34 



in Kijjyiit .and Fndia, in Anstralia and New Zea- 

 land. From what I saw last year of its working 

 both in Enj^land and Scotland, and the severe 

 and extensive trials to which it was subjected at 

 the Koyal Show at Leicester, the few misgivings 

 I might have had relative to its practical and ex- 

 tensive adaptation were certainly removed. Not 

 only is steam culture cheaper than horse, but it 

 can be made deeper and more thorough than it is 

 possible to do by the ordinary methods. It has 

 been said that the age of the plough, the old 

 characteristic sym1)ol of husbandry, is gradually 

 drawing to a close, and that this ancient imple- 

 ment will be superseded by the cultivator or 

 grubber. Without endorsing this opinion in its 

 entirety, there is no doubt some reason in its 

 favor. For many purposes, and in particular 

 conditions of the soil, the action of the grubber 

 is far more advantageous than that of the plough, 

 as a more perfect disintegration and commingling 

 of the whole mass is thereby effected ; and there 

 seems a growing tendency in an advancing agri- 

 culture to produce this thoroughly breaking up 

 and mixing the soil in preference to the simply 

 turning of it over, as is done in ordinary plough- 

 ing. There is, besides, an increasing conviction 

 among those that have adopted steam cultivation 



