426 
Steam Culture. 
In at least two or three counties adjacent to his own his system 
has taken root, and is spreading from several centres. 
In the nature of the investment required he has a decided 
advantage. The engine used is just such an one as would be 
desirable for other uses. If the rope wears out rather fast, the 
cost lies within a limited compass ; the rest of the tackle is 
reported by Mr. Pike to be " very durable," and to cost " very 
little for repairs in comparison with the engine." 
Thus, if we assume that the engine already exists on the farm, 
the rest of the investment and risks are of moderate dimensions, 
involving an additional outlay of only 250/., of which 100/. may 
probably be replaced by the sale of horses. Moreover, this 
system, as far as it goes, is adult ; if rather more rough, it is 
ready ; and, moreover, fields and roads are, comparatively speak- 
ing, ready for it. It is not susceptible of much fartlier improve- 
ment, and therefore not liable to much change. 
If throughout these pages the name of the inventor has been 
used rather than that of the exhibitor of this cultivator, it has 
been from a desire to give Mr. Smith his due, without putting a 
slight upon others. 
The competency of this cultivator depends chiefly on our 
ability to prepare for wheat, or make a fallow without inverting 
the soil, a point on which opinions seem much divided. On the 
one hand experience reminds us that Mr. Pusey was over-san- 
guine in the hopes he expressed in Journal, vol. xi. p. 424, tScc, 
of superseding for the future the numerous ploughings of the ortho- 
dox fallow, by new and early cultivation, so long as horse-power 
alone was to be depended on. On the other hand, we must not 
forget the greater velocity, as well as greater depth, at which 
steam- power works. If only we can produce such a dislocation 
and disruption of the soil that the lumps shall not run together 
again under the influence of wet, we have no longer any object 
in turning in weeds to plough them out again. 
That there are soils and seasons for which steam-power is 
effectual to this end, where horse-power would be defective, 
hardly admits of a doubt ; the debate can only turn on the limits 
within which this distinction is applicable : my impression is 
that ultimately they will not be found narrow. 
As regards season, from the middle of June to the end of 
August, perhaps, there is no soil on which " smashing up " will 
not make a most effectual and economical fallow. Our laudable 
pursuit of heavy root-crops has in part put this point out of 
our sight ; it has been recalled to my own observation by a 
practice of breaking up three-year old sainfoin layer as soon 
as the hay is carried. This layer is invariably and inevitably 
