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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



established manufacturer by his failing to win the prize. 

 At the same time no good implement ever failed to be in 

 demand in consequence of its not having secured a prize. 

 He well knew an established implement in his own neigh- 

 bourhood for which there was a steady demand, though it 

 never obtained a prize or commendation from the Society. 

 Therefore, although a prize might be of great service to a 

 man devoid of capital, the withholding of a prize could not 

 do much injury to the man who was well reported of, and 

 an established maker. One gentleman had spoken that 

 evening of the injury which he received through having 

 followed a recommendation of the Society, and chosen a 

 prize cart. He (Mr. Frere) must admit that he also had 

 been led by the Society into choosing a certain implement 

 when he might have chosen a better; but he had been much 

 more injured by following the advice of one of the most up- 

 right and intelligent agents in England (laughter. Acting 

 under that gentlemen's advice, he bought an implement 

 which had rendered him hardly any service whatever. 

 As regarded prizes, he must confess that he preferred the 

 report which accompanied the prize, to the prize itself. 

 As regarded the defects of competition mentioned by Mr. 

 Ransome, he (Mr. Frere) had no experience to guide him 

 in forming an opinion; but if he had that gentleman's 

 powers of expression, he would show that in his own field 

 of obsetvation, in which the competitive system had been 

 largely developed— that of the open examinations at the 

 University of Cambridge — the objections now offered were 

 equally applicable. Strong, therefore, as those objections 

 were, they were not confined to agricultural shows, but ex- 

 tended to all competition (Hear, hear). 



Mr. WiLSHEEE (Kimpton Hall, Welwyn), concurred in 

 all that fell from Mr. Hobbs in introducing the question. 

 He admitted that agriculturists were very much indebted 

 to the implement makers, and he thought that longer trials 

 should in future be given to their new machines. 



Mr. Amos, C.E., said he gathered from the discussion that 

 it was the general opinion that if fewer imislements were 

 tried at each meeting and longer periods were allowed for 

 trials, the change would be beneficial to all concerned. In 

 that opinion he entirely concurred, whether there or else- 

 where he was prepared to advocate it. He had probably 

 seen as many of the trials as any one in that room, and he 

 could bear testimony to the zeal, integrity, and ability with 

 wliichthe judges had generally performed their duty. He 

 had seen much greater ability evinced than could fairly be 

 expected from men whose own pursuits absorbed so much 

 of their time, an ability which combined not merely a 

 knowledge of the requirements of the farmer, but also con- 

 siderable power of judging of the mechanical construction 

 of the machine under trial. The system of trials had, be 

 believed, on the whole worked well, and those who had the 

 conduct of it were not opposed to the light of reason and 

 common sense (Hear, hear.) 



Mr. H. Teethewy (Silsoe) expressed the satisfaction 

 which he felt as an old member of the club, jealous of 

 its reputation, that the Royal Agricultural Society had 

 been so ably defended. 



The Chaieman, in concluding the discussion, remarked 

 that there was this value at all events in the public trials, 

 that they had enabled farmers to judge for themselves as 

 to which of the competing machines was the best. They 

 need not be guided by the awards of the judges, seeing that 



they could form their own opinion as to the implement 

 which was most suitable for their respective farms. lu 

 that respect he thought the public trials had been of great 

 advantage to agriculturists (Hear, hear.) 



Mr. HoBBS then replied. As regarded adjourned meet- 

 ings he denied that they had been of no use hitherto. At 

 the meetings at Pusey and Sir Wm. Miles's there was a 

 thorough trial of the reaping machines ; every one who 

 was present would admit that never before was there so 

 thorough a testing. Mr. Howard seemed to think that the 

 trial at Boxted was of no use, because in the following year 

 the decision was reversed. The explanation of that reversal 

 was tliat in the second year the machine which won 

 the prize in the first year had some new tackle which failed, 

 Mr. Crosskill said that the manufacturers were continually 

 improving their implements. He would appeal to Mr. 

 Eansome whether the plough which he exhibited at South- 

 ampton could bear comparison with the new ploughs of the 

 present day. Would he say that his Y L plough could 

 work as well as some of his more recent ploughs ? Scarcely 

 six months elapsed without witnessing some improvement 

 in implements. As regarded prizes, he must remark 

 that the Eoyal Agricultural Society must, nolens volens, give 

 prizes at their annual meetings. The charter provided that 

 at the meetings in the country this society should " by the 

 distribution of prizes and by other means encourage the 

 best mode of farm cultivation." How was the Eoyal Agri- 

 cultural Society, the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, or any 

 other similar institution to distribute prizes without having 

 competitive trials? He trusted that in future not one word 

 would be said in the way of objection to prizes. The main 

 object of instituting trials was that machines might have 

 an honest and thorough testing before they were pur- 

 chased by the farmer. As regarded the future, he thought 

 that if the manufacturers, who had a society ui that house 

 called " The Institute of Agricultural Engineers," were to 

 talk the matter over together by themselves and prepare 

 to lay before the Council their view of the manner in which 

 the competition should in future be conducted, and tell 

 them what they wanted, the Council would be happy to 

 see them, and he hoped the result would he that arrange- 

 ments might be made which would be more satisfactory to 

 them. Let hy-gones be by.gones ; let tliem act as men of 

 business, and the competitive trials of the next ten years 

 would perhaps he more beneficial than those of the last 

 twenty. 



On the motion of Mr. James Howard, seconded by Mr. 

 A. Eansome, a vote of thanks was given to Mr, Hobbs for 

 his opening. 



Mr. Spencer Skelton, in moving a vote of thanks to 

 the Chairman, said, though only a small farmer, he would 

 take upon himself to state, even before so many scientific 

 gentlemen, that in his neighbourhood a plough-labourer 

 had, with the assistance of the village blacksmith, improved 

 the common swing-plough to such an extent, that on the 

 deep soils in marsh-land — county of Norfolk, and at Long 

 Sutton, South Lincolnshire, where the Local Agricultural 

 Society's meetings were lately held — he with that plough 

 beat out of the field all the scientific wheel-ploughs made 

 and sent by some of the great manufacturers. 



The motion was then seconded and adopted, and with 

 this the proceedings temiinated. 



