184 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



audience. " Sir Edmund Lyons" did not come, and Sir 

 Charles Tempest's bull, " Emperor Napoleon," seemed 

 quite the favourite with the million, though they iully 

 recognised the splendid touch of the winner. Colonel 

 Towneley's " Victoria" was entered to meet " Nec- 

 tarine Blossom, " but was lame and unable to come. We 

 deeply regret to mention that a tenant ot Lord Fevcr- 

 shum's, while lookin^^ at this prize bull, received a blow 

 from its horn near his heart, and when he was on the 

 gi'oiind it knelt on him and injured him so severely, that 

 he died in about half an hour. The bull was immediately 

 blindfolded, and a small barrier was built round him, to 

 keep spectators off; but such was the attraction of the 

 horse-ring, that until the close of the day the sad 

 event was not known to above fifty people in the yard. 



On Tuesday the business of the week commenced 

 with the trials of field implements, including steam- 

 ploughs, reaping-machines, scarifiers, grubbers, horse- 

 hoes, etc. On proceeding to the land of Mr. Oliver, 

 about a mile from the show-yard, we found in a piece 

 of clover-ley Mr. Fowler's and Mr. Eddington's steam 

 ploughs; but these gentle [uen finding the land harder 

 than they had expected, begged an hour's grace of the 

 judges, in order to adapt tlieir implements to the work; 

 so that the horse-hoes were set in operation in an 

 adjoining field of turnips on the ridge — not a very good 

 plant, but the land in a nice powdery condition, that any 

 implement could work in. Barker, of Dunnington, 

 had a parallel expanding horse-hoe, very simply and 

 well constructed, which worked exceedingly well, and 

 had a small Norwegian harrow following, to turn out 

 thecutweeds. A five-tined grubber or " scuffler," for 

 working between the rows of green crops, was also 

 shown by the same maker. Bentall's grubber or horse- 

 hoe, or moulding plough (whichever shape you choose 

 to work it in), is an admirably light, yet sufficiently 

 strong and very efficient implement, and is not only 

 useful for so many purposes, but steady in working, not 

 hard in the draught, and cheap. Stead, of Barnsley, 

 showed a horse-hoe and a grubber for row culture; 

 also Belt, of West Sutton, Malton, implements for the 

 same purposes, with lever-movement for raising or 

 lowering ; Busby his well known horse-hoe ; Comins 

 a horse-hoe and grubber; Hunter, of Ulceby, Hull, a 

 horse-hoe and grubber for working between rows of 

 growing crops ; and Smith, of Kettering, his horse-hoe 

 with swing motion, for guiding the cutters, and rocking- 

 bar behind the shafts, giving great freedom and facility to 

 the implement on uneven ground. In addition to these, 

 we may mention Busby's '' turnip-snagger," that is a 

 tool for tailing turnips ready for taking up ; this is well 

 known as being the invention of Mr. Lister, of Dunsa 

 JJank. Also Huckvale's noted revolving turnip thinner, 

 exhibited by the North of England Implement Com- 

 pany, the successors of Mr. Palmer, of Stockton-on- 

 Tees. 



After a false start or two with the steam-plongbs, the 

 judges sometimes waiting for the machines to start, and 

 the exhibitors sometimes waiting for the judges, the 

 "authorities" unexpectedly made their appearance in 

 the fields of wheat devoted to the trial of reapers, of 

 which no less than eleven were waiting an opportunity 

 to display thiir capabilities. The upper jiiece of nice 

 ripe wheat — not very heavy, but considerably laid in one 

 direction, and " raffled" in many places, with a good 

 plant of clover underneath, but clean from tall green 

 weeds — was selected as the scene of operations, and Mr. 

 Crosskill volunteered to "open the ball" with a country 

 dance that soon looked very much like " The Triumph." 

 Proceeding along one headland, which had been pre- 

 viously cut by scythe, the machine commenced 

 work on one side of the field, going in the same direc- 

 tion that the crop was principally laid, the straw being 



therefore very difficult to pick up and lay upon the de- 

 livery-platform with the reel. The cutting was imper- 

 fectly done, as no reaper is intended to work this way ; 

 but on going to and fro across the end of the field, over 

 ridge and furrow, with the stuff lying across the ma- 

 chine, as well as when going down the field meeting the 

 crop, the work was splendidly done, and the corn was 

 not only delivered on either side in a regular and even 

 swathe, very ready for "gathering," but charged into 

 the standing (or rather slanting crop), opening a passage 

 for itself, the horses following. The draught appeared to 

 be heavy for the horses ; indeed, this is the failing point 

 in the machine ; and while the gearing needs to be 

 altered so as to drive with a less expenditure of power, 

 some other improvements might be made, as in altering 

 the " toes" or dividers at each side, to prevent an undue 

 share of corn being cut by the outside or end knives. 

 The crowd of spectators became so inconvenient that 

 the judges were compelled to break off their duties until 

 the field was cleared, and after a time the trials recom- 

 menced. Dray's Champion reaper, exhibited by the 

 North of England Implement Company, was tried; but 

 though taking a small breadth, and cutting tolerably 

 well, the back delivery in bunches, by means of the 

 tipping-platform, was not neatly effected. The labour 

 of the rakeman is severe. A new machine, by Wardell, 

 of Aldborough, Darlington, attracted considerable 

 notice, from a novelty in its construction. Somewhat 

 in form like Dray's Hussey, with a curved platform for 

 delivery behind the horses, it 'has an endless web 

 stretched upon rollers arranged in a radial position, the 

 lotation of which causes every part of the web to travel 

 in a curved direction. The corn conveyed by this web 

 to the side of the platform is caught by a couple of 

 large, though light rollers, and drawn between them 

 like the straw and hay in a chaff-cutter, or the clothes 

 in a patent roller mangle. The delivery thus singularly 

 obtained does not deposit the stuff in a regular swathe ; 

 but we think something may probably be made of the 

 idea, though it looks so much like crushing or 

 thrashing out the grain. A soaking shower of 

 rain came down at this period of the proceedings, 

 dispersing the lookers-on to all places of available shel- 

 ter; but after a while, wet as the corn was, and unfit 

 for cutting, with the ground also besome very wet and 

 sticky, it was considered best to go on with the experi- 

 ments in order that purchasers from a distance might 

 have an opportunity of seeing the various machines, and 

 that the prizes might be awarded as early during the 

 show as possible. Accordingly, the machines were set 

 to cut down one side and along one end of the field, 

 those which clogged with the adhering wet earth being 

 permitted time to be cleared, and again proceeded with. 

 Burgess and Key's machine, exhibited by Parrington, 

 of Normanby, cut beautifully ; the screw platform de- 

 livered well, but with a swathe less regularly deposited 

 than Crosskill's, and the conical dividing roller gathered 

 in the corn at one side ready for cutting in a very neat 

 and effective manner. The woik for the horses was 

 evidently much lighter than that of Crosskill's machine. 

 Comins, of South IMolton, Devon, then tried his reaper, 

 constructed much in the form of Dray's, but with 

 knives having a shearing or scissor-like action, the fin- 

 gers being angular and sharp edged, with the angular 

 cutters vibrating above them. Busby, of Newton-le- 

 Willows, near Bedale,and Magnell of Northallerton, next 

 tried their Dray's Hussey -machines, but without results 

 that could place them in comi)etition with the side- 

 delivery machines already worked. A machine by 

 Wray, of Bedale, with knives on an endless chain, 

 passing continually in one direction across the machine, 

 failed to produce good work for many yards together. 

 Finally, a machine made by Cuthbeit, of Bedale, per- 



