218 
Application of Steam Power 
During the year after tliis letter was written Mr. Randall has 
steam cultivated, I think, about 300 acres. The condition of the 
ropes is this : the original ropes liad been turned end for end upon 
their respective drums, but, owing mainly to the small diameter 
and defective form of the snatchblocks, kept breaking so conti- 
nually when used for great areas of ground that new lengths were 
obliged to be added in order to be able to work 20 acres without 
removing the windlass and turning the engine round. There 
may be now some 400 to 500 yards of new rope, and perhaps 
250 yards of old rope, upon each barrel, so that the old portion 
is in use only for very long lengths of field. Since the addition 
of new rope, about 120 acres had been done when I saw the 
tackle ; the iron-wire rope, very well coiled, was perceptibly 
worn and polished by the friction, though the strands were not 
flattened, crushed, or opened. Mr. Randall considers that the 
cost incurred by the rope alone will be Is. per acre, which, how- 
ever, I think will prove to be too low an estimate. Reckoning the 
working expenses, and allowing 15 per cent, for wear and tear 
of the tackle and the engine (which is a good allowance, seeing 
that the engine is used for otlier purposes, and will last a very 
long time), the total cost may be set at about 12s. an acre for 
the 4 acres a day done on the strong land, and say 8s. or less 
per acre for the more expeditious light-soil operations. The 
apparatus, having been purchased in July, 1857, has worked for 
two summer and autumnal tillage seasons, besides some early 
winter and spring operations ; and Mr. Randall is quite satisfied 
as to its great value and profitableness, but now feels the want 
of a 2 or 3-furrow turnover-plough for burying manure and for 
various other processes which the simple scuHIing cannot so well 
accomplish. 
Though I have given the results of steam cultivation on some 
very extensive farms, as practical illustrations of the %vorking of 
the Woolston method, yet, without referring to VVoolston itself, my 
essay would be too much like the play with " the part of Hamlet 
omitted." Tlierefore, a few statements are required respecting the 
management in tliis first instance of a whole farm tilled by a 
steam-engine. Mr. Smitli farms at Little VVoolston, near Bletchley, 
Bucks, about 200 acres; 110 of which are arable, partly a 
hilly cold clay, and the remainder a mixed gravelly clay. The 
ruinous dead fallow is abolished, yet the farm is a pattern of 
cleanly culture ; and without purchasing artificial manures, very 
heavy yields both of wheat, barley, pulse-crops, and roots, are 
grown with a regularity and certainty previously unknown. 
This strong soil is cliemically rich in the mineral nutriment 
required by vegetation, but naturally in a defective mechanical 
condition, needing only to be kept open and porous, and per- 
