462 On the Cod of Horse-poioer. 



" My horses are fed in open yards, with sheds, each parted off for a team 

 of 4. These, upon returning from labour, are unharnessed and fed in the 

 stable until about 6 o'clock, when they are ]jv:t into the yard with a suffi- 

 ciency of cut chaff for the night. At from 4 to 5 o'clock in the morning they 

 are brought into the stable, and fed with the corn and chaff until the time of 

 going out to work — in summer J past 5 o'clock, in autumn 4 past 6 o'clock, 

 and in winter rather later. They work until 10 o'clock, and invariably come 

 home and are fed and watered, one hour being allowed. They then return 

 and work till 3 o'clock, an acre of ploughing being performed. This mode of 

 management appears congenial to the health of the horses, as we rarely have 

 any sickness among the team», and I have not lost more than two horses 

 during the last six years from upwards of twenty constantly worked. 



" I have turned my attention to the use of machinery for ploughing and 

 tilling the soil, and fear that its introduction will not and cannot supersede 

 horses, as regards expense, and certainly not as regards convenience. It will 

 doubtless become a powerful auxiliary to farming, and at the season when 

 much work has to be performed in a short time it may be brought into active 

 and profitaVile employment. I have tested it in drawing and threshing, and 

 can effect both operations at as little cost — taking all other matters into con- 

 sideration — by horse as by steam-power, when carried out by locomotive 

 engines. 



" E. Baker. 



" Writtk, near Chelmsford." 



I propose now, in those instances where the reports have been 

 drawn up in sufficient detail, to attempt the application of the 

 only proper test of merit in this department of farm mana<):ement, 

 namely, the comparison, not of acres cultivated, but of labour 

 on those acres done, with tlie cost of doing it. This comparison 

 is not possible, nor indeed is it desirable, in more than a few 

 instances. The result arrived at will indicate what Professor 

 Wilson asked for — the cost of horse-labour under different styles 

 of management, per cwt. of draught at a given rate of motion. 



Tlie common definition of horse-power is the ability to lift 

 33,000 lbs. 1 ft. high per minute. This is perfectly consistent 

 with the results of such experiments on the draught of ploughs 

 as have been published. Thus, when two horses pull a plough 

 along at the rate of 2h miles in an hour, and the tension on the 

 draught chain is equal to a lift of 300 lbs. — no uncommon case — 

 they do in effect lift that 300 lbs. 220 ft. per minute, that being the 

 sixtieth part of 2^ miles ; and this is equivalent to a lift of 

 6(5,000 lbs., or just the 33,000 lbs. apiece, 1 ft. high per minute, 

 which is the ordinary mechanical expression of one-htn-se power. 

 This power, however, is not continuously exerted. The plough, 

 though drawn at the rate of 2^ miles per hour, is not drawn 

 25 miles in a day of 10 hours ; it is not often drawn much 

 more than 10 miles in that time, in consequence of loss of 

 time on headlands, &c. In fact, the plough is drawn barely 



