Clarke,] Report on Steam Cultivation. 347 



361/., the total cost attending^ the steam-machinery which has 

 taken the place of the banished horses, we see that a balance of 

 annual profit of 1G7/. to 29D/. has accrued to the partners. 



This being the case, to say nothing of im))roved cultivation 

 and augmented produce (wliich will be referred to presently), it 

 does not much matter whether any single operation may have 

 cost more or less than ordinarj- horse tillage costs per acre : par- 

 ticularly as this set of tackle declines all contract-work, because 

 of the stones not yet cleared out of the land that might ask to be 

 steam-tilled. However, the daily performance and cost per acre 

 have been as follow : — On Mr. Rowlandson's farm of very strong 

 loam, with variable subsoil, very full of landfast stones, the 

 average ploughed or dug has only been 3 up to 7 acres a day, 

 depending upon the length of the fields and the state of the 

 weather ; 40 acres were dug 9 inches deep, and the tackle shifted 

 in 10 days ; or 4 acres per day. At 55s. Id. per day, Mr. Row- 

 landson's deep-ploughing and digging thus cost 85. to \?)s. 11</., 

 or even sometimes 18s. 6f/. an acre. Mr. Kay's deep-ploughing 

 and digging on gravelly loam, with variable subsoil, full of earth- 

 fast boulders, is done at the average rate of 4 up to 8 acres per 

 day; that is, at Qs. \.\d. to 13s. lie?, per acre. On both farms 

 the cultivator does, 10 or 12 inches deep, 10 to 16 acres a day, 

 at a cost of 3s. hd. to 5s. 6^f/. per acre. 



The total acreage done in a year, that is, in 130 days, upon 

 the four farms, includes about 200 acres of digging for fallow, 

 100 acres of turnip-land ploughed for barley, 50 acres of clover 

 ploughed for oats or wheat, and 150 to 200 acres cultivated three 

 times over for turnips; making 450 to 600 acres of cultivating : 

 in all about 800 to 950 acres in the year. This is at the general 

 average of 6 to 7^ acres of deep work per day. In deep fal- 

 lowing the average is about 4 acres per day. Just before the 

 time of our visit, Mr. Rowlandson had dug, 9 inches deep, 

 16 acres of stubble in two days, in a large field which had been 

 moved by steam last year ; and as this was really " 5-horse 

 work" per furrow, the digger took as man}' furrows at once as 

 20 horses could have done, only so much faster, and so much 

 longer at it in a day, that it effected as much work as 40 horses. 

 However, next day only 2 acres were done, because of a stoppage; 

 a stone threw one of the slack-gear drum-shafts out of truth, and 

 then the pitch-chain slipped off. This accident frequently 

 happens, apparently suggesting that these small drums should 

 have flanges. Two years ago the engine ploughed, 5 inches 

 deep, 30 acres in four days, including a removal into another 

 field. 



We found Mr. Kay's farm close by the Duchess of North- 

 umberland's Hall at Stanwick ; but, owing to the pouring down- 



