the boulders 

 near the surface. The statistics to be had were very few. 

 His Lordship in 1861 bought a set of Fowler's tackle, later he 

 bought a set of Howards', which was mainly for the use of his 

 tenantry, who do not seem to avail themselves readily of the privi- 

 lege. Mr. Smith expressed himself very strongly in favour of the 

 round-about system on land so hilly as this. The difficulty in 

 moving the heavy 14-horse power engine about he described as 

 insuperable. Considering the steep inclines, the irregular fields, 

 and the great boulders, he thought the fixed engine decidedly pre- 

 ferable. The farms, too, in the neighbourhood are very small. 



Both sets of tackle include an engine ; one of 14-horse 

 power, one of 10-horse power. Fowler's cost 1000/., Howards' 

 cost 700/. in 1863, including one of Clayton and Shuttle worth's 

 traction engines. The repairs, wear and tear of Fowler's are 

 estimated roughly at 50/. a year. We had hoped to have received 

 some particulars from another of his Lordship's agents who has 

 charge of Howards' tackle, which is placed at the disposal of the 

 tenantry, and which was said to have done more work than 

 Fowler's. He has not, however, sent us the particulars up to the 

 time of going to press. The work done with Howards' averages 

 5 acres per day with the plough, and 7 to 8 acres with the culti- 

 vator, including removals, which consume half a day each, and 

 the work of 6 or 8 horses. 



The cost of manual and horse labour, coals and oil, is 1/. 9a\ 2<f, 

 per day. Fowler's tackle averages 5 acres per day ploughing 

 8 to 10 inches, 6 to 8 acres cultivating 10 to 12 inches, inclusive 

 of removals ; the cost being 1/. \0s. 10c/. for manual and horse 

 labour, coal, and oil. The ordinary weekly wage in the neigh- 

 bourhood is lis. or 12s. The coal costs from 22s. to 26s. per 

 ton home ; Fowler's engine consumes 10 cwt. while working 

 with 60 lbs. steam pressure. An intelligent blacksmith is em- 

 ployed on the estate. Fowler's tackle was set out to work, but 

 the weather had been all against it. We have seen a better use 

 made of steam elsewhere, but the farm is not well adapted, in 

 Mr. Smith's opinion, for Fowler's tackle. That the farm 

 was in a fine state of cultivation was rather due to the liberal 

 application of manure and the keeping of sheep. Mr. Smith 

 stated that the chief obstacle in that neighbourhood to steam 

 was the first cost of the apparatus, and the limited extent 

 of the farms. Still he thought that Howards' apparatus might 

 be added with great advantage to the farming machinery 

 required for the cultivation of 300 acres, Fowler's for 500 acres. 

 With respect to the advantage derived from working in large 

 fields, we were assured that between breaking up a 30-acre field 

 and a 9-acre field with Fowler's tackle, there was a difference of 



