510 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



takes to adjudicate npou; he must understand something 

 of their mechanical construction ; he must be able to appre- 

 ciate the wear and tear belonging to them, and to make a 

 due estimate of their value as working adjuncts of the 

 farm. Even, beyond this, he should have that knowledge 

 of the world which will enable him to allow for the " nice 

 arrangement," and " skilled-handling" of the exhibitor 

 and Ills assistants, and so to recommend to the 

 farmers' attention only these inventions which will 

 carry with them further proof when employed every day 

 upon the farm, as well as on high days and holidays at 

 great agricultural exhibitions. There are many gentlemen 

 thus qualified, and you must allow me to say that I have 

 had many opportunities of witnessing the earnestness and 

 devotion with which they will begin their work, and the 

 pluck with which they will finish it. after several days of 

 much labour and fatigue. It is not perhaps in human nature 

 to be perfect, as it certainly is not for an unsuccessful rana 

 always to be satisfied ; but I believe that the more we hear 

 of the judges the more we shall appreciate their services, 

 and that when their reports are published at a more early 

 period much of the idle talk we now sometimes hear will be 

 corrected. As to implements not always acting up to that 

 high character obtained for them at the trials, we must ever 

 bear in mind that any such disappointment may arise from 

 no fault or mistake on the part of the judges, but simply 

 from the successful exhibitor having sent a really good im- 

 plement to the show-yard, and manufactured an inferior one 

 afterwards. It is right, I should say, that many of the ex- 

 hibitors are very desirous to have longer trials for their 

 " entries," but it is frequently attributable to their own neg- 

 ligence that so short a period is occupied in the examina- 

 tion of their own inventions ; and it often happens that the 

 judges themselves, in addition to their other duties, have to 

 assist in putting an implement in working order before they 

 can proceed. Then a wheel, a band, a strap, a screw, or a 

 wedge is not uncommonly found to have been left behind, 

 or some more palpable excuse is offered for not proceeding 

 in due rotation — the delay being as often the result of 

 clever "jockeyship" as of mere chance or accident. Let 

 me oifer to your notice the miseries that a judge of many 

 years' standing has experienced in this way. He says : " I 

 could complain of the carelessneas and inattention of 

 exhibitors who continually bring untried and unprepared 

 implements for trial. No implement ought to be brought 

 to the test of chosen judges until it has undergone repeated 

 trials in preparation ; our most successful exhibitors do no* 

 thus commit themselves." Again he says : " Now, sup- 

 posing exhibitors came prepared in perfect order for trial, 

 then a long ordeal is not at all necessary ; but the time of 

 the judges is often most unfairly drawn upon by the various 

 adjustments required, and thus the trials are further cur- 

 tailed ; this ought not to be, and the firat thing I would sug- 

 gest is that implements improperly prepared for trial should 

 be at once thrown out." You will gather from all I have 

 advanced and quoted that the efficiency of the trials of agri- 

 cultural implements depends iu a great degree upon a suffi- 

 cient length of time being allowed for the due examination 

 and thorough testing of the many articles brought into com- 

 petition ; this is, as I consider, the main point of the whole 

 question before us to-night. The system adopted after the 

 Carlisle meeting, of classifying the several varieties of ma- 

 chinery, and only bringing them on for trials at longer inter- 

 vals, should, of course, directly tend to more time being 

 spent in investigating their merits. The same principle 

 should also facilitate the adjournment of certain trials to 



more fitting seasons of the year; so that reapers should cut 

 the corn when it is ripe, the plough go to work when the 

 land is in a working condition, and the steam cultis'ator and 

 thrashing machine when they are the daily requirements of 

 the farm. It is, I think I may say, by no means improbable 

 but that this practice will come more and more into use, as 

 many gentlemen whose judgment is generally regarded with 

 respect have a growing opinion in favour of adjourned trials, 

 and are making efforts in the right direction for that pur- 

 pose. It is not my intention to conclude with any formal 

 resolution, as I find that such a custom has grown out of 

 use at the club's discussions ; but I would suggest that one 

 of the chief topics the meeting should turn its attention to 

 might be the suggestion of adjourned trials, and how far they 

 can be carried out, with due consideration for the convenience 

 of the judges, the exhibitors, and the public. I have no doubt 

 in my own mind that such a system of seasonable testing of 

 certain implements would be much more reliable, and that 

 the awards would be depended on by the agricultural world 

 with more confidence and certainty. I must repeat that I 

 maintain the necessity for an annual exhibition and trial of 

 our agricultural implements; that I uphold the energy and 

 abilities of the judges; and that I appreciate the ingenuity 

 and spirit with which the exhibitors have persevered, and so 

 successfully advanced the mechanics of agriculture (cheers). 

 Mons, Trehonnais hoped he should be excused for say- 

 ing a few words on a subject with which he had, he must 

 confess, very little practical acquaintance. He thought they 

 ought all to feel very much obliged to Mr. Hobbs for intro- 

 ducing a question of so much importance. As regarded 

 tlie breach which occurred last July, at Canterbuiy, between 

 some of the principal exhibitors and the Royal Agricultural 

 Society, all the friends of agriculture and of agricultural pro- 

 gress must have felt that it was highly desirable tliat this 

 dispute, or quarrel, whatever it might be termed, should be 

 adjusted, and he thought (he best way to arrive at an adjust- 

 ment was through the practical remarks of practical men, 

 who were themselves deeply interested in the question at 

 issue (Hear, hear). It was obvious that a show of imple- 

 ments was a very different thing from a trial of implements 

 (Hear, hear). At shows a great variety of things were in- 

 spected, and it did not require much ingenuity or knowledge 

 to admire the very queer things which were arranged under 

 the sheds of the Royal Agricultural Society. But it was by a 

 trial that the value of an implement had to be ascertained ; 

 and tlie utility of a trial depended, as Mr. Hobbs bad stated, 

 not merely on the knowledge and experience of the judges, 

 but also on the opportunities which they had of testing the 

 merits of the implement submitted to them. Therefore he 

 thought the question lay in a nutshell, so far at least as the 

 implement makers were concerned. Such persons having 

 explained that suSficient time had not been allowed for the 

 testing of their implements, the question was whether that evil 

 could be remedied in future. He well recollected that at the 

 Chelmsrord Meeting the trial of the reaping machines was 

 deferred, and many of them aftenvards had the pleasure of 

 seeing them tested in the vicinity of Boxted Lodge, near 

 Colchester, through the hospitable invitation of Mr. Hobbs ; 

 while on the same occasion he for one saw the pi'inciple 

 of steam cultivation carried out and proved to be practicable. 

 Mr. Allan RansoMe (Ipswich) should not have risen so 

 early but for the remarks made by the last speaker. That 

 gentleman had spoken of the increased necessity of discus- 

 sing the subject on account of the breach, as he termed it ; 

 afterwards magnifying the breach into a quarrel between 

 some of the agricultural implement makers and the Royal 



