to the Cultivation of the Land. 
227 
Let us now inquire liow far the purchase of the steam-ploujh 
promises to be a good speculation. Mr. Redman is sellin<; off 
3 horses and 13 oxen, leaving only 10 horses to perform the light 
tillage, carting, &c. : — 
The 3 h.orses, remarkably powerful and good £ s. d. 
animals, at 40? 120 0 0 
The 13 oxen, worth 17L 10s. each at present prices 227 10 0 
rrocceds of the sale £347 10 0 
So that the exchange of the draught animals for the steam- 
plough leaves little more than half the prime cost of the machine 
to be earned by its working. How long, therefore, will the 
machine be in clearing itself? Well ; in seven weeks of work, 
delays, and " first start " mishaps, the actual saving in the cost 
of ploughing amounted to at least 10s. per acre on 150 acres, that 
is, 75/. altogether. Of course the comparison is made with the 
expense of horse-labour plougliing to the same depth, and not with 
the shallow work, which has been hitherto effected. In ploughing 
for fallows, in spring tillage, in preparing for the root crop, in 
summer working the bare fallow, in breaking up the autumn 
stubbles, will there not be a greater acreage worked than has been 
done merely in this " wheat-seeding ?" and, at the same propor- 
tionate economy of operation, will not the farmer be yet more 
in pocket during the remainder of the year than has accrued 
during the aforesaid seven weeks ? It appears to me that, simply 
in the cheapness of working, the whole machinery will pay for 
itself in about a couple of years, and this result is certainly a 
startling one. 
Whether the 7-inch ploughing will pay for doing, instead of 
the 4^ or 5-inch, is scarcely open to question, there being such 
an amount of evidence in support of the practice ; and this is 
just a soil needing deep tillage, and quite solid enough to allay 
any apprehension as to the success of the wheat sown after such 
ploughing. What precise money value may be assigned to the 
additional benefit of having all the wheat sown, as it now is, a 
fortnight or three weeks earlier than it could have been without 
the steam-plough ; what may be the value of an advanced state 
of preparation for spring cropping and roots ; the gain by addi- 
tional working of fallows (in a district where each summer stirring 
is considered equivalent to 4 bushels increase in the yield of corn). 
What, again, the saving in cleaning by autumnal culture (for 
■which purpose more especially the Woolston cultivator is so 
highly regarded) I cannot undertake to put in figures. But 
whether these advantageous points be taken singly or together, no 
doubt remains as to the amazingly beneficial results derived 
Q 2 
