to the CiiUivation of the Land. 
185 
these blades or hoes slice or shave off portions of the soil, leaving 
the stubble, weeds, &c., exposed on the surface ready for extrica- 
tion and removal : when lowered to G or 7 inches, or any greater 
depth, the ground is cut and broken into small spits, which are 
mostly inverted as the shares emerge from the soil behind the 
cylinder, the subsoil in 10-inch deep digging (or in 12 to 16-inch 
work, which is practicable) being upturned and intermingled with 
the top staple, while the surface-sward or stubble is sufficiently 
well buried. The land is reduced to any degree of fineness, 
according to the number of knives in use. I have seen its work 
on tenacious soil, and can testify to the truth of the following 
terms employed by various well-known practical men to describe 
what, in fact, resembles most the forking or digging of spade- 
husbandry. 
" I have never seen work put out of hand and left in such a perfect and 
complete state for the operations of the agriculturist, by cither spade, plough, 
cultivator, or any other imj^lement I La\-e ever seen in use. My friend Mr. 
Benson (the Duke of Devonshire's accent) was equally pleased." — Mi: Joseph 
Tiffen, of Skirhxiigk, Hull, agent to Mr. BetheJl, Sept. 23, 1857. 
" The cultivator certainly docs its work most perfectly, leaving the land 
sufficiently i)ulverized to be quite ready to receive the seed, provided the land 
be free from couch-grass." — Mr. Geonje Wood, of South Dalton, Beverley, 
Jan. 14, 1858. 
" My opinion of the steam-cultivator is that the work will never be excelled 
by steam power, but that the machinery can be and will be simplified." — Mr. 
John Almack, of Beverley, Jan. 17, 1858. 
" I can only give my ojiinion on the state of the land after the operation, 
which I consider quite equal to two ploughings, and on some sorts of land 
equal to three ploughings." — Mr. Abraham Lennard, of Burstwick Grange, 
Hull, Jan. 16, 1858." 
" Respecting the steam-cultivator, when working at Broadgate farm, 1 was 
very much pleased with the way in which the soil was pulverized, and left 
light, open, and porous. My friends and I thought the work equal to 
two plougliings, a dragging, and three or four harrowings, well worth 11. per 
acre." — Mr. Thomas Stephe^ison, of Broadgate, Beverley, Jan. 20, 1858. 
" I have seen the cultivator working at differeiit times during the last two 
3'ears ; once on a stubble-field of strong clay land, during a wet season in the 
autumn of 1856. It pulverized and left the land open and free for the full 
action of the atmosphere, and lighter than if it had been dug by the spade or 
tilled by anj^ other implement, and fully worth 20s. ]ier acre. Again, on a 
lighter soil, in dry summer weather, the work was equally satisfactory, part of 
the land made excessively hard by being carted over being so pulverized and iu 
such fine tilth as to be ready for sowing witli any description of crop. The great 
advantage of the machine is its being so easily steered, and turning so short 
round that it is able to do the headlands without the assistance of any 
other implement. Another advantage is, that when the land is cultivated 
by the machine, it does not ' set to the sole in wet weather,' as it does 
when acted upon by ploughs and harrows." — Mr. John Turner, of Bever- 
ley, Jan. 25, 1858. 
The principal objections against this machine are these : — the 
weight is no less than 10 tons, and no matter how broad may be 
the tires of the bearing-wheels, they sink into soft ground, not 
