732 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK vm. 



ousting the horse, it is now chiefly used as an auxiliary. In this way 

 it renders most valuable assistance, for it can be utilised to move large 

 tracts of land in a very short time. Thus, when a few favourable days 

 come early in the year for working the land, much of it can be got into 

 a forward condition ; horses can be put to the lighter operations, and 

 the crops can be sown in their proper seasons, which in wet years and 

 with the ordinary team of horses kept on the farm is often impossible. 

 Immense advantage is gained in the summer in working bastard fallows, 

 whilst after harvest a very large amount of autumn cultivation can be 

 done, which materially lightens the work in spring, and throws the 

 work of the whole year forward. If there is one thing which, more 

 than another, tends towards successful farming, it is being well up with 

 the work at all seasons : the man who is well in front of his work on 

 the land is rarely an unsuccessful farmer. 



The advantages and disadvantages of steam cultivation are now 

 pretty well known. If horses and steam both had to be hired there 

 might be individual cases where it might be found more economical to 

 use steam, so far as it can be applied to the classes of operations done 

 by horses. Therefore, while this would be the case in the circumstances 

 mentioned, we would not recommend farmers to buy a set of steam 

 tackle for exclusive use on their own farms, unless these are very 

 large. The outlay is too great, for it is additional to that which it is 

 necessary to expend on the horse team to do other work on the farm, 

 such as carting. Of course, the engines may be used for threshing 

 the corn, and, as will be seen later on, to do most of the tilling and 

 weeding operations ; but the horses necessary for the work which must 

 be done by them at particular times of the year are, as a rule, suf- 

 ficient for the additional work at other seasons, with very little help. 

 Moreover, as horses cannot be bought and sold just as they are wanted 

 or not, they must be kept throughout the year. These remarks do 

 not apply so much to large estates, and it is on these that steam is 

 a most valuable aid, for when the engines are not at work on the 

 land there is generally something for them to do elsewhere. It pays 

 then to keep a first-rate man to attend to the machinery, though this 

 is not always thought to be necessary on a farm, because he has 

 little to do during the greater part of the year, and is looked upon 

 as being too expensive. An incompetent man is set to look after the 

 engine and the machinery, which soon get out of order and rapidly 

 deteriorate in value. Expensive machinery requires to be in good hands, 

 and those are the most successful with it who can do the greater part 

 of the repairs themselves. As farmers are rarely able to do this, it is 

 better that they should hire from those who can. 



Among the errors in the working of the land which have done much 

 to impair the reputation of steam, we may mention a few. Some of 

 these might have been guarded against, and certainly should be in the 

 future. It was strongly urged by men of high standing at the time 

 when steam was gaining repute in the " seventies," that high-backed 

 lands on the stiffer soils should be levelled and drained, and worked by 



