326 Report on Steam Cultivation. [Claeke. 



this farm. The double-engine system woukl require twice the 

 extent of these turf or other roads, and would spoil so many head- 

 lands. However, this objection we believe is trifling-, in compa- 

 rison with the time and expense saved in shifting, and the general 

 celerity in working of the " double " system. Mr, Wright never 

 works up a corner or a headland by steam ; and where a fence is 

 very "angular," instead of parallel with the opposite side of the 

 field, instead of running the anchor alongside it, he directs it 

 " square " across the field, completing the remaining " gore " or 

 angle, by horse labour. This course avoids hindrances and changes ; 

 and straightforward continuous running is one great desideratum 

 in steam-ploughing. 



Removal occupies four hours up to half a day, with a pair 

 of horses and extra man. The engine-man has 3s. 6c?., the 

 ploughman 3s., anchor-man 2s., three porter-boys Is. each per 

 day ; and the boy and horse with water-cart may be put at 5s. 

 The ponds and ditches are convenient for supply. About 16 

 cwts. of coal are consumed, at 10s. per ton, and oil costs Is. Qd. 

 a day. The engine ploughs 8 to 10 inches deep, 7 acres per 

 day; digs 12 inches deep, 5 acres per day; and grubs, at the 

 great depth of 16 inches, 12 acres per day. This profound 

 culture is paralleled by Mr. Hawking, near Borobridge (See 

 No. 89), but in his case, the 14-horse engine manages 9 acres a 

 day at 16 inches depth. Before he became a steam farmer, Mr. 

 Wright never could put more than 12 horse-ploughs to work at 

 one and the same time, and at 7 inches depth, they turned over 6 

 acres a day. He can work the same number of ploughs now, in 

 a pressing season, while the engine is doing 7 acres, too ; so that, 

 in effect, he has doubled his tilling power, or, in other words, 

 double the extent of land is ploughed in a day. And the steam 

 work is more equable in depth ; for though some of the ploughmen 

 make good honest work, some of them always shirk their hard 

 holding of the plough-handles, and ease their teams by scamping 

 the tillage. 



After steam culture the land (under-drained 3 and 4 feet deep) 

 dries better and sooner, though root-crops are never attempted to 

 be fed off. Mr. Wright finds the digging to be " first-rate " for 

 beans, the seed-tilth so soon coming into condition in spring, 

 from the absence of horses' trampling, that the beans are got in 

 earlier than they otherwise could be. Stubble is steam-dug in 

 autumn or early winter, lies rough and open, and not pressed ; 

 and in spring is found to dry " a whole fortnight " sooner than 

 horse-ploughed land. The rough tilth is torn down by grubber- 

 harrows worked by horses, immediately before drilling the beans. 

 Mr. Wright considers that as much benefit is thus derived from 

 the steam tackle as he gets in any other part of its performances ; 



