322 
Steam Cultivation. 
powerful, and they are attached two abreast to the best imple- 
ments furnished by Messrs. Howard and Hornsby. 
If the labour of a horse be set at 3s. Qd., and a four-horse team 
be supposed to average three-quarters of an acre per day, the cost 
of this deep ploughing will amount to 18s. 8(/. per acre. This to 
farmers of some districts will seem a fabulous sum, but we feel 
certain our assertion will neither merit nor meet with contradic- 
tion from our neighbours, when we affirm that the actual average 
cost of ploughing 9-inch deep on such soils is considerably over, 
rather than under, 20s. per acre. 
- The foregoing remarks, illustrating the composition and cha- 
racter of the soil to which our subsequent statements refer, are 
further necessary-, as affording data by which ultimately to com- 
pare the cost of its cultivation by horse and steam-power. 
To enter into the merits of the different rival makers and their 
various modes of applying steam to the cultivation of the soil, is 
for our present purpose as unnecessary as it would be invidious. 
There is ample scope for the employment of all, and, with varying 
circumstances and situations, each may possess some special re- 
commendation ; while the numerous facts already before the public 
will enable any intelligent man to choose the implement and mode 
of traction best adapted to the peculiarities of his farm. 
Our experience has been confined to cultivation with a Fowler's 
12 horse-power engine and balance-power, and consequently our 
remarks and deductions are entirely confined to, and drawn from, 
that experience. We do not disparage the success of other makers, 
and, however desirable it might be to draw a comparison between 
the results of the cost of the different systems in use, it would be 
extremely difficult to arrive at any reliable conclusion. But 
as to the beneficial results obtained no such difficulties present 
themselves; and if with Fowler's mode of application better crops 
are obtained, we may safely assume that there would be no ma- 
terial difference from the use of an implement on the Smith or 
Howard principle. ^ 
Our first essay in steam culture was made in the year 1860, — 
an era memorable to occupiers of clay, not only for the excess of 
rainfall,* but the absence of sun, when the continuous cloudy 
moist weather kept retentive soils in so wet and raw a condition, 
that the intervals in which they were in a state suitable for culti- 
vation were very brief indeed. 
We have heard it advanced as an argument in favour of steam- 
ploughing, that it may be carried on when the soil is too wet for 
the employment of horses. Our experience is, however, against 
this, for we have found it possible to flounder on with horses long 
• The average rainfall of the county for a series of years previous to 1860 was 
22*129 inches ; in that year the fall was 29 20. 
