310 Report on Steam Cultivation. [Clakke. 



very heavy. Before steam-liusbandry was commenced, the fields 

 were mostly enlarged by stubbing hedges, and on one farm they 

 are of 15 and 19 acres each. "This country," writes the pro- 

 prietor, " is as flat as my hand, and is now mostly diained ; but 

 flat land does not dry so quickly as a rolling country. . . . Last 

 August (1865) the engine grubbed (for I care not for ploughing) 

 20 acres of land that no plough with 3 horses ever could touch ; 

 it is now (summer of 1866) in barley, and looks promising; the 

 field never was wet all the last winter .... Two fields for the 

 most part strong land, though not entirely so (the soil varying 

 considerably), wei-e beautifully dry all the last wet winter. One 

 of these fields is now in wheat, I think as good and as forward as 

 any in the neighbourhood." This effective drying is attributed to 

 the deep tillage of the cultivator. But he adds, " I fear that on 

 such land we can never hope to feed off root-crops ; the ground is 

 so flat that it would get puddled at the top with sheep in damp 

 weather." Most of the fields have ponds, through which the 

 main drain of the land runs ; and a horse and water-cart supply 

 the engine with about 3^ tons of water per day from this source. 

 With a 10- horse Fowler engine, and "one of the early made" 

 grubbei's, about 1^ acres per day are broken up, coals being 

 burnt at the rate of 15 cwts. in 10 hours, costing, at 10^. per 

 ton. Is. 6d. ; oil, and cotton-waste for cleaning, cost Is. 3d. daily. 

 The cost of labour was in 1866 — foreman, 14^. ; engine-driver, 

 155. ; other farm labourers, 12i'. each per week ; the engine- 

 driver, Avhen not steam-cultivating, works a fixed engine for 

 grinding, «Scc. ; and the other hands are farm-labourers. Three 

 horses and six men shift the tackle. " The average time for 

 fixing engine and tackle in the field ready for work is one hour 

 after arrival in the field, 45 minutes to get up steam, and one 

 hour to dismantle for removal." 



The apparatus was purchased two years ago, second-hand, and 

 has cost about 700/., inclusive of repairs and additions. Thorough 

 repair, lately executed, cost 300/. ; ropes had previously cost 

 about 70/. In fact, the engine and tackle had done a great deal 

 of work in the neighbourhood of Selby, and therefore wanted a 

 great deal of renewing ; moreover, the former owner had laid it 

 aside for some months, " and rust, &c., is prejudicial." Now it 

 does nothing else but tillage work ; two of the farms having 

 fixed engines which thrash, and one also drives a mill, pumps, 

 cuts chaff, pulps turnips, and so on. The engine is not let for 

 hire, but, at the date when the schedule of queries was filled up, 

 was "grubbing (or smashing, I don't know which you call it), 

 for a new tenant, a field that is an entire mass of couch and 

 thistles, the former tenant having left the land in a disgraceful 

 condition." 



