620 Abstract Report of Agricultural Discussions. 
■upon heavy lands. In oiu- district there is a large tract of hilly 
coimtry called the Cotswolds, the soil of which is very light and very 
poor, and not more than 5 inches deep. Does he not think that the cost 
of steam cultui-e on such land would very far exceed the cost of horse 
cultm'e ? You will remember that you cannot plough deeper with the 
steam engine there than with horse-power, on account of the character 
of the subsoil. At the farm connected with the College of Cirencester, 
the steam plough is used ; but the soil there is deeper, and you can 
hardly call it the same soil as that of the Cotswolds, upon which light 
soil I have never yet seen a steam-plough in operation. 
Mr, Bkadshaw (Chairman of the Central Farmers' Club) said, that 
he commenced the work of steam cultivation on the 15th of February, 
18G1, upon an occupation of 400 acres of arable land, in the county 
of Surrey, on the borders of Sussex, and he calculated that at the end 
of the present year his steam engine and tackle would all be paid 
for. The price per acre of smashing-up came to 4s. lid. for the 
first operation ; 4s. S^d. for the second, and 4s. Id. for the third. 
But the same work could not have been performed by horse-power 
without the aid of 12 horses, besides manual labour at the cost, as 
he calculated, of 12s. an acre. He formerly employed 16 horses; 
he now used 10, had his land under perfect control, and at the end of 
this year his steam machinery would be free. He was a warm advo- 
cate of smashing up rather than ploughing ; indeed, he would never 
plough any land except red clover ley. He made this exception 
that he might have the full benefit of the imder-growth of roots, which 
contained a large portion of carbon, and when decomposed fi- 
nished the best description of manure for wheat. He had this 
season made a comparative trial between land which had been 
merely smashed up and made fallow, and laud which had been 
similarly treated and in addition ploughed for wheat. The wheat 
growing on the imploughed land looked much better than that 
whereon the plough had been used. The couch ujjon some of his 
land formerly measm-ed a foot and a-haK in length ; yet not a 
particle of it was now remaining in the field which had been 
steam-cultivated twice. Yet he must ventm-e to limit the use of 
smashing up, though he knew he stood in opposition to Mr. Smith, 
who was, in fact, an enthusiast. He would not advise any man to 
smash-up his land with steam tines in the autumn, imless he did it 
early enough to eradicate perfectly and destroy the weeds. He would 
rather plough 3 inches deep, and smash-up in the spring wiili a steam- 
cultivator ; then he should obtain the finest preparation for swedes or 
mangolds that he could desire, and that he had done this year. His 
land was of various descriptions ; some very heavy (much heavier than 
the land about Bedford referred to by Mr. Dent) ; some very good light 
friable land : where there was heavy land they had had to go slower, the 
resisting power being greater ; and where there was light land they 
might employ steam-culture with equally beneficial efiect, because alL 
they had to do was to extend their implements, and thus they woidd 
break up more land, 
Mr. Dent : What was the cficct upon light-land crops ? 
Mr. BuADSHAW had lately visited the light-land fai-m of a neighbour, 
