STEAM POWER APPLIED TO THE CULTURE OF THE SOIL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 116, 28 April 1870, Page 7

STEAM POWER APPLIED TO THE CULTURE OF THE SOIL.

The far-famod agricultural improver Mechi, at a recent meeting, spoke on the above subject as follows :—: — Now that 30 horse-power steamengines are cultivating 36 acres per day, we shall soon see such, a clearance as at one time was never anticipated. Said an implement maker to me at the show last week, " a farmer declined to buy ono of the great traction engines because his gateways were too narrow ! " The implement maker wondered, smiled sarcastically, and thought many things, some of which he told me. Remember, that while I advocate ana pie fields, untimbered, I strongly urge the formation of plantations or belts at intervals, not only as shelter, but as breeding-places for birds — the farmer's friends. We must remember that as we clear and drain the country, we not only produce a drier and warmer climate, but our buildings should be strong enough to resist the gales that will sweep less interruptedly over the face of the country. By the way, speaking of tillage, my dependable friend, the Rev. Mr. C, plumbed the depth of the cultivation at Buscot, near Farringdon, the other day, and fouud it to bo 30 inches. It was done by two of Fowler's 30 horse-power engines, and when the land is cross cultivated the depth is to be throe feet — in preparation for sugar beet. My shallow-drainage friends may as well take the hint, and consider whether even four feet will be deep enough when the 50 horsepower engines are put to work. I saw Mr. Fowler at the show the other day, and he told me that they were sending out 30 and 40 horse-power engines, an I contemplated making 50 horse-power as the cheapest mode of cultivation, for, you know, it only requires one man to drive a 50 horsepower engine, just the same as to drive a six horsepower ; hut when you get 50 horses on the land, you want 25 or 30 or 40 men to work them. Remember this is what has been taking place iv manufactures, and what has taken place iv manufactures will take place in agriculture.