310 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



iinploments and mnchinos which will host nioct tho special nceils of the farmers. 

 In this respect they are following the example of several of the KuroiK'an 

 institutions which have done most valuable work in the systematic study and 

 imi>rovcnicnt of farm machinery. 



The ('()n<rre.s.sAvas well jittondod, there being oOO ineinl)ors, represent- 

 ing 20 countries (8 foreign governments being oliicially represented), 

 and was in all respects a decided success. The congress was divided 

 into three sections (1) dealing mainly with instruction in farm me- 

 chanics and organization of machine-testing stations; (2) means of 

 extending the use of farm machinery; and (3) organization of asso- 

 ciations for the cooperative purchase and use of machines, the utili- 

 zation of water power for the generation of electricity, and its use in 

 agriculture. 



The papers presented were of a very varied character and covered 

 nearly every phase of the subject of agricultural machinery and its 

 application, but interest centered aroinid the question of the utility of 

 present methods of testing agricultural machinery in Europe, there 

 being evidence of a general conviction that these methods are defec- 

 tive and calculated to give misleading results, and unless they can be 

 radically im])roved had better be abolished. This criticism was, how- 

 ever, directed more especially against ordinary field trials and classi- 

 fication of machinery based on such trials. A sharp distinction was 

 drawn between mere field trials made with machines of the same class 

 at different times under different conditions, and the work of machine- 

 testing stations in Avhich a given machine is examined with respect 

 to its construction, the arrangement of its parts, the materials em- 

 ployed, and their resistance, etc., and when all these data have been 

 obtained the machine is put in the field to ascertain its efficiency and 

 the motive power required for its work. Prof. J. Pyro, of the Agri- 

 cultural Institute of Gembloux, pointed out that field tests will not 

 allow of a comparison being made between different machines of the 

 same class unless they are all working at the same time, and if the 

 trials are to give practical results the machines should be tested sim- 

 ultaneously upon the same land and the same crops. He advocated 

 holding one important trial every year in connection with the trial 

 stations, each of these trials being devoted to some special class of 

 mechanism and carried out in the most thorough manner possible. 

 Trials, he said, were intended to develop the improvement of ma- 

 chines by means of comparison, since it was only by such a course 

 that it was possible to ascertain mechanical defects and how^ they 

 could be remedied. Many of the si:)eakers were at variance as to the 

 value of machinery trials, but the general opinion of the congress 

 seemed to be in favor of Professor Pyro's suggestion to organize one 

 large trial every year for a special class of machine in connection with 

 the trial station. 



