110 Ten Years of East Lofhiau Farvniifj. 



three different systems — Fowler's, Howard's and Coleman's — are 

 represented, tliey may all be seen at work from one spot, being 

 used on adjacent farms. The five owners of these ploughs are 

 all equally satisfied with their investments, and if, after hearing 

 what each has to say, we are asked which system is best, we are 

 inclined to reply, with Sir Roger de Coverley, that " a great 

 deal may be said on both sides." 



While the progress of steam-cultivation may be considered as 

 certain, it has of course its difficulties to contend with, and several 

 of these are not common to both divisions of Great Britain. In 

 many parts of England the smallness of the fields, the nature of 

 the fences, and probably the want of leases — obstacles unknown 

 in East Lothian, may interpose, whilst with us the chief impedi- 

 ment is the number of boulder-stones which underlie the surface 

 of the soil. These have been for the most part already removed 

 froin the share of the ordinary plough ; but just as the Great 

 Eastern found in the Atlantic rocks unknown to ships of lighter 

 draft, so the steam-plough falls foul of a new crop of earth-fast 

 stones, the fertile source of breakage and delay. Then in that 

 important item, the saving of horse-power, the northern farmer 

 has less to gain than his brother in the south, because he has been 

 accustomed to work his land with fewer horses ; one pair to each 

 70 acres being the usual provision. 



The distance too of the steam-plough manufactories is another, 

 though a minor, drawback, involving a cost of from 30/. to GO/, 

 for the conveyance by rail of a steam-apparatus, and, besides, 

 causing much delay Avhenever any breakage takes place. 



Plans for joint ownership in steam-ploughs, or for letting 

 them out for hire, have not stood the test of practical experience. 

 No one will go to the expense of preparing his land for the 

 occasional use of steam, and thus, if the hired plough makes its 

 appearance it is broken by stones ; and, besides, each farmer 

 wishes to have his land cultivated at about the same time. 



The benefits conferred by the steam-plough have not, however, 

 been confined to its direct operation. The results of its powerful 

 and thorough cultivation have led to an inquiry into the whole 

 subject, which has given a great impulse to deep cultivation 

 generally. Subsoil-ploughs of various forms have been brought 

 into requisition, and stones have been dug up till fields have 

 been so covered with the disinterred blocks, that, for the time, 

 they looked like churchyards. 



The whole theoi-y upon which ploughing-matches used to be 

 conducted has been knocked on the head. Formerly the suc- 

 cessful ploughman was he who sliced the soil into the neatest 

 ridges, and who turned it over most compactly. The subsoil 

 being jnessed and consolidated below by the weight of the 



