224 Report on Steam Cultivation. [Clarke. 



Per Day. Per Acre. 



£. s. f?„ S. d. 



Manual labour 14 .... 16^ 



Water-cartino; 5 .... 6i 



Share of Uemoval 2 3 .... 3 



Coal 6 2 .... 9 



Oil 1 .. .. li 



"Working expenses .. .. 185 .... 32 



*Repairs 2 lOi .... 3t 



Depreciation 3 5^ .... 4;> 



Interest 4 1| .... 5^ 



Total cost per day .. .. 1 IS 101 4 35 



The total annual outlay, for 130 days' work, will amount to 

 252.^ 16.9. hd. But there is an error of excess in the calculation, 

 arising- from the whole of the depreciation and interest due upon 

 the engine being charged to steam cultivation ; whereas, this 

 engine does all the thrashing of the farm, and the engine cost 

 more than half of the purchase-money. A correction being made 

 for this, would reduce the above totals probably 2s. per day, or 

 nearly 3c?. per acre, making the entire yearly cost of steam 

 cultivation, say 240/. 



Twenty-six horses were employed before " steam " was intro- 

 duced, and 20 afterwards ; and reckoning the 6 horses at 44/. 

 per horse, the annual saving is 264/. That is, the outgoings for 

 tillage remain about as they were ; the Duke getting all the 

 advantage of deeper and more expeditious cultivation without 

 paying a penny extra for it. 



The effect of steam culture upon " strong land under drainage " 

 (one point included in our "instructions") may be here treated 

 in the same way as " the snakes of Lapland ;" the subject being 

 foreign to the soil of Blenheim. The system of cropping has 

 not been altered, nor has the acreage of root-crops been enlarged. 

 The advantage, as far as regards increased production, is thus 

 stated by Mr. Napier : — " the root crops have been considered 

 better, by which other crops receive a corresponding benciit." 

 Certainly, the Duke's swedes were the earliest, and, drilled wide 

 and hoed-out wide, presented the biggest bulbs that we chanced 

 to meet with in any English county. They had been " mag- 

 nificently done ;" but at the date when we walked through them 

 (September 15th) we could not say Avhether they would not 

 be beaten in quality by other rather backward swedes in the 

 neighbourhood. Tlie preparation for them was as follows : 

 the land was steam " cultivated " and steam " crossed " in the 

 autumn ; then in spring it received one light cultivation, 

 followed by harrowings and ridging in the usual way. The 



* Includes wear and tear of rope at 4f?, to 6f?. per acre. 



