236 THE BOOK OF THE LANDED ESTATE. 



over four furrows, consequently one of the mould-boards was removed, 

 and they proceeded with the three mould-boards, and found that it was 

 much easier for the engines and did the work better. 



It is thought by many that it is much better to have the land ploughed 

 without paring and burning a thin portion of the surface, while others 

 are in favour of paring and burning. With the view of testing the merit 

 of both systems, I had about ten acres of the land pared and burned. I 

 let the paring by contract to two of our workmen at the rate of 1 per 

 acre, the conditions being that they were to pare off a turf from the sur- 

 face about one inch thick, and to have it done equally over the surface, 

 and all the turfs to be turned with their natural side downwards. It is 

 the custom to take off a much thicker turf than I have stated, but I con- 

 sidered that it would be beneficial to get the tough rooty surface burned 

 without taking too much of the vegetable matter away. When the 

 paring was finished, we then had the turfs turned over on the ground 

 and allowed them to lie for a few days, when they were in a good state 

 for burning ; and for this purpose we collected a few cart-loads of dead 

 Scots pine and larch branches from an adjoining plantation, and made 

 small heaps of these over all the pared ground, and then collected the 

 turfs and heaped them on the top of the branches, which were then set 

 on fire. Eacli heap was set on fire in the morning, and they were com- 

 pletely burned before the day closed. During the time of the burning 

 there were a few men in attendance to keep the turfs on the fires, and 

 to see that they did not go out. The ashes were then spread over the 

 surface of the ground, which of itself was a very good manuring. 



The steam-plough went on with its work, and ploughed at the rate of 

 five acres per day. From seven to eight acres could be ploughed per 

 day when working on cultivated land ; but the surface here was very 

 tough, and the roots of the heath collected between the mould-boards and 

 choked the plough, so that it would not work, and the engines had to 

 be stopped. This occurred at first very often, consequently there was a 

 loss of time ; but I afterwards sent a man to walk along with the plough, 

 and, with a common fork in his hand, to keep the roots from accumulat- 

 ing in the plough. This was an improvement, although we had occasional 

 stoppages in places where the roots were very strong. We also found 

 that, from the roots of the heath being strong, they caused the plough to 

 be thrown out at times, and kept it from going so deep as it would 

 otherwise have done. I therefore sent another man to sit upon the back 

 part of the plough, who would by his weight assist in keeping it down 

 in the soil, and also assist in getting it more quickly cleaned when it 

 choked. 



The part which we pared and burned was also ploughed by the 



