Steam Cultivation. 
333 
wheat have been sown under oui- direction on the aforesaid 
impervious soils, after steam-cultivation, and although the high 
ridges are now nearly levelled, only 15 acres of the whole area 
is water-furrowed, and that at thirty yards apart. In no instance 
during the rains of the late winter has there been any apparent 
necessity for these furrows nor any appearance of surface-water 
stagnating, while the soil is firm and dry under foot, and the 
wheat-plants look extremely vigorous and healthy. 
Texture of Soil. 
To the inquiry, " Has a deeper and more perfect tilth been 
obtained ? " we have no hesitation in replying in the affirmative ; 
for whether the implement used be a phmgh, digger, grubber, or 
" smasher," or the mode of applying it be roundabout or by direct 
traction, if steam be the motive power, a deeper tilth, a better 
tilth, and a much more perfect comminution of the soil is obtained 
than could possibly be got by the use of horses. 
Who will doubt this who has witnessed the action of a Fowler's 
plough, fitted with digging breasts or Cotgreave's subsoiling 
tines, tearing and throwing up the soil loosely and roughly, and 
leaving it in the best possible condition for a winter fallow ? or 
again, a Smith's scarifier, smashing up a foul clover-layer when 
so dry and hard-baked as utterly to defy the best efforts of" man 
and his strongest horse-team, but yet leaving the soil, when 
so broken up, in such a condition that the first fall of rain 
will reduce it to a tilth more beautiful by far than could 
ever be obtained by the most assiduous application of artificial 
power? By Fowler's digger, so deep and perfect is the 
tilth obtained, and so loose and open does our deep 10-inch 
autumn work lie, that to ride a horse over it is a matter of 
some difficulty, and to give him his head over one of our 500 
yards lengths would exhaust the energy of the most fiery animal. 
The foxhunters have found this out, and we have now no fear of 
poaching by their horses' feet, as the most ardent of these gentle- 
men will pause before venturing a second time across one of our 
60-acre steam-ploughed fields. 
When preparing a clover-stubble for wheat, we prefer to 
the scarifier the plough with common mouldboards, which 
ensures a perfect turning over of the furrow, a matter of 
some consequence, unless scarifying can be done while the 
sun is powerful enough to destroy vegetation. From the speed 
at which the implement travels it so shakes and shatters the 
furrow, that we consider land steam-ploughed when dry to be as 
good as half-harrowed. Indeed, we estimate the results of one 
ploughing to be equal to a ploughing and dragging with horse- 
