Drainage by Steam Power, 6i 



bill, but do irreparable damage to the machinery by ignorant 

 management. The difference of the consumption of coal due 

 to good and bad stoking is strikingly shown by the trials of 

 enginemen at the agricultural shows. It may be assumed 

 that the men who enter for these competitions consider them- 

 selves as superior to the ordinary drivers, or they would not 

 enter for the competition. Selecting two of these competi- 

 tions as samples, with an interval of ten years between, it will 

 be seen that there was a marked improvement on the part of 

 the men in the work done. Some portion of this may be 

 due to the difference in the engines, but it would not amount 

 to much ; and it is fair to presume that the managers would 

 take care that the engine provided for the trials should be a 

 competent machine. 



At the trials at the Lincolnshire Agricultural Show at 

 Spalding in 1872, with an 8-horse-power portable engine, 

 fifteen competitors entered the list. The best used coal at 

 the rate of- 7*86 lb. per horse-power per hour, the worst 

 20-2 lb., the average of the whole being ii\ lb., a difference 

 of 61 per cent, between the best and the worst 



At Gainsborough in 1883 there were nineteen competitors. 

 The best man ran the engine with a consumption of coal at 

 the rate of 6*jy lb. per horse-power per hour. The worst 

 used 8 '95 lb. The average of the whole was 7*69. There 

 was thus a difference of 2* 18 lb. of coal per hour in the 

 driving of this engine by picked men. Taking the ordinary 

 type of drivers of agricultural engines, it may safely be taken 

 that there would be a difference of at least 10 lb. of coal per 

 horse-power per hour. With an engine running at lo-horse- 

 power, this would amount to over a ton in 24 hours. Beyond 

 this would be further waste in oil and damage to machinery 

 by want of skill or carelessness. 



With regard to the quantity of coal consumed, the Dutch 

 engineers in their contracts generally stipulate that this shall 

 not exceed 6 '60 lb. of coal per horse-power per hour of 



