System of Cultivation pursued. 
39 
have, undoubtedly, had a great deal to do with the success of 
the system. We may then refer to certain modifications which 
have been made from time to time. Chief among the former 
has been the adoption of steam cultivation, together with the 
perfect draining of the land, without which, there is little 
doubt, soil of this class could not have been got into and kept in 
the state of tilth in which it now is. It is hardly an exaggeration 
to say that no sooner is a crop off a field than the steam 
plough is in. Because of the capital roads, and the workable 
and regular size and shape of the fields, Mr. Prout is able to 
command the first hire of the steam tackle, and the work goes 
on steadily till finished and at less cost than would be the case 
had awkward fields and bad roads to be negotiated. As many 
as fifteen acres a day can in this way be ploughed to a depth 
of five or six inches. In earlier times Mr. Prout had his own 
steam tackle, but it is now found cheaper to hire, the present 
cost being 13.s. per acre. Regarded from the chemical point 
of view, it is clear that the constant stirring of the land not 
only brings it into a friable and easily worked condition, but 
also allows of the free percolation of moisture and circulation of 
air in the soil, whereby the dormant constituents are liberated 
and go to supply food to the plant. The perfect drainage 
established further prevents any stagnation of water in the 
land. 
The keeping down of weeds is another essential, and no 
one going over Mr. Prout’s farm can help being struck with the 
proof of good cultivation in this respect. Such a soil as that of 
Blount’s Farm would, were this essential neglected, soon lend 
itself to the inroad of weeds, and especially would this be the 
case under a system of continuous corn growing. In the case 
of wheat, horse hoeing is done once, and hand hoeing 
subsequently. Even as it is, it is found impossible, as a 
practical matter, to prolong the growing of corn crops 
indefinitely without an occasional break. On the Rothamsted 
and Woburn Experimental Farms, both wheat and barley have 
been grown (at the former for sixty and at the latter for 
twenty-nine years) without a break ; but this has only been 
accomplished by an expenditure in weeding and in cultivation 
which would not be justified under the conditions of ordinary 
farming. So Mr. Prout finds it well, after some six or seven 
crops of corn have been taken in succession, to interpose 
trifolium or, more generally, red clover, and then break this up. 
The money return from the sale of clover-hay, in consequence 
of being within reach of the London markets, has been so good 
as amply to justify the departure ; but, beyond this, the practice 
would, in the light of recent investigations into the ways in 
which clover derives its nitrogen from the atmosphere, seem to 
