STEAM PLOUGHING.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 2978, 11 January 1881, Page 2

STEAM PLOUGHING.

The utilisation of waste lands in Great Britain is one of the questions of the day, and an expmple of what can be done in this direction by spirited private enterprise, and which is being rewarded by capital results, is the reclaiming of some 750 acres of land which once was a harbor on the south coast of England.

The first step taken was to make an embankment or sea wall, and to get the soil drained into an open bed ia the centre of tbe harbor, the outlet of which is controlled by a sluice, which is automatically closed at high water. Next came the process of cultivation. This was first attempted with horses, but the soil of a great part of the reclaimed land is close, and muddy,and one of the essentials to its successful culture is to loosen and lighten the top soil, so as to admit the air and the rays of the sun. Ploughing with horses did not satisfactorily effect this, because after ploughing and harrowing a shower of rain caused it to run together again. It was then decided to apply steampower to the work, and the result has heen remarkably successful, the soil being lifted and thoroughly loosened to a depth of 10 inches. The land consequently keeps light and does not run together, and the condition of the corn plant sown on lands thus treated by steam is very superior to that on the same class of land worked by horsepower. Of course from the soft, muddy character of tbe soil it would be impossible to travel engines over it, and, benefitiog from the experience of a somewhat similar operation carried out on the Welsh coast, a few years ago, the proprietors resolved to adopt the same system, namely, that of Howard, the surroundings of the locality being so treacherous and difficult that the engine had to be placed 700 or 800 yards distant from the land cultivated, indeed before the aid of steam was called in, the attempt to do the work with horses was not only dangerous but impracticable. With the aid however of steam, the difficulties of the work were all overcome, and it may now be said that this great scheme has become a remarkable success, for where not long ago, all was a watery waste, now there are hundreds of acres of flourishing crops.