THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



41 



have every reason to believe they would exhibit a still i prices op prime beef and mbtton for seven 

 further advance in most cases; nor is there the slightest j year!? from 1851 to 1857. 



probability that the supplies of any one article of ani- 

 mal produce is likely to decline through an increase 

 of the foreign supplies, or th:it the consumpti m can do 

 otherwise than increase if prices remain at a consum- 

 able rate. 



In leaving these remarks for careful consideration, 

 we append to them a statement of the prices of beef 

 and mutton for tho seven years from 1851 to 1857 in- 

 clusive. 



WHAT THE IMPLEMENT MAKERS WANT. 



It is by no means easy to say what it is thatthe leading 

 implement makers really require. Of course the diffi- 

 culty only increases in proportion as they become less 

 and less inclined to offer any explanation for tho line 

 of conduct they have been compelled to adopt. The 

 world at large can make no more than a guess why the 

 Show at Canterbury is to be deprived of such suppoit. 

 The General Meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society 

 passed over without a word on the subject ; and people 

 still wonder what is the matter ? A short time since, and 

 the business of the week was declared to be too much 

 for it. The Triennial system was asked for, granted, and 

 pronounced to work well. The Quadrennial, however, 

 would be yet more convenient, and was accordingly ac- 

 ceded to. And then, when the Society has done every- 

 thing in reason, if not indeed everything that was 

 asked of it, the manufacturers fairly wash their hands 

 of the concern ! It is utterly impossible to let so public 

 and important a matter as this blow over in silence or 

 without inquiry. It may be said that the Trade is still 

 more convinced of the impolicy of the prize system. 

 But this can scarcely be, either ; at least if we are to 

 judge by deeds as well as words. It is only within a 

 very few weeks that such men as the Messrs. Howard, 

 Ransomc, and Hornsby sent not merely their imple- 

 ments, biit men to direct them and horses to draw 

 them, right into the heart of Scotland, to contend 

 against each other for a prize given under the auspices 

 of the President of the Highland Society. As will be 

 remembered, the only one of these firms that was suc- 

 cessful at Strathord was Hornsby; and so, naturally, 

 tiiey will all have to enter again for Dumfries. Or, if 

 they do not, the public will be thinking that the prize 

 system is clearly wrong — when certain gentlemen do 

 not win at it; and who, like tho spoilt child, won't 

 play any more unless they can have it all their own 

 way. But it is urged, the Royal Agricultural So- 

 ciety of England has broken faith with them. For 

 four long years the plough-makers' minds should have 

 been at ease. The men of Kent, however, and very pro- 

 perly as we take it, have resolved to arrange for some 

 illustration of their own local plan of proceeding; and 

 the Society, with every precedent for so doing, has taken 

 these local premiums under its cognizance. Where- 

 upon the Hornsby s, Howards, and Ransomes turn round 



in a moment. They will not contend for prizes in 

 'sixty. They will not countenance prize-ploughing in 

 Kent. They will not enter at Canterbury. And what 

 is the immediate and logical deduction of this fixed 

 resolve ? Why, in a few weeks, if not days, of 

 making it, the Ransomes and Howards are striving- 

 one against the other for a prize for the best plough, at 

 a place called Marden, in Kent ! The Messrs. Howard, 

 according to a local jourmil with which we were fa« 

 voured, have been devising an implement for the espe- 

 cial use of the Weald farmers. Earlier in the year the 

 Hornsbys had yet more decided success in the same 

 county ; while the Ransomes have for some time past had 

 a good connexion in the district. We repeat, that it is by 

 no means easy to say what it is the implement-makers 

 want. They object to the prize system, and straight- 

 way they are off, as eager as school-boys, to try and 

 win a prize some hundreds of miles away ! They will 

 not have their ploughs tested for prizes this season in 

 Kent, and they are having their implements subjected 

 to so public an oi-deal within a week or two of the 

 rumour ! They will not enter at Canterbury ; but 

 they still intend to exhibit there. We are seriously 

 assured that the new Implement Bazaar, in Swan- 

 lane, will have a stand on the Show-ground, in 

 which will be found many of the best-known manu- 

 factures of the iicst houses ! In a word, without any 

 explanation or pretence of being in the secret, one can 

 only wonder more and more what good all this in- 

 consistency and contradiction is to conduce to. 



We have purposely directed or illustrated the case 

 as it stands by the plough trials. Even beyond the 

 recent interest these have created, they now offer 

 another point of concession, as made to the ex- 

 hibitors. The Judges at Strathord have backed 

 their decree by a Report, which we give in full. 

 It is drawn up with much ability, and is espe- 

 cially remarkable for the courage with which it faces 

 the different "points" of what should be a good im- 

 plement. As a comparison between the merits of a 

 wheel and swing-plough the paper will be sure to have 

 much weight, especially in the north. It will go a 

 great way, moreover, to teach people the principles of 

 ploughing, and our desire would be to see some other 

 as official a document issued undei* the sanction of 



