Continuous Corn Grovcimj. 
57 
e ven with tlie steam-work. The enginemen have a standing wage 
ranging from 135. to 20s., and receive besides a premium of ?)d. 
per acre for dragging, 6f?. for cultivating, Is. for ploughing, 
Ix. *od. for subsoiling. The principal carter has 3s., the second 
I'v. G</., per dav. These, with 2 bovs, constitute the entire ordi- 
narv working-staff of the farm of 700 acres. This economy alike 
of horse and hand-labour is a very striking feature of the farming 
at Blunsdon. Mr. Middleditch's predecessors on the farms he 
occupies used 36 horses ; he generally has 5 or 6. The cost of 
manual labour for the arable land throughout the district is up- 
wards of 30s. per acre ; including enginemen, carters, and extra 
hands hoeing, his is under 20s. 
Steam has greatly contributed to Mr. Middleditch's successes : 
it has enabled him to have his work done thoroughly and 
economicallv, his land ploughed up early, and, whilst it was 
dry, his seed put in well and seasonably. In 1874 he began 
drilling with five pecks of wheat on 20th September, increased 
his seeding to about six pecks throughout October, and had 
finished 450 acres of planting by the first week in November ! 
To make the best use of those few precious weeks which imme- 
diately follow harvest, he has recently purchased a second set of 
steam-tackle, consisting of a pair of Messrs. Fowler and Co.'s 
14-horse-power engines, with ploughs, cultivator, &c. This 
will render him independent of the six or eight horses which 
he has been in the habit annually of purchasing or hiring in 
autumn, and using for getting his seed in. Although one pur- 
chased horse went quite wrong this autumn, the loss on the 
seven bought — and sold after ten weeks' hard work — was only 
31/. The perfecting of the steam-drill, which is now heavy, 
difficult to steer, and only 1\ feet wide, will considerably expe- 
dite and economise autumn labour. Mr. Middleditch believes 
that a steam-drill will shortly be produced, probably in two 
sections, each 10 feet wide, capable of sowing 40 acres a day, 
putting in both seed and manure, and with drags attached 
before and behind. 
During the earlier years of his occupation Mr. Middleditch was 
so confident of the power of steam to cleanse foul land, and so 
anxious to secure full annual returns, that he regularly cropped 
the whole of his arable area, and trusted to autumn culture to 
get rid of the rubbish he had inherited. In 1873 almost the 
whole farm was devoted to corn ; but wet seasons favoured 
weeds; and in 1874, 90 acres were in bare fallow; in 1875, 
43 acres will be under mangold or potatoes, about 20 acres in 
summer-fallow after vetches. As at Sawbridgeworth, wheat has 
hitherto been the staple produce, five crops have sometimes 
followed in direct succession. The strong deep land is pro- 
