THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



511 



Agricultural Society. Now, be had risen to deny, on behalf 

 of the implement makers wiili whom he was in any way 

 associated, any breach or quarrel on their part, or that any 

 animus against the Society actuated them in the course tliey 

 had pursued. What led to the difference between the im- 

 plement makers and the judges aad stewards of the Society 

 was a desire on the part of the former to diminish an evil 

 whicli they believed to be growing. The remarks of Mr. 

 Hobbs, in opening the discussion that evening, tended to 

 show that the manner in which the triala^^ad been con- 

 ducted hitherto was not likely to lead to the accomplish- 

 ment of the great object in view, namely, the informing the 

 agricultural public of tliis country us to the best kind of ma- 

 chines for their purposes. Mr. Hobbs liad shown that, 

 from the limited nature of the opportunities of testing, the 

 shoriuess of the lime in which the judges had to make their 

 award, the unsuitable condition of the land, from one 

 cause or another, the result was that the awards were generally 

 not such as the agricultural community could rely upon. 

 On this point he could speak from experience. For several 

 years his firm gained first prizes in almost every class in 

 which they exliibited ; and he had often asserted, and would 

 now repeat, that for many implements fjr which they had a 

 prize they ought not to have had one (laughter) ; while for 

 many of those which, he believed, deserved a prize, they 

 had none (renewed laughter). He had had very painful e.'i- 

 perience that the agricultural mind had been wrongly in- 

 formed by the j udges with regard to the merits of agricul- 

 tural implements. He bad known the time when his firm 

 sent out numerous implements of one class, the in- 

 vention of a practical farmer which had a prize in its 

 favour, almost every one of which they accepted back, re- 

 turning the price to the purchasers rather than leave in 

 their hands an instrument which would have been a dis- 

 grace to them, and a source of annoyance to the possessor 

 (Hear, hear). He agreed with Mr. Hobbs, as probably did 

 everyone present, whether he were an implement maker or 

 an implement user, that it was highly desirable that oppor- 

 tunities should be ati'orded of fully testing the merits of the 

 machines which were offered to tlie agricultural public as 

 a means of improving their cultivation. But he denied that 

 the course by which it was attempted to attain that object 

 at present was anything like efficient. Tho amount of 

 time given to the work of testing was far too small 

 for the purpose of ascertaining whether a particular machine 

 was efficient or not. The breaking or throwing-oflf of a 

 strap, or the breaking of a cogwheel, was an accident far 

 more likely to happen amid the excitement of a very short 

 trial than under an opposite slate of things, and on such a 

 mere accident was a goodimplement frequently condemned. 

 As regarded the suggested extension of the time, however, 

 for the trial of particular implements — the fi.xing of the 

 ordeal for the season when they were most likely to be 

 required — was undoubtedly necessary. No trial could 

 be perfect without that. But then the question arose 

 bow this object was to be attained. It could hardly be 

 attained without very great losj of time to the implement 

 maker, to whom time was money (Hear, bear). It was 

 at an immense cost to a manufacturer that a week's 

 absence of himself and his manager could be abstracted at 

 any period of the year; but on the other hand, that was an 

 infinitely less evil than that of submitting implements 

 which they knew were excellent types to the risks 

 which attended trials conducted as at present. The 

 gaining a prize was, under present circumstances, quite a 

 lottery, subject to many unforeseen incidents which might 

 afifect the judgraeat formed as to its vnlue, and manuCac- 



turera could not afford to risk their reputation upon that 

 which the breaking of a strap might turn into a condemna- 

 tion. The (juestion, then, resolved itself into liow much 

 time implement makers could afford to give to the exhi- 

 bitions of their machines. Now, it appeared to him that 

 the trials of the lloyal Agricultural Society were unneces- 

 sarily numerous, and spread over mucli too wide a surface. 

 Days and weeks year after year had been expended on trials 

 of plough?, and now, after ten years neck-and-neck com- 

 petition between the principal rival prize winners in this 

 instrument, would any farmer tell him if an adv;mtage to 

 the extent of Os. per annum could be obtained by the use of 

 either one of these over the other? Where then lies the 

 advantage of continuing to occupy further time in this class 

 of trade? (Hear, hear). As regarded scariliers, not long 

 ago there was great competition and much novelty in 

 this class of invention, and it was very desirable that 

 there should be a close investigation into their relative 

 merits at the meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society. 

 But it was evident that no one particular week was sufficient 

 to determine whether or not any particular imph'ment 

 would be a good one all the year round. That time was 

 now passed away, and there were at present many scarifiers 

 of almost equal merit. To come to the reaping madiine, 

 in that case the different ideas of a number of men had 

 produced a considerable number of implements, and ia 

 this case careful trials and tests were necessary. It might 

 be that the time at which a trial took place was more 

 favourable to one class of implements than to another ; 

 it might happen that in one year one implement would 

 get the prize, and that in the next year different circum- 

 stances would lead to a different award ; and thus, there 

 being two implements of equal value, one being tried 

 under one kind of trial would give the stamp of merit to 

 one, and another to the other. Hence tiie neces-ity for 

 fuller and more satisfactory trials, in order that the award 

 might be of any value to farmers, by showing them what kind 

 of implement was most satisfactory for their every day pur- 

 pose (Hear.) The same remark applied in a great degree 

 to steam-ploughs; it applied also to thrashing-machines, 

 in consequence of the introduction of steam having 

 rendered such implements available for more varied opera- 

 tions than the old thrashing-machines were adapted for. 

 A very different system of trials was needed to prove philoso- 

 phically and mechanically to show what machines were 

 most fitted for the various purposes for which they were 

 designed. He would say, then, if the time was too short 

 for the testing of so many of the implements exhibited, why 

 not take such of them as were familiar to general use out of 

 the category of the implements to be tried, contenting 

 ourselves with such information as every body possessed 

 respecting them ? That would be far preferable to 

 forming hasty conclusions for want of time with re- 

 gard to difficult, complicated, and, as perhaps could 

 ultimately be seen, valuable implements. One word on a 

 point on which it might be thought that he was riding a 

 hobby of his. He was firmly convinced that the benefits 

 of competition at shows could not be secured so long as 

 one prize crowned the whole. When six or seven men, all 

 possessing about the same amount of mechanical know- 

 ledge and ability, had each spent hundreds of pounds in 

 endeavouring to present a good implement, when ea?h liad 

 produced what he thought was the best and what might in 

 fact be the best under particular circumstances, the fact 

 that if they competed for a prize, one of them would be 

 sent t\p to the seventh heaven of glorification, while all 

 the others would be nowhere,, would naturally disincline 



