Clarke.] Report on Steam Cultivation. 209 



is altered, so that it ploughs easier every year ; two horses now 

 ploughing- 5 or 6 inches deep. A 4-course rotation had always 

 been followed ; but now, with steam culture he " can do more ; " 

 and we are not surprised that he reports "no objections, and 

 should not like to farm without steam." Mr. Edwards says that 

 he has cured a field of thistles ; we found oat-stubbles after 

 turnips remarkably clean, to be broken for wheat ; we saw fine 

 pieces of mangolds, carrots, and a wonderfully great crop of 

 thousand-head cabbage (being fed off by sheep through slat 

 hurdles leaning towards the crop and frequently shifted) ; and 

 one field not exactly in garden style was very naturally a wheat 

 stubble following a two-years' layer of ryegrass. 



The only thing amiss in Mr. Edwards' case is that he would 

 much prefer having a 10-horse instead of his 8-horse engine. 



No. 35. Mr. J. Martin, of Wainfleet, Lincolnshire. A few 

 words only will suffice for this case ; Mr, Martin having had 

 only one-and-a-half years' experience with a second-hand appa- 

 ratus, consisting of a Tuxford and Sons 12-horse engine, sepaiate 

 -windlass. Fowler 4-furrov/ plough, and 7-tined cultivator. The 

 original cost was 380/. ; and no repairs have yet been needed. 



The farm of 460 acres has 260 acres arable of alluvial loam 

 deposited by the sea, with a subsoil of " silt " or ancient tidal 

 mud and sand. And 2 horses can plough an acre per day, 6 

 inches deep. The surface, perfectly horizontal like all the 

 marsh land thereabout, has been arranged in fields averaging 

 22 acres in size. Mr. Martin used to keep 14 farm-horses, but 

 on purchasing the steam plough, sold off 4. 



The working expenses of the apparatus are — labour (,3 men 

 and 2 boys) 14^. 6r/. a day ; removal by 9 horses, occupying o 

 hours ; carting of 800 gallons of water, 4^. a day ; oil, 2s. a day ; 

 and half a ton of coal at 14a\ a ton, jjlus carriage b\ miles. Tlie 

 work done per day is 7 acres of ploughing or of digging, or 10 

 acres of cultivating. The engine is employed for thrashing, 

 grinding, and sawing. 



Of course, time is yet wanting to say what effect the tlioroiigJi- 

 ness and timeliness of steam culture have upon the whole economy 

 of tillage and the acreage and yield of the different crops ; but the 

 cost per acre of the several operations is probably more than it 

 would be by horses. 



No. 36. Mr. Francis Sowerby, of Aylesby, Grimsby, Lincoln- 

 shire, occupies 650 acres arable, and 250 acres grass, in the 

 gently undulating " diluvial " or " drift " district between the 

 chalk Wolds and an alluvial belt of marsh land next the sea. 

 The soil is a loam, lying upon a clay subsoil, and makes rather 

 hard pair-horse ploughing. The farm is in large fields, 20 to 30 

 acres each and more, having been enlarged for steam cultivation ; 



YOL. III. — S. S. P 



