158 IIAXDT-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



In the journal of the Royal Agricultural Society for 1867, 330 

 pages are devoted to the reports of the committees that had been 

 detailed "to inquire into the results of steam cultivation " in use 

 by 135 farmers and stock companies of England. From the 

 conclusions which they deduce from their investigation, I extract 

 the following: — 



" In nearly all the cases reported, it will be seen that the ex- 

 " penses of cultivation are very much reduced, and yet that a 

 " larger amount of produce is said to have been realized." 



" Not only are the operations themselves better done, quicker 

 " done, less expensively done, but all kindred and collateral move- 

 " ments have had imparted to them a speed and 'whirr' charac- 

 " teristic of steam ; men acquire the habit of doing the day's 

 " work in the day, and of not leaving it for the morrow. The 

 '' day's labor, too, on a steam farm, represents more work, with 

 " less distress to the physical power of the laborer, and better 

 "remuneration. Steam is working a revolution, slightly mani- 

 " fested as yet, so that we can speak only of tendencies in farm 

 " practice, and in the character of the rural population ; they are 

 " being trained for the age of machinery in agriculture. 



" Before steam can be as generally used for tillage as it is for 

 " thrashing, the fields below ten acres must be enlarged, and areas 

 " of thirty and forty acres become more the rule than the ex- 

 " ception." 



" In most cases, an increase of produce, in some instances as 

 " much as eight bushels per acre, has resulted from steam cultiva- 

 " tion. We may state, as our general conclusion, that steam 

 " tackle, whether of Fowler, Howard, Smith, or other makers, is 

 " now so far perfected and settled in form and details, that it may 

 " be classed among old-established, standard farm-machinery, and 

 " no longer among the novelties of the day." 



" Steam cultivation, in the main, answers well, and here and 

 " there, where somebody has tried it and given it up, we are quite 

 " sure, from the success of so many men in all parts of the 

 " country, and under every varying circumstance of soil, situation, 

 "and climate, that there must be an explanation of the fact, either 



