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THE FARMER'S MAGAZJNE. 



Ml. i'jSHER HoBBS said : I am iucliued to think that these 

 discussion meetings of ours by no means depend for their 

 success ©r utility on the introducer of the subject; but, on 

 the contrary, that our meetings really act up to what they 

 are called, and that th-j discussion itself is frequently the 

 most interesting part of the evening's proceedings. Fortu- 

 nately for myself, i feel that such will certainly be the case 

 on the present occasion. My chief duty, as I take it, will 

 be really confined to introducing the question, enumerating 

 such as I consider to be the chief points we should dwell 

 on, and then leaving these to the practical analysis of the 

 members of the Club; whether they be the cultivators of 

 the soil, the judges at our great meetings, or that influential 

 body the manufacturers and exhibitors of implements, all 

 of which classes, I am happy to see, are represented here to- 

 night. To show that I have already acted upon this view of 

 the case, I will at once read to you a circular letter which I 

 have addressed to the Judges who have taken office during 

 the last three years, to many of the implement makers who 

 have exhibited during the same period, as well as to a num- 

 ber of other gentlemen whose opinions and advice I knew 

 might conduce to a satisfactory development of this ques- 

 tion. There are many, no doubt, I have omitted to send to, 

 while from several of those I have addressed I have re- 

 ceived some valuable suggestions ; and I hope that many of 

 those who have not answered my letter have come here to- 

 night prepared to speak to the subject : 



London, 10th October, 1860. 



Deae Sir, — At the request of the Committee I have consented 

 to open a discussion here at the next monthly meeting of the 

 Club, on Monday, November .5th, on " The Public and Private 

 Trials of Agricultural Implements — can they be made more 

 efficient?" 



I shall engage to do this as one practical man addressing his 

 fellow-members of the Club, with a view to ascertain how far the 

 trials of machinery have hitherto been compatible with ordinary 

 farm work; or, how such tests may be made more reliable and 

 trustworthy. Knowing the interejt you have long taken in this 

 subject, and the experience you have had of our more modern 

 agricultural machinery, I write to request that you will favour 

 me with your opinion as to how we should proceed. 



The chief points, as it strikes me, are : The duration of the 

 trials : should more time be allowed, to obtain a satisfactory re- 

 sult ? The nature of tlie ground, and the season of the year best 

 adapter! for the trials of different kinds of machinery ; The 

 duties of the judges, and the necessity for some earlier report from 

 tliem ; The comparative merits of public and private trials, and 

 the advantages that might follow from extending these, or 

 having them more frequently adjourned to seasonable periods. 



There are other branches of the subject which may have had 

 your attention, and that I trust you will also advise me upon. 

 As, however, the time is drawing near, I shall be obliged by any 

 reply you may favour me with being forwarded at your earliest 

 convenience. I am, dear sir, yours faithfully, 



W. PiSHER HOBBS. 



I wish to mention here that this subject has long occupied 

 my attention, and if you will tm-n to my "Report of the 

 Trials of the Implements at Carlisle, in 1855," as given in the 

 lOth volume of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society 

 of England, you will find that I then insisted on the trials 

 of machinery and implements being more thoroughly 

 adapted to the ordinary work of the farm. It is precisely 

 with this view that I now entertain the question, and it was 

 in this light that I recommended it to the attention of 

 the Committee of this Club, in December last, consider- 

 ing it to be essentially one of those topics that might be 

 discussed with much advantage by those who, .^fter all, are 

 the most interested in it — the farmers themselves ; but I 

 had then no idea of undertaking the duty myself, audit was 

 not until it was most strongly pressed by the Committee 

 that I consented, at the last moment, to fill up the gap. 

 The question may perhaps by some be looked upon as 

 rather a dehcate one, although I am not prepared to see 

 it in that light. You must again understand that it is 



not as one of the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society 

 of England, or as an old steward of ii,.pleiuents at several 

 of its country meetings, but simply as a member of this 

 club that I am now addressing you. The subject on the 

 card, as you will see, resolves itself into two divisions — 

 the 2^'tbUc and j^iivate trials of implements; and it may at 

 the first glance appear somewhat difficult to separate them ; 

 but I may as well explaia at once that the private trials 

 are those necessarily confiaed to the inspection and ex- 

 amination of the machines by the judges and engineers ; 

 and the public trials are intended more to illustrate the 

 kind of work an implement is equal to have after the j udges, 

 in some degree formed their opinion on its merits. I need 

 not say how strongly I insist upon the necessity of these 

 trials under the inspection of competent judges ; for you 

 must remember that the purchasers are not always the 

 best judges of the implements they should select ; invete- 

 rate habit and strong custom will frequently induce a 

 farmer to persevere with implements of an inferior charac- 

 ter, simply because such are and have beeir long in use in 

 his own locality ; then, Ihe influence and representations of 

 neighbouring manufacturers or active agents are very great, 

 and as often lead to the agriculturist adopting a certain 

 description of implement, not so much of his own choice 

 or for his own advantage, as from the self-interested advice 

 of those who are anxious to secure him as a customer. 

 Even the public exhibition of implements would lose much 

 of their effect, but for those reliable and authoritative tests ; 

 for here too the farmer is equally open to the cupidity of 

 the exhibitor or his "showman," who may have more 

 " knack" in pushing a sale than in producing a good im- 

 plement ; hence, it becomes palpably necessary that a rigid 

 examination should be made by impartial and able men^ 

 who should have every available opportunity and ample 

 time to decide which is the best amongst the implements 

 offered to the notice of the public : in fact, as I said in 

 my report of the Carlisle Meeting, " the agricultural mind 

 is scarcely yet in a position to discriminate between the 

 claims of competing machinery, or to form a satisfactory 

 judgment on its practical value for farm purposes." Of 

 the different kinds of machinery, that adapted to field- 

 work may be witnessed with less inconvenience by the 

 general body of spectators ; while there are certain minutiae 

 and delicate tests in fixed machinery and some in-door im- 

 plements, which it would be almost impossible to try in a 

 satisfactory manner, were the public permitted to be present 

 at the time the judges are engaged in their duties. How- 

 ever, whether public or private, the great point comes very 

 much to the same issue: " Can these trials be made more 

 efficient?" in other words, can we afford the judges more 

 opportunity for their inspection, and of coming to a con- 

 clusion, occasionally, perhaps more satisfactory to them- 

 selves ? Can we give the exhibitor more time to develop 

 a really valuable implement, one that shall not merely 

 aim at the speed of a " racer," or get through, by 

 some " clever jockeyship," a few minutes' or at the 

 most a few hours' work ; when, without such " nice 

 handling, and if once committed to the care of ever 

 so intelligent a farm labourer, it would, most probably 

 " break down" in a week? One of the chief points then, 

 as I have said in my circular letter, is " the duration of the 

 trials :" should more time be allowed, to obtain a satisfactory 

 result? T may here quote some of the evidence with which 

 T have been favoured on this branch of the subject. 



A. remarks that " the trials of many implements and ma- 

 chiues are carried on at a time of the year when such 



