84 On the Reduction of Horse Labour by single Carts. 



taken that tlie breeching be well tightened, or otherwise when a 

 cart stops suddenly and there is room for the horse behind to 

 thrust his neck over the tail-board, the points of his shafts will 

 be forced through it. The ends of the shafts must be kept as 

 short as possible. 



The value of minutiae to a person disposed to try the system 

 must be my excuse for inserting them. 



II. Saving effected. — I had no other object in view in entering 

 into this practice than lessening my expenses by reducing the 

 number of my horses, and in this I have succeeded beyond my 

 expectations. My farm of 370 acres, consisting chiefly of gravelly 

 and ferruginous sandy loams, was some years ago under very able 

 management, with a strength of 12 horses and 6 oxen. And 

 just previous to my taking it into my own occupation 16 horses 

 had been employed by another spirited cultivator. I have 

 gradually by the joint operation of Uyo horse-ploughs and single 

 horse-carts, reduced my number to 8 horses. My system not- 

 withstanding, is such as somewhat increases my aggregate amount 

 of horse-labour beyond that of the surrounding district — certainly 

 doing a great deal more carting work — though in a few points of 

 tillage, it is transferred to the manual labour. For instance, I 

 grow annually about 35 acres of mangel and 20 of potatoes, which 

 necessarily cause much carriage, and together with the other 

 ridged crops, also a good deal of horse-hoeing. I cart great 

 quantities of limestone road-scrapings from a distance of 3 or 

 4 miles. My carriage of coals, bricks, stone, draining-tiles, &c., 

 is extensive. I thresh with a four-horse machine : and soil clover, 

 &c., throughout the summer, with horses, and with cattle or 

 pigs. And I think I do not slight my tillage, being rather par- 

 ticular about a fine tilth, giving most of my barley-ground three 

 furrows ; and perhaps I lose more time than many other farmers 

 by being scrupulous about keeping off the land for some time 

 after a considerable fall of rain. On the other hand I expend 

 no horse-labour in cleaning the soil of couch grass, as I com- 

 mence forking it out of the stubbles as soon as they are cleared 

 of corn, and carry this on through the winter till the whole are 

 broken up ; having originally conquered any serious foulness by 

 one horse ploughing immediately after harvest. 



* My method of cleaning a " couchy " piece of land was, immediately 

 after the corn was cut (and that fag-reaped, or mowed close to the ground), 

 and the surface a little moist with rain, to plough it, with one horse, 3 inches 

 deep (this grass seldom spQars along beneath the surface at a greater 

 depth), to tear it (across the furrow) out of the mould with a cat's-claw drag, 

 completing the operation with harrow and roll; and, finally, to harrow 

 together the haulm and couch into regular rows, and again into cross-rows, 

 and to collect every bit of couch remaining on the surface by hand-raking 

 and picking. It was then, after carting the stuff home to bottom the yards. 



