404 Report of the Stewards of Implements at the Battcrsca Show. 
permission to Mr. J. S. Evendcn, of Meopham, to put his system 
of steam-cultivation to work. 
This apparatus consisted of an 8-horse power steam-engine, 
which drew two Kentish turnwrest ploughs at the rate of 280 
feet per minute ; the work was well done, but the number of 
hands employed — 8 men and 1 boy — and the time occupied in 
turning at the headlands, rendered it too expensive for prac- 
tical use. 
A careful examination of the improved machinery now brought 
into use will show that advances have been made sufficient to 
prove that steam-cultivation is now becoming a great fact. 
Still more requires to be done. A deficiency of strength in 
some parts of the machinery employed is apparent, and will 
undoubtedly attract the attention of the manufacturers. Most 
of the improvements tend to lessen wear and tear, and to give 
greater facilities in Avorking ; yet it seems that the actual cost of 
doing a given amount of work is not materially lessened, and 
the calculation of the cost of working, deduced from the experi- 
ments made at Boxted Lodge in 185G, is not now far from the 
truth, viz., 7s. ^\d. per acre, for ploughing land to the depth 
that it could be ploughed by three horses. 
It is desirable that the owners of steam ploughs and cultivators 
should keep a journal into which should be entered the daily- 
practical results, stating the number of hours of working, the 
quantity of land ploughed or cultivated, the time lost by inter- 
ruption for repairs, and the nature and cost of those repairs. 
Such records would be' more valuable for the Society's Journal, 
and as <a guide to the practical farmer, than reports of trials and 
experiments, which must necessarily be too short to obtain all 
the facts required. 
In conclusion, a caution may be given, which may prove " a 
word in season " to the users of steam cultivators. We find that 
Mr. A's cultivator is worked by a steam-engine of 10-horse 
power ; Mr. B's by one of 8-horse power. Mr. C, having one 
of Messrs. 's engines, may say to himself, "Why should I 
not purchase a set of cultivating tackle, and work it by my 
steam-engine ? " For his guidance, it may be stated that few 
sets require less than the actual power of 20 horses, and the 
additional power is obtained by working steam of great pressure. 
It thus becomes necessary that Mr. C should inquire particularly 
as to the strength of his boiler ; for unless care and caution be 
exercised, many mishaps, such as from the bursting of boilers 
when they become worn, will assuredly take place. 
