226 Report on Steam Cultivation. [Claeke. 



"turn-tables" (or snatch-blocks) have worn out about "a wheel" 

 a-piece, and several rope-porters and an extra anchor have been 

 added. But other repairs have been very trifling. The first 

 rope, being of iron, was soon worn out ; Mr. Stevenson observing 

 that working on stony land, in a time of frosty nights and sunny 

 days, wore away the metal " like wet iron on a grindstone." 

 This destruction of 1400 yards of iron rope, and the very nearly 

 wearing-out of a steel one of the same length, represent the con- 

 sumption of rope during the nine years' employment of the 

 apparatus; but in this last autumn (of 1866) the tackle was not 

 worked at all, or not until nearly Christmas, owing to the wet 

 season. 



The farm lies tolerably level, and in fields of about 15 acres 

 each, varying from 4 up to 27 acres ; and the average rate of 

 performance is about 5 acres cultivated per day. They never 

 work in wet weather, and have never been stopped by breakages. 

 The hands engaged are five men and two boys, at 135. 6f/. per 

 day ; and 6 to 8 cwts. of coal burned, costing lOs. to 12s. per 

 ton. Where fields are contiguous, shifting is done by help 

 of 2 or 3 horses, occupying l^^ to 2 hours, certainly more 

 expeditious than we have found this business in many other 

 cases. Mr. Stevenson sets his engine to thrash corn, cut 

 chaff, and grind corn for horses and pigs. He keeps the 

 same number of farm-horses as he did before adopting " steam," 

 but then he has occupied 160 acres more land ; the reduc- 

 tion on the old occupation would have been from 17 to 12, 

 that is a saving of 5 horses. The steam-cultivator smashes up 

 the stubbles in autumn for roots, breaks up stubbles for beans, 

 breaks up part of the turnip-fold for barley, and also on the 

 strong land bastard -fallows the 2-years' seeds in July in prepara- 

 tion for wheat. On strong land, Mr. Stevenson, in one year, 

 cured a piece of its beds of thistles, by a single deep smashing- 

 up ; and on a piece of light sand with big boulder-stones, he 

 has found no couch left after steam cultivating, and no increase 

 of annuals. 



There has been a small increase in the acreage of root-crops, 

 because they are now grown on some heavy pieces where they 

 could not be profitably attempted before. And the weight of 

 roots per acre is decidedly greater, besides the advantage of the 

 land being much more easily kept clear of couch-grass. Mr. 

 Stevenson will not say that his corn crops yield more and better 

 in consequence of steam cultivation ; but he used to grow too 

 much straw, and so now uses less guano, and gets a more regular 

 and upstanding crop. 



He has just bought a second-hand set of Howard's tackle, not 

 so much from a wish to improve upon the old set, as because of 



