858 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



attending a correspondence, at this season, with one 

 in a remote insular locality. The four cases of 

 omission in Aberdeenshire probably do not together 

 involve a difference of 20 acres, and being unim- 

 portant, it is not necessary to defer the report on 



their account." 



This is ceitainly a most extraordinary report to 

 make. Those gentlemen south of the border who 

 see so many obstacles in the way of a statistical 

 inquiry into farm produce will read it with some- 

 thing of astonishment. It is no unintelligent jury 

 whose verdict has thus stamped the inquiry with 

 approval. Scotchmen have not hitherto been sup- 

 posed blind to the interests either of themselves or 

 of their country, and the whole agricultural body in 

 Scotland declare the inquiry desirable and useful. 



On the acreage which the following figures ex- 

 hibit Mr. Maxwkll says: "Only the correspond- 

 ing columns for the two years are contrasted; 

 but in one important point, even these do not 

 afford data for a fair comparison as regards the 

 gross results. The schedule for 1854 contained a 

 column for ' Grass under rotation,' and another 

 for ' permanent pasture;' it is difficult sometimes 

 to draw a line between these, and, consequently, a 

 considerable extent which had been, and again may 



Oat 



207,507 

 3809; Bere, 

 37,702; P 



93.364,1 



923,994 ; 



17,260 

 5456- 



Rye, 3692 

 * 37.308^ 



-18,118; Beans, 

 6169^; Vetches, 15,038j 

 18,442* ; Turnips, 449.372|~433,915J ; Potatoes, 

 146,963J — 143,0321 • Man^l 99.99i . 

 Carrots, 1191 — 1218, vawa^, j^w™ 



667<H ; Turnip seed, 1998| 



Mangel, 2299^ 

 Cabbage, 1200 1 



Flax, 346 H- 



Rape, &c, 1223} 



Giass and hay under rotation, 



1946f; 



1395^ ; 



■14294- ; 



26,128i; 



bare fallow, 22,462 



1,509,990* 



1 5 427,790|. 



The numbers of stock for 1855 are as follows : 

 farm horses over three years old, 121,182 ; farm 



: all other 



horses under three years old, 32,099 



milk cows, 298,446 ; 



of 



other 



sheep 



all 



cattle, 

 for 



aires 



horsps, 23,919 ; 



469,242; calves, 207,040; 



breeding, 2,707,847 ; sheep of all ages for feeding, 



1,138.501 ; lambs of 1855, 1,848,389 ; swine, 



134.349. Total stock 1855, 6,981,014; for 1854, 



6,043 384. 



And now comes the most important result of this 



Wheat. 



■the estimated produce of the year. 



4,848,679 buxhels ; Barley, 6,092,904 



Oats, 30,079,714—34,093,047 



under the plough, was formerly scheduled as 



This vear the returns of 



1 permanent pasture.' mis y 

 acreage are limited to tillage, the column for ' per- 

 manent pasture ' having been omitted, and instruc- 

 tions given to schedule as ■ Grass and hay under 

 rotation ' all land c which, in the ordinary rotation 

 or course of cropping of the farm, will sooner or 

 later be again broken up/ The result has been to 

 swell the column for Grass under rotation by the 

 transference to it of much which last year appeared 

 as permanent pasture ; the difference thus created 

 amounts to 82,200^ acres, and will be found to tell 

 more particularly in the dairy districts. 



" In other respects, it is conceived that the returns 

 for the two years generally correspond, if allowance 

 be made for such fluctuations in cropping as are 

 fairly attributable to, and must ever occur in con- 



mquiry- 

 5,062,540 



7,645,328 bushels; 



bushels; Bere, 556,876—645,418 bushels; Beans 

 and Peas, 1,183,647—1,081,263 ; Turnips, 6,461,476 

 —6,411,419 tons; Potatoes, 732,141—529,915 tons. 

 It will be seen from the above that the diminished 

 produce per acre of the Wheat crop is more than made 

 up by the increased extent grown this year, and that 

 while the loss on the Barley and Oats is consider- 

 able, yet taking Wheat and Potatoes and the 

 Turnips into the account there is nearly as much 

 food for man and beast in Scotland this year as 

 there was last year — that is to say, there has been 

 a full average produce. 



STEAM CULTIVATION. 



homestead altogether from the field 



Barley has 



4' 



and in 



sequence of, pt ices, weather, and other accidental 

 but inevitable influences. The green crops, parti- 

 cularly Turnips, show a large increase, indicating, 

 probably, a greater breadth in preparation for grain ; 

 but the extent under cereals is nearly the same, 

 though the distribution of the different crops varies. 

 Wheat has increased by 23,067^ acres. ~ " ' 

 decreased by 21,4263 acres. There is a trifling 

 difference in favour of Oats, and against the other 

 crops, but the gross returns for the two years, as 

 regards the acreage under Wheat, Barlev, Oats, Rye, 

 Bere, Beans, and Peas, come within 176 acres of 

 each other. In 1854 there were 1,374,51s 1 

 1855 1,374,6911 acres thus occupied/' 



A few words in explanation of the stock returns 

 are also necessary :— « The gross returns of stock at 

 first sight exhibit a startling excess over those of 

 last year, but the difference is almost exclusively 

 confined to horses and sheep, and is easily accounted 

 for. In 1854 there was but one column for horses, 

 under which in general only the animals employed 

 ontne farm were returned; now, there are three 

 columns embracing horses of all ages and descrip- 

 tions, and there is consequently a larger return. 

 1 he great difference, however, is in the number of 

 sheep. In 1854 there was no column for lambs, 

 *hich, by the instructions appended to the schedule, 

 should have been returned with ewes and wethers. 

 Many overlooked this direction, and, seeing no 

 mention of lambs in the schedule, omitted them ; 

 but, as there is now a special column, the return 

 has been general, reducing to a certain extent the 

 number of ewes and wethers, but adding to the 

 gross amount of sheep stock. The increase on the 

 total stock this year is 937,630— while that on 

 horses and sheep alone is 928,107." 



In the estimation of produce there is only one con- 

 sideration of importance which needs remark. Mr 

 Maxwell says : " Having ascertained that, in 1854, 

 the light or inferior grain, which is usually consumed 

 on the farm, had m many cases been excluded from 

 the estimates, directions were given to enumerators 

 to include it, by reducing it to its equivalent in good 

 grain, according to marketable value, and by addin* 

 it to the average produce per acre. To a certain 

 extent this interferes with a comparison between the 

 averages of the two years. It may be assumed that 

 the light gram was generally omitted last year, and 

 that a certain deduction must, therefore, on a com- 



Pa w- n v, ? u lowel from the averages of 1855." 



vvith these explanatory remarks we give the 

 figures so far as th« totals of the several columns in 

 the tables returned by Mr, Maxwell are concerned. 



amounts to 3,529,902* in 1855, 3,431,485* in 1854. 

 in the following returns the first amount given is 

 the |acrea K e of 1855, the second that of 1854: 

 Wheat, 191,283* — 168,216: Barlev 



It will be noticed in my last (p. 731) I separate the 



; considering the 

 objects sought to be obtained in each so totally dissimilar, 

 that the only link which binds the two departments 

 together is the receipt of made manure from the one, 

 and unmanufactured crops from the other. In the field 

 the object is to make a crop — a real living crop — which 

 demands more of attention and supervision than of 

 mechanism, but in the homestead the object is to manu- 

 facture a dead crop for market in some form or other, 

 which requires (precisely as in other manufactures of 

 dead material) more of mechanism than of attention. 

 In fact, that in this latter department mechanism is 

 more advantageous and necessary than man, and that 

 the more man is superseded in it the better for the 

 farmer, the labourer, and the country ; but in the 

 former, the more mechanism can be reduced and man 

 introduced, the better for the farmer and the country. 



Since I shall have occasion to make a liberal use cf 

 man, as a cheap and convertible species of mechanism, 

 for the composition of a steam-driven tillage machine, 

 allow me to urge a word or two more in his favour. 

 The hand of man is a substitute for manure (as proved 

 at Lois Weedon, Colne Engain, &c.) ; and manure is 

 the « mother of money" in the rearing of plants. 

 Again, if the working value of a man can be improved 

 he is far more profitable to a farmer than a horee ; he 

 requires only 2 acres to pay his year's wages, whereas 

 a horse requires six ; and the horse pays nothing back 

 to the farmer, whereas the man returns two-thirds of 

 his wages. A farmer pays a man 9s. on a Saturday 

 night, and before the week is past he has paid him back 

 65. for breadstuff. He also pays the horse 10s. on a 

 Saturday night ; but this voracious animal pays nothing 

 back save a few barrowsful of manure, not worth a 

 shilling. Besides it is highly desirable (when it can 

 be done) the farmer should grow customers as well as 

 corn. Farmers cannot exist without customers. 

 Neither horses nor mechanism in the field are after, 

 wards profitable customers. If our artificial manufac^ 

 tures were in any way superseded abroad, farmers 

 would have no customers. Still to urge, as some phi. 

 lanthropists do, that it is the duty of a farmer to 

 employ more labourers than he can turn to a useful 

 account, is one of the weakest arguments which can 

 be adduced 



them— that's the point. To demonstrate the possibility 

 of a solution to a great social problem, in conjunction 

 with steam cultivation, is also one of the main objects 

 of these letters. And from what I know of the general 

 disposition of the farmers of England, they would 

 willingly employ double the number of hands if euch 

 could be done with profit. I hope to be able to prove 

 that if man,' the labourer, be mechanically assisted, 



*u u°u I? (n ° W) la !^ nt P ° Wers be developed we 

 shall be able to cause him to perform all the varied 



operations of the field, reducing the horse-power re- 

 quired superseding expensive by inexpensive mechanism 

 rendering « manuring - in every way a most expensve 



article by cartage and first cort of procuring, JfethS 

 from at home or abroad, less expen'ive-in fact make 

 his increased employment in the field pay in e ervTav 

 I stated the object of the farmer in the fie \i I 



the cement, most essential to insure Success n«iV^ 

 or plant production, was "attention" «„ ™ • ■ 

 attention » and that' unremitting ^aUeWion cS 1 " 7 

 be had from the "head and hand" If i ld ? l * 





to show him how he can usefully employ 

 that's the point "" " - - 



by the farmer in the field. 



ny tne iarmer in the held <*r* l^+^I — I — 



& f eld and see w^^^HTS J 

 -why it , 8 that man cannot now do it and^SK 

 assistance he needa to enable him to do so \v h,t 



the held, and discover that (unlike the gardenert^ 

 farmer has only two descriptions of hardy nE < 

 grow— the one a Grass, the other a root-the fW 



re. 



hence the latter 



we might "broadcast" TL aJ — * * — care 



bed soil to flourish in : uence tne latter ou*ht al "" 

 to prove a sufficient preparation for the former *ZV 

 contained therein, without much extra labour ' Sn a! 

 preparation of the deep seed-bed is the grand con 8 M«? 

 tion. The next thing noticed is, that seed must hi' 

 serted in these prepared beds in drills, or rows a d T 

 nite distance apart, that we need not be nice inmeasur 

 the quantity, since the sowing scale has been proved^ 

 range (in the case of Wheat) from 3 pints to 3 p e k 

 and 3 bushels per acre : hence, with even moderate care 



' it down tubes to the soil the 

 only care needed in the operation being that you do 

 neither over-do it nor under-do it, according to the 

 quality of the soil. The next thing is hoein^between 

 the rows to keep down all weeds, and admit fresh air • 

 this operation does not require work by "measure* 

 ment"— the only mechanical qualification required 

 being the power to elevate or depress a lever-hoe so as 

 to accommodate its working to the inequality of the sur- 

 face soil. Harrowing, rolling, or compressing, irriga^ 

 tion, or manuring, require the same lever adaptation? 



Now, upon first perusal of this summary of the 

 secondary operations of the field (excluding tillage or 

 first cultivation for the moment), does it strike the 

 mind there is one which the ordinary skill of man could 

 not accomplish ? To this question we should all of us 

 say : theoretically viewed there is not. But then things 

 may be true in theory which nevertheless could not be 

 carried out in practice. Here is an illustration. Archi- 

 medes is reported to have said : " With a lever he 

 could lift the world ! " Now, this was strictly true in 

 theory, nevertheless quite impracticable, unless he was 

 first provided with a lever long enough and strong 

 enough, and could have the planet Mars as a fulcrum. 

 Hence, in our proposals, we must take especial care 

 that theory and practice do not fall out ; and the only 

 way to avoid so disagreeable an event is to provide the 

 means beforehand for practically working out that 

 which is proved to be theoretically possible. 



By bringing forward these secondary operations of 

 our field practice first, and claiming your assent as to 

 whether men, when mechanically assisted, could not 

 execute the whole of them with sufficient accuracy and 

 efficiency, you will observe I have adopted the same 

 course as they did at Vienna, but unlike them I hope we 

 shall not fall out on the first and most important point, 

 which we are now about to discuss, viz., tillage, or the 



art of obtaining a well pulverised seed-bed. 



Tillage. — "We will take a clay soil, because it is the 



most difficult to render into a fit seed-bed by the present 

 mechanical treatment ; and we further select it because 



if we get through the problem of its cultivation, no 

 farmer would deny but that the same mode of manipu- 

 lation would readily render a sandy or light soil into a 

 fit seed-bed ; in fact that with the same power employed, 

 we should be able to execute twice the quantity of the 

 latter, as of the former, viz., one acre of sand, as easily 

 as half an acre of clay. 



The first question put by an inquiring inventor would 

 be this, viz., what principle of mechanical treatment is 

 the best to pursue to reduce a hard body to a pulverised 

 or powdered condition, with the least expenditure of 

 power on the instant ? The answer to this is, that 

 method which involves the principle of overcoming the 

 labour by degrees. Now to illustrate this "principle 

 of operation on hard materials by degrees, we will 

 adduce two well-known examples. The one is tn 

 carpenter— the other the sawyer. The carpenter has a 

 hard surface to operate upon, and he desires to remove 

 the surface of a piece of wood to the depth of !,th ot an 

 inch. How does he proceed? ~ - —^ the share 



men. now aoes ne proceed s uoes ne »«j uov . -. 



of his ploughing plane to the full depth of the |th require^ 



and then 

 instant 



by an 

 the sweat burstin 



3e expenditure of power on tj 

 ing from his brow with the effort 



and the tool struggling beneath his hands to uevia^ 

 from the path he wishes it to travel in, does he seek uy 

 one upheaving stroke to remove the " ribbon 0I r . 

 surface ? No, he does nothing of the sort ; he adjust 

 his cutting point to a shallow depth, and then dj 

 slight expenditure of power on the instant, he upj 

 a thin shaving, and by repeating the stroke o\ ^ 

 surface he removes a series of shavings until the req 

 depth be obtained. Again, how does the sawyer F 

 ceed ? His object is to reduce a certain * mm * 

 hard wood to the " dusty " or pulverulent state. 

 he adapt his saw so as to break off by a vast ex]* 

 ture of power on the instant large lumps at ones 

 and then taking up a hammer or « roller" reduce ^ 

 lumps to powder ! No, he does nothing of the so ^ 



his tool that it takes but slight how . u 



so manages 



material, and then by repeated strokes lie cuts ' » d 

 material into "sawdust" at once, thus saving tw*= j 



operation of hammering or rolling. Now aitu< 6^ 

 have selected these two illustrations, they are not ; - _ 

 in point in one respect, since the " method o °F. r n j ing 

 I shall propose to you, will he more analogous to gi . 

 by means of a millstone, which, as every farmer >^ 

 consists of a great number of horizontal rauii, i ^ 

 radii our steam-tillftge machine (when in opera* • / 

 «,.. M .^* ™- Still l«fc us see what proh table »lt 



represent one. 



tion we can make 



Still let us see what p- - 



of the two above described 











