French Expenmcntal Farm at V^aiijoiirs. 
293 
unloaded is from 10 to 16 yards below the level of the fields, tlu; 
cost of working the moveable engine and pump comes to only 
one-fifth of the total cost of the apparatus. With a fixed engine 
it would be one-sixth, and with a horse-power only about one- 
tenth of the whole charge. In spite of this, of the high price of 
coals at Paris, and also of the drawback that our apj)aratus has 
not been in full employment — performing only half or one-third 
of the work which it will have to execute in future — it neverthe- 
less costs us only Ifr/. to lift and spread one ton of liquid 
manure ; of which cost the coals, oil, and labour come to \d., 
and the interest and wear and tear (8^ per cent, being allowed 
for wear and tear). The application of gravitation would then 
save ;Jf/. per ton; yet this rate, low as it is, is quite exceptional, 
as the following facts will prove. 
In the South of France a considerable extent, not only of 
gardens but also of arable fields, is irrigated by machines, set in 
motion by the wind, by steam, and even bv horses and mules. 
From many data collected on the spot, M. Gasparin (' Cours 
d'Agr.,' vol. ii. p. 457) gave the following estimate of cost. 
The cost of raising to a height of 13 feet the 10,000 tons of 
water required for irrigating a hectare (2^- acres) of land is : — 
£. s. d. 
By liorse-powcr 5 26 
,, wind from 3?. 4s. to 8 0 0 
,, steam-power (5-liorsc) 1 18 6 
„ stcam-i:o\ver (4'ri-liorse) 1 12 6 
When it is a question of applying, not 10,000 tons of water, 
but a fertilising manure, which wlien diluted with, say four 
times its bulk of water, will not exceed 100 tons per acre, or at 
the outside 140 tons, it is evident that, even if the cost of pumping 
were two or three times greater than this, it would still be an 
iiisigsuficant item in tlie expenditure. 
The respective cost of the liquid manure, Avlren applied at 
\ aujours by barrel and steam-power, is as follows : — 
Cost ^jer Ton of Liquid Manure laid on hj Carta. 
Fr. c. 
Prime cost of " soil " per barge-load of 40 tons .. 42 0 
Canal charges 10 GO 
Mean cost of cmptving barge (15 fr.) and carting 
say 800 yards * \." 59 35 
111 95 
Or 2fr. 80c. (nearly 2s. M.) per ton. 
The state of the roads made this difference, that when they 
were bad we were obliged to harness three horses to a cart. 
* The cost is estimated for two distances of 540 and lOSO yards. When the 
roads are bad, the cost is increased by one-third, and it varies from 22 to 45 
francs. 
