of the Liquid Manure of a Farm. 15 
The annual working-charges liavc next to be calculated, and 
these will vary widely with di(ferent men. Some there are who 
fail to perceive anything wrong until matters arrive at a climax ; 
while others, more observant, and possessing mechanical taste, 
at once, at the very commencement, detect the least thing out of 
order. The ear of the latter at once discovers anything amiss — 
a loose bolt or a heated bearing, for instance ; while the attention 
of the former is not aroused until some wheel or other has perhaps 
been deprived of sundry teeth, or the whole machinery is reduced 
to utter confusion : so much depends on care and management. 
The subjoined may be considered a fair estimate : — 
£. s. d. 
Interest and depi-eciatiou at 1h per cent, on 214Z. 15s. Qd. 16 1 9 
Coals, 10 tons at 15s 7 10 0 
Wages, half engineman's time at 3s. on 50 days .. .. 3 15 0 
Labour, ditto at 2s 5 0 0 
Kepairs 5 0 0 
;- 37 G 9 
N.B. Half the engineman's time is charged only, as it is presnmcd he will 
be partly occupied ou smith or wright's work while the engine is going. 
This amount, divided by the 10 acres in constant use, gives a 
yearly charge of 3/. 14.?. Id. per acre ; and for this sum a con- 
stant growth of grass is secured through the summer ; each acre 
receives ten or twelve dressings of water and of manure, consisting 
in the aggregate of from 800 to 1000 tons, and yielding in return 
a fourfold produce ; while the fixed expenses, such a^ rent and 
taxes, ploughing and seed, remain the same as under the pasturing 
system. A centrifugal pump and gearing to throw the same 
quantity of liquid would cost about 25/. Tanks might also be 
roughly constructed by a tenant, as before mentioned, for about 
half the sum charged, the soil excavated often being worth, as a 
* In this amount is included payment for the use of a steam-engine working at 
4-horse power for 50 days. 
The 1 jO;. which is allowed for the cost of the engine will not supply a loco- 
motive such as will be most generally available for farm purposes. Irrigation is 
only charged with one-sixth of this cost, or 25/., on the supposition, rarely if ever 
realised, that a farm-engine works 300 days in a year. 
On this 25/. 7| per cent, is allowed for interest and depreciation, and about 2i 
per cent. (5/. on 214/.) for repairs, and thus we arrive at a conclusion which assigns 
21. 10s., or Is. per day, as payment for the use of a steam-engine. If four or five 
times this sum be allowed, the merits of this question will not be materially affected, 
and such instances of low estimates seem to be the rule rather than the exception 
in our practice. 
Most English farmers will consider that the cost of boarded floors ought to be 
added to this estimate, for most exceptional must be the want of straw which 
would lead them to provide these for their stock except with some ulterior view to 
the use of liquid manure. — P. H. F. 
