PLOWING, SUBSOILING, AND TRENCHING. 159 



" in the fault of the manager, or the inefficiency of those par- 

 " ticular pieces of machinery, not affecting the credit of ' steam 

 "tillage' at all." 



" In the majority of instances, we found the proprietors satis- 

 ** fied with results, and having once experienced the advantage of 

 " steam over horse-power, unwilling to go back to the old sys- 

 " tern." 



" We find, as the result of experience, that which we already 

 " anticipated theoretically, viz. : that the increased depth of sur- 

 " face, and the absence of pressure, greatly increase the absorbing 

 "powers of the soil, and consequently assist the action of the 

 " drains." 



Mr. Clarke, a member of one of the committees, in a lecture 

 on steam cultivation, delivered before the Central Farmers' Club, 

 in December last, said (with reference to a trial of steam appara- 

 tus at the recent show of the R. A. Society ) : — 



" Now some persons may think it astounding to talk about 

 " from fifty to seventy acres a day being cultivated. I admit that 

 " it is very astounding ; but I also assert that I saw the thing 

 " done — and there are other persons also who saw it done. I 

 " may tell you, too, that the apparatus was not in a perfect state ; 

 " it was one of the earliest trials made of that particular arrange- 

 " ment. I have not the slightest doubt that the makers of steam 

 " plows are prepared, though I have not their authority to say so, 

 " to do, in answer to a challenge, an extent of land in a day which 

 "would astonish everyone present. I have not the slightest 

 " doubt myself, that seventy acres — I should not stare particularly 

 " if one hundred acres could be cultivated, provided the work 

 " was tolerably light." 



In a discussion by the members of the Royal Agricultural Society, 

 it was declared that the advantage of steam cultivation amounted, 

 on average soils, to at least eight bushels per acre in the increased 

 produce of the grain crops ; that arable culture is by means of it 

 annually becoming cheaper and better ; that the drainage of clay 

 soils is facilitated ; that even when coals are twenty shillings 

 ($5) per ton, the power obtained from sixpence (12 cents) worth 

 11 



