Claeke.] Report on Steam Cultivation. o51 



Section IV. — The Hiring System. 

 Division 1. — Private Ownersliip. 



No. 105. To see a contract "set" in actual work, Ave visited Mr. 

 William Torr, of Aylesbj, Grimsby, Lincolnshire : and, as may 

 be expected, could not forbear stealing for a short space from our 

 duty, to look at old "Breastplate," young "Royal Bridegroom." 

 the splendid roan " Riby Queen," and lots of Booth calves, in 

 one of the largest and grandest herds in existence ; besides some 

 remarkably fine Leicester tups, possessing size as well as quality, 

 " the climate growing them big." But shorthorns are not an 

 exclusive hobby at Aylesby ; everything in field management 

 or farmstead arrangement is well done, of course, including 

 special preparations for steam-power husbandry. 



Mr. Torr has filled up open ditches, laid pipes instead, 

 and conducted these mains into corner tanks, where two or three 

 fields meet. Each tank, of brick and cement, is 2>^ by 2^ feet 

 wide, and deep enough to receive the discharge of a 4-feet deep 

 drainage, the cost being about 65. or 7^. each, a man being able 

 to set two in a day. The tanks are valuable for showing if the 

 drains run (and they have shown that the drains begin to act 

 much quicker after steam than after horse culture), and for 

 supplying water when the 9-inch outlet is temporarily stopped 

 up for the purpose. A pump set in a cart is taken to any one of 

 the tanks ; and for carrying the water, two common carts are 

 employed, with a barrel upon a tressel foot in each. 



We found a couple of 14-horse Fowler engines at work upon 

 a field of strong loam, which may be called " pair-horse " land, 

 because Mr. Torr employs two horses in a plough ; but then his 

 are teams " well greased for going." In reality, this is fair 

 "3-horse land." The balance cultivator was doing tremendous 

 work, heaving up huge slags, shattering and tossing them in all 

 forms, at a depth of 9 to 11 inches, the implement travelling at a 

 high speed, and labouring over hills and hollows like a ship at 

 sea. The rate of performance was 18 acres per day ; and Mr. 

 Torr paid only IO5. an acre for over a hundred acres grubbed 

 11 inches deep last spring. Two boys were working 6 rope- 

 porters, and we observed that, on an average, only 15 seconds of 

 time were lost at each end. The extraordinary handiness of the 

 double-engine system was exemplified in the act of changing 

 the cultivator for the digger. One engine advanced a little on 

 the headland, so as to haul the cultivator upon the broken ground 

 out of the way of the next implement ; it then backed along the 

 headland to fetch the digger, and returned to its original position. 

 The rope from the other engine was now too short to reach the 

 digger, so the first engine rope was pulled out a few yards by 



