Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/343

Rh IMPLEMENTS.] A G K I C U L T U II E 317 engine which has displaced them, and nearly double what Mr Arnot has actually incurred when he deducts his profits on its hire. &quot; A clay land farm near Bedford (the Woolston or Bed ford apparatus), the Tithe Farm of Stevington, occupied by Mr William Pike, is a tract naturally of poor clay soil. The extent farmed by Mr Pike has till lately been about 475 acres, of which 357 were arable; and fifteen horses were employed in five 3-horse teams upon this extent. Now, about 600 acres are fanned, of which 420 acres are arable ; and the whole is managed with ten horses and an 8-horse power engine, working grubbers on the Wool ston system. If the additional land requires the same horse-power per 100 acres as was needed on the original farm, then, in place of ten horses, seventeen or eighteen must have been needed, and probably Mr Pike s mere saving by the use of his 8-horse engine and cultivating apparatus does not fall short of 300 a year. &quot;The present cropping of the land is as follows : 125 acres are in wheat, of which 105 were partly after beans, cross-grubbed by steam-power before sowing, and partly after clover, having been cross-grubbed also by steam-power more than once before the previous harvest time, and then horse scarified and harrowed. The remainder was after horse cultivation. There are GO acres of beans after wheat, its stubble having been dressed with farm-yard dung, and then ploughed by horse power. There are 60 acres of grass and clover ; 20 acres now in vetches have been cross- grubbed after a manuring ; 25 acres in mangolds and turnips have been cross-grubbed in autumn, and again steam-scarified and crossed in spring ; 50 acres in barley, and 25 acres in oats, make up the extent of the farm, and were got in after steam cultivation. By cross-grubbing it is meant that the operation was repeated. &quot;More horse cultivation than usual was done in 1860. Clay land was fit only on rare ocasions, and both horse and steam power were then used to the utmost. Mr Pike has had Mr Smith s grubber worked by an ordinaiy thrashing-engine since July -1858. Since that time 731 acres have been cross-grubbed, i.e., doubly-worked. In addition to this Mr Pike informs me that he has also cross-grubbed for hire 300 acres of land. For this he charges 25s. an acre, the coals being supplied to the employer. &quot; Excluding this item from our consideration in the meantime, and assuming that 730 acres double cultivated between July 1858 and June 1861 correspond to 250 acres annually, the average performance of the engine, in cluding all stoppages except removals, has been six acres daily once cultivated. To do 250 acres twice would there fore occupy at least eighty-three days ; adding three days for removals, there are eighty-six days work of the steam- engine to be charged upon the steam cultivation of the farm. The following is the labour and its cost per week: 1 engineer, 16s.; 1 ploughman, 11s.; 2 men shift ing anchors, 22s. ; 1 man at windlass, 12s. ; 1 porter-boy, 6s. ; 1 boy and horse with water cart, 24s. : the whole amounts to 3, 19s., or 13s. 2d. daily. In addition to this we add the cost of coals, 10 cwts. at 19s. a ton on the ground, or 9s. 6d. daily. The oil at 5s. a gallon costs about Is. a day. &quot;The daily cost thus conies to 23s. 6d., and this over eighty-six days amounts to about 100. Against the engine and apparatus, costing about 510, we must put 10 per cent., or 51, for depreciation, and 5 per cent., or 25, 10s., for interest of capital The cost of repairs may perhaps be satisfied by an annual charge of 15 ; and for tear and wear of rope we have the following items : 1400 yards of iron wire-rope originally purchased, 50 ; steel ropes, 1400 yards, since purchased, 60. Probably the annual charge needed to maintain this may be made on the theory that the rope will last three years, and 25 a year may suffice for this particular. Adding up these items, we have a sum total of 216, 10s. to be charged against the farm for steam cultivation. Putting 216 against 500 acres once grubbed in the course of the year, we have a charge of about 8s. 7d. an acre for the grubbing. Mr Pike informed me that, during the three years of his steam cultivation, on several of the ten fields already specified, he has not used the plough at all. Even the mixing of manure with the soil is done by the grubber. No plough is used to bury it. It is laid upon the land, and grubbed to and fro, and thereby mixed sufficiently. The cleanness of the land, too, is a fair testimony to the quality of cultivation by implements which stir, but do not overturn the soil. &quot; Mr Pike has till lately used the grubber invented by Mr Smith of Woolston, with the turnbow apparatus for turning the tool at the land s end. Latterly he has used the cultivator of Messrs Howard, each tine of which is double, pointing both fore and aft, so that no turning at all is needed, the claw which follows in the wake of the working tooth as it goes coming into operation in its turn as it comes back again.&quot; Mr Pike thus writes to Messrs Howard, of date December 2, 1861 : &quot;GENTLEMEN, I have cultivated my farm by steam-power for the last four years, and therefore feel myself in a position to speak positively of the merits of the system. &quot;My farm, belonging to the Duke of Bedford, consists principally of poor, strong, hilly, clay land, which, before I entered upon it, was laid up in three yard ridges, with water gutters drawn across the ridges to take off the water. Since I have steam cultivated it, I have done away with ridges and furrows entirely ; my fields of 40 and 50 acres each, which are steep in places, are all laid on the flat, and during the wettest season I have never seen any water stand upon them. I am convinced if land is broken up a good depth by the cultivator, and under drained, there is no need of any furrows, if it is ever so strong. &quot;I am enabled to manage my farm with about half the number of horses. I do it with less trouble to myself. I am always more forward with niy work, and the horses I do keep cost much less per head than formerly, as all the hard work is done by steam. &quot; The effect of deep stirring this soil is very apparent in the crops ; my land is naturally very poor, so that very large yields are out of the question ; but I am convinced I can grow much more corn by steam than by horse cultivation, and I can also grow a larger breadth of root crops. I also find that by constant deep tillage my land moves easier every year, consequently it is less expense to cultivate. I seldom use the plough, except my horses have got nothing else to do. &quot;I break up my clover lays before harvest, and make a bastard fallow of them. I am convinced this is the surest way of getting a good wheat crop on strong soil ; and, besides cleaning the land, it has this advantage, it does not leave so much work to do at Michaelmas. I also break up my tare land before harvest, so that after harvest I have nothing to do bvit cultivate my bean and wheat stubbles. &quot;I put away my tackle as soon as possible after we have heavy rains, the latter part of October or beginning of November, and do not bring it out again until the turnip land is ready to break up for barley. My object is to make the best use of the summer and the early autumn. &quot;When I commenced cultivating by steam, I used to set down to little pieces, but I found that too much trouble, therefore increased the length of my ropes, as I found it made very little difference to my 8-horse engine whether I had out a long or short length of rope. I have now sufficient to do a 50 acre field, without moving either engine or windlass ; this is my largest field ; I dug a pond at one end, and I do the whole without moving from the pond. When I can, I set my engine and windlass in an adjoining field, so as to finish headlands and all complete, without going into it Water carting is a great expense, and in a wet season a great nuisance. I therefore have dug some ponds, and sometimes I dam up a ditch or master drain to obtain a supply. &quot;I am particularly pleased with the new apparatus you made for me last spring. The windlass is much easier moved about, and is very simple to manage. The cultivator takes less time at land s end, there is no danger of overturning, it docs not jump so much in work, and the hind shares cause the land to lay looser. No matter