218 Report on Steam Cultivation. [Clarke. 



observed that this is an averas^e daily rate, the engine often 

 ploughing 60 acres in a week. The total cost for this (collecting 

 and calculating out the above items, including cost of machinery) 

 is 8s. to 85. \0d. an acre. Of cultivation, the engine commonly 

 does 18 acres per day, but varying from 15 up to 25 acres a day 

 in spring v^^ork. The total cost for this is 85. 8(/. to 4s. Id. per 

 acre. The relative proportions of plough-work to cultivator-work 

 we do not know ; but if in about equal quantities, Mr. Edmonds' 

 total yearly outlay upon steam tillage will come between lOOZ. 

 and 200/. less than his former expenditure upon the 12 to 15 dis- 

 placed horses. 



Unlike nearly all other "steam" husbandmen, Mr. Edmonds 

 does not break up whole ground with the scarifier ; if he did, he 

 would have to work both ways to make the operation thoroughly 

 complete : so he prefers the plough or the digger. The scarifier 

 he uses principally for crossing, and for the spring working of 

 autumn-tilled land. He also finds very great benefit from the 

 employment of Fowler's drag-harrows, that is, four heavy iron 

 harrows, with straight teeth (for to-and-fro working), tilling 

 12 feet breadth, and slung beneath a steerage-frame carrying 

 the rope slack-gear. But a lighter carriage-frame would be much 

 better for the land. Mr. Edmonds manages to do what few 

 steam-ploughmen effect, that is, 4-inch deep ploughing for wheat 

 on particular fields that may require it. We walked over a piece 

 of good land, exceedingly^ well ploughed 5 inches deep, after rye- 

 grass; done too without the skim-coulters, which are troublesome, 

 and therefore seldom used. It is customary here, as elsewhere, 

 to roll down the furrow-slices of lea-ploughing and let them lie 

 for a time before wheat-sowing. But after "steam "-ploughing, 

 something more is required in order to get the requisite solidity ; 

 therefore the ploughing is done pretty early, and then, before 

 sowing, the field is steam-dragged (^. e. heavy-harrowed) in the 

 same direction as the furrows. If rolled at all, this is after the seed 

 is in. On the strong land steam-digging early is the preparation 

 for wheat, with a steam-harrowing before the drill. On the stone- 

 brash, if on " whole-furrow " land {i. e. after seeds), the steam- 

 ploughing is done deep in August, Mr. Edmonds no longer being 

 afraid of deep work on such land for wheat. 



The old high-backed ridges on the heavy land are being 

 gradually flattened, care being taken not to level too quickly ; and 

 the land certainly dries sooner, the underdrains here being 3 feet 

 deep. No material change has been made in the cropping of 

 the farm beyond the occasional forcing in of an additional green 

 crop, through being so forward with work. On the stiffer land 

 there has been an increased yield of wheat and oats ; but on the 

 lighter soils no increase has been perceptible, unless the avoidance 



