Clarke.] Report on Steam Cultivation. 297 



improvement of the condition and status of the labourer is very 

 great : — These, and a number of other points in Mr. Ruck's 

 experience, having- been already published, leave us compara- 

 tively little to say ; but what we saw and heard may, nevertheless, 

 be of considerable importance. 



Castle Hill Farm consists of 620 acres arable, and 100 acres 

 of grass. It formerly lay in 30 fields, but by destroying- nearly 

 5 miles' length of old fences, it is now in 9 fields of about 70 

 acres each, having straight boundaries and very little timber. 

 Four of these fields have a good loamy soil, managed on the 4- 

 course shift; the other 5 fields have a calcareous clay and strong 

 loam soil, growing vetches, rye, and other sheep-keep, followed 

 by wheat, then clover, broken-up for beans (manured), and then 

 wheat again. The draft-labour used to be performed by 9 horses 

 in 3-horse teams, and 56 oxen worked in seven 4-ox teams, 28 

 in the morning, and the other half in the afternoon. These 

 bullocks, bought as 2-year-olds and sold out as 4-years-old, im- 

 proved themselves in value about 50s. each ; grazing 100 acres 

 of moderate pasture, and doing only summer-work, — Mr. Ruck 

 arguing that they paid the rent of the land they fed on, giving 

 their tillage-labour into the bargain. However, there was, at 

 any rate, the cost of their harness, implements, manual labour 

 for working them from 30 to 40 weeks, and feeding them during 

 winter, besides the interest of capital locked up in them ; and 7 

 teams, or 28 oxen, at say 15Z. a year each, would involve an 

 annual outlay of 420/. But without entering into a discussion 

 of this question, we may merely say that, had there been no 

 oxen, the same work would prolDably have required 14 horses ; 

 and these, at our standard figure of 44Z. each, for everything 

 connected with their maintenance and working, would have cost 

 616/. 



We do not pretend to settle here whether it is 420Z. or 616/. 

 that Mr. Ruck saves every year by the banishment of his 

 " horned horses ;"' but we are very sure that it must be a hand- 

 some sum, seeing that a great acreage of lieavy ploughing and 

 dragging is not likely to be done gratis by any animal or other 

 motive-power, until " perpetual motion " turns out an accom- 

 plished fact. At present, Mr. Ru.ck has 10 horses, and (as he 

 told us he did not mind being "a little pulled to pieces") we 

 may add that they are in poor condition. He admits tliat he is 

 longer about carrying his harvest than most people are ; but the 

 farm always has had about a hundred hands out of Cricklade, to 

 cut the corn. The reaping is thus done very quickly, and the 

 ]0 horses, with 1-horse carts, stack a large part of the crops in 

 the 'fields. 



At the date of our visit (November 9th), he had done very 



