676 Abstract Report of Agricultural Discussions. 



appear to make any increase, but lie acknowledged tliat lie got stronger 

 straw ; and Mr. Stephenson, in Yorkshire, said he got good crops 

 before he used steam cultivators, aud he got no better now. The fact 

 was, that where a man farmed high, it was difficult to drive cultivation 

 beyond a certain point ; but when it was acknowledged that the straw 

 was stronger, it was evident there must be in the end a better result 

 with less manure. Referring to the Chairman's remarks as to an 

 apparatus suitable for light soil, he thought we should not look to 

 reduced prices in machinery. He would not reduce the cost of his, 

 for the machine he worked was as good now as it was ten years ago. 

 The Commissioners said that Howard's windlass was better than his, 

 but that was a matter of opinion. His was constructed upon sound 

 mechanical principles, and had stood the test of ten years' work. He 

 did not, however, wish to enhance the value of his own apparatus. It 

 was of no consequence to him whether he sold one or not. He made 

 them, not to sell, but to work upon his own farm. He would call 

 special attention to No. 8 in the Eeport, showing how an outlay of say 

 360L on steam-cultivation enabled Mr. Cranfield to add 225 acres to 

 his farm without buying a horse ; otherways he would have required 

 40 horses in all. 



Professor Voelcker, referring to a visit he had recently paid to Mr. 

 Prout's farm, bore testimony to the improvement which had been 

 effected in the drainage by steam cultivation ; this, however, was 

 nothing new to him, as he had many years ago seen similar results on 

 Mr. Ruck's farm. This recent visit to Mr. Prout's, continued the 

 Professor, makes me say, I believe that if steam-ploughs were placed on 

 our strong clays, we should ultimately not want any drainage at all. 

 The water that falls now goes through the drains, simply because it runs 

 through the cracks in the ground ; it does not go thi-ough the soil. If, 

 however, the good effects of steam cultivation could be realised, we 

 should have an abundant store of food within the reach of the growing 

 crop ; like Mr. Smith of Woolston, we should only require once now 

 and then a little artificial manure to stimulate the surface, and we 

 could then depend upon the intrinsic virtue of our clay-soils. This 

 may, at the present time, be thought a little Utopian ; but I believe 

 that when steam cultivation has reached a high state of perfection, 

 we shall effect a gi'eat saving in our manures. We shall not then 

 require any looking after our drains, nor shall we have to take them 

 up, and put fresh pipes in, or furnish extra drains to carry off the 

 water ; for, by the constant cultivation of the heavy clay-lands, we 

 should improve their mechanical condition to such an extent that every 

 inch of rain-fall would be taken up and utilised. 



Mr. Thukloe could not agree with the preceding speaker, that culti- 

 vation by steam would entirely do away with the necessity for drainage. 

 In the concluding report of the Committee of Investigation, it was stated 

 that engines required to be driven at a imiform speed, and jn-ctty fast, 

 by which, he presumed, was meant that the steam apparatus for breaking 

 up the land ought to go at a uniformly quick pace. In that view he 

 quite concurred ; but he feared that with Howard's apparatus the thing 



