402 Report on Steam Cultivation. [Coleman. 



whether such outlay can be made to yield a fair interest. At the 

 original rent of 22s. an acre, the tenant was ruined, and the land, 

 not deficient in minerals but drowned with water, was reduced to 

 beg-gary. The work of improvement consists in thorough drain- 

 age, grubbing fences, clearing out water-courses choked up, 

 fallowing 4 of the land, and erecting suitable buildings. The 

 outlay will probably come to about 20Z. an acre. Now we 

 consider that steam cultivation has had much to do with all this 

 outlay, the existence of this power may have in this, as it 

 certainly has in other instances, induced proprietors to take such 

 cases in hand, and by vigorous treatment, rapidly to effect a 

 metamorphosis which, under ordinary conditions, would have 

 required years. No one can deny that the more rapidly the 

 transition is made, provided the work is done economically, the 

 sooner will a return be obtained. The farm contains nearly 

 300 acres, of which 1(55 acres are arable ; more, however, will 

 be added. The soil is a strong drift-clay interspersed with 

 boulders and limestone nodules ; the latter, which occur at some 

 depth, are from the mountain limestone, the former, principally 

 on the surface, are millstone grit, whilst the whole overlies the 

 red marls of the new red sandstone, in which occasional beds of 

 gypsum are found. In the original state the surface is extremely 

 wet, although, in consequence of the stones, it drains well. 



The apparatus which was purchased in October, 1864, consists 

 of a 14-horse-power traction-engine by Aveling and Porter, a 

 very strong and well made machine, with Howard's windlass and 

 cultivator and drag-harrows. Up to last spring the tackle worked 

 on the home farm at Beaudesert. Since then it has been kept 

 on to the Sinai farm, and did good service last summer in 

 helping to fallow 124 out of 165 acres — doing work on the foul 

 weedy surface which would have been simply impossible with 

 horses. The apparatus does not require special comment; the 

 windlass is driven by a crank shaft and universal joint, the 

 patent sling snatch-blocks are used, and we saw a strong mole 

 draining-plough for the grass land which might be used 

 advantageously, but has not yet been tried. As no journal or 

 separate accounts have been kept, it is difficult to arrive at a 

 correct estimate of the cost of repairs. Porters and anchor 

 sheafs seem most liable to breakage, and it appears to us 

 that the latter are not sufficiently strong. We shall not be 

 far out in charging the cultivating part with 20/,, and the 

 engine with a like sum. The operations have been confined 

 to fallows, and the cultivator has been used with 3 tines 

 only. The first operation, 8 to 10 inches deep, averages 

 5 acres a day, the second time over about 6 acres. In the 

 spring the land is stirred 3 and sometimes 4 times. Present 



