488 
Farm Repoi ts. 
With so many demands, Mr. Bomford has occasionally founrl 
it a little difficult to arrange with the farmers who hire his 
tackle respecting their order of precedence ; but now he gene- 
rally works one district at a time, and leaves all arrangements 
to be made with the foreman ; but subject to this division of 
service for convenience of locality, he adheres strictly to the 
rule of " first come, first served." 
On his own farm, the steam-tackle is brought into use imme- 
diately after harvest. For roots he prefers deep ploughing 
where no farmyard manure is used, otherwise he restricts it to 
a depth of 9 inches. On strong land a four-furrow plough does 
from 8 to 10 acres this depth during a day of ten hours ; but on 
light land a six-furrow plough is used, and gets through from 
12 to 15 acres per day. Cultivating is now done with one of 
Fowler's patent turning cultivators. This is a very powerful 
implement, and will smash 15 acres per day of strong land, the 
first time with seven tynes in ; and 20 acres per day of liglit 
land, or crossing the strong land, with 11 tynes in. I saw this 
implement at work on a very heavy piece of ground, and it 
certainly seemed a wonderful example of deep cultivation under 
adverse circumstances. In walking after this implement, one 
moment you might be poised on a pinnacle, with barely room 
for the toe of your boot, and the next sink down to your knees 
in a perfect sea of tilth. No doubt much of this was due to the 
power used, two 14-horse-povver engines, and the great improve- 
ment is due to the introduction of the "turn-round" principle. 
In steam-cultivation on a clay farm the great desideratum is 
to get all the work done as soon as possible, certainly before the 
land gets wet; no effort is therefore spared to accomplish this 
object, and by the middle of October every stubble has received 
its quota of autumn cultivation. The light land, however, is 
more tractable, and therefore furnishes a certain amount of work 
during the winter for the steam-tackle, which may really be said 
to follow the sheep. The spring work does not commence until 
after the spring green-crops have been eaten off, so that it cannot 
actually begin until about the first week in April, and it then 
progresses slowly until the middle of May. 
As tackle will not last for ever, it may be of interest to learn 
the calculations of so experienced a man as Mr. Bomford foi 
wear and tear of machinery, interest of capital, &c. He calcu- 
lates on the following scale : — 
Interest on capital expended .. .. 5 per cent. 
Kepairs (on account of wear and tear) 7 per cent. 
Redeeming fund 5 per cent. 
The last-named item deducted annually would repay the capital 
in fourteen years, which, therefore, subject to the other charge^ 
