612 Abstract Report of Agricultural Discussions. 
are better) than lands alongside of them whicli have been under tlie 
plough for years. 
With respect to drainage, I used Fowler's draining plough without 
pipes by horse-power in the year 1851, and the drains are good now, 
and the line of the drain can at the present moment be seen in the 
growing wheat, which is there much better and of a darker colour. 
This I attribute in a large measure to the aeration of the soil. 
During the last season I have used one of Fowler's steam draining- 
ploughs on the Manor Farm, and it has worked very successfully. 
The mode in which we Tise it without pipes is this : we start the mole- 
plough at the bottom of the iield in the main drain or ditch, and work 
it up-hill, so that no water ever lies in the drain at all, but the moment 
it gets into the di-ain it runs into the outfall and is gone. I only put 
three pipes to the mouth of each drain. This is when you have open 
main drains, which I consider preferable to close mains upon clay 
lands, on which the water runs off so hastily that it is difficult to 
drain any large extent on the other system. I have found that clay 
lands, drained by the draining-plough, have answered better than 
when manual labour has been employed, the land on each side being 
well shaken for at least a yard as the mole-plough passes on ; the land 
is thus raised, and the water percolates much more quickly through. 
It is not my intention to trouble the meeting with a long array of 
figures. I prefer confining my remarks to one day's work, of which I 
give you the cost. I think you will thus be enabled to arrive at a 
better conclusion than by my giving a lot of figures, because different 
farms imply diiferent land, different labourers, and different manage- 
ment altogether. Now, the prime cost of Fowler's 14-horse set is, I 
believe, about 945Z. My daily outlay is, for 
s. d. 
Engine-man ,. ..3 4 
Ploughman 3 4 
2 porter-men at 2s. 4 0 
Anchor-man 2 0 
1 man to supply water and coals 2 0 
1 horse 2 4 
Oil 10 
Coals 10 0 
28 0 
For wear and tear, breakages, and other expenses .. 12 0 
Total cost per day f 2 0 0 
Some gentlemen may think the allowance for a horse too low, but I 
have always been of opinion that a horse ouglit to be put at the. same 
price per day as a man, because the cost of his keep is about equal to 
the wages paid for a man's labour. The quantity of coals used is 
12 cwt. 
You will observe, by what I have stated, that I have no boys. I - 
prefer employing men only, believing it to be work hard enough to 
require men. VV ith this power j^ou will be enabled to plough an aero 
of land in one hour, or 8 acres per day. You will also have sufficient 
