THE FARMhR'S MAGAZINE. 



151 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY^S MEETING AT SALISBURY. 



PRELIiMINARY PROCEEDINGS 

 FIELD TRIALS. 



AND 



Wlietlier or not the City of Salisbury may be the best 

 place in the " District " of Wilts, Hants, Dorset, and 

 Somerset, that could be chosen for the Society's great 

 gathering, it is plain that it offers great facilities for a 

 successful meeting. Consider its central jiosition. 

 Within a thirty-mile radius are included the important 

 towns of Shaftesbury, Sherborne, Blandford, Wini- 

 borne, Poole, Christchurch, Ringwood Lymington, 

 Ramsey, Southampton, Winchester, Stockbridge, 

 Andover, Hungerford, Melksham, Devizes, West 

 bury, Warminster ; while a fifty-mile ra lius 

 will embi-ace also, Bath, Bristol, Wells, Bridge- 

 water, Taunton, Yeovil, Bridport, Dorchestei-, 

 Weymoutli, Portsmouth, Chichester, Guildford, 

 Basingstoke, Reading, Oxford, Cirencester, Stroud. 

 Then as three converging railroads connect the city 

 with different points of the two great lines — the Great 

 Western and South Western — all the south coast, all 

 the extreme western counties, the great midland dis- 

 tricts, and the populous metropolitan counties, are in 

 direct railway communication with the place of the 

 Show. 



One of the best features of the arrangements made by 

 the S')ciety and the Local Committee consists in the 

 excellent preparation of the trial grounds for the im- 

 plements, reapers, and steam cultivators. 



A little beyond the show-yai-d is the field ot eight 

 acres, in which the reaping machines are tried ; and 

 the crop of rye has been purposely sown and cultivated, 

 so as to present strips in different stages of growth and 

 of varying degrees of cleanliness. Adjoining this field, 

 and adjacent to the show yard, is the land upon which 

 Mr. Fowler displayed the capabilities of his steam 

 plough. 



The drills, hoi-se-hoes, haymakers, &c., have another 

 field for their performances, situated on the Lavcrstock- 

 road, about three-quarters of a mile in a direct line from 

 the city. This land, comprising about twenty-two acres, 

 has been managed so as to secure various portions in the 

 right condition for the operation of the different imple- 

 ments : an arrangement which is of the greatest value 

 and importance for the rightly testing of the numerous 

 competing " inventions" and established machines. 



As at Chelmsford, so here, the steam-thrashing- 

 maehines, mills, cutters, and other machinery in action, 

 form a highly attractive department of the exhibition. 

 We give our readers some little scrap from our notes 

 by the way. Leaving London by the 5 o'clock train, 

 and rapidly passing along, it appeared a long time before 

 we got really clear of the great metropolis. The coun- 

 try soon presented a very pleasant and fruitful aspect ; 

 but ere long we came into districts anything but inviting, 



which continued more or less so for nearly forty miles 

 along our route. Why such barrenness should yet re- 

 main near to two millions and a-half of human beings 

 we could not divine. Certainly we have seen land 

 equally poor brought into admirable cultivation. We 

 saw it as we passed to Lincoln — we saw it as we passed 

 to Carlisle — we saw it as we passed to Chelmsford. 

 Why the south-country folks are so far behind the times 

 it is for them to explain. As to stock, we only noticed 

 a few Guernseys for milking, and one or two other 

 horned animals, all the way down. As to sheep, 

 we should say there is not a tenth of what there ought 

 to be ; sometimes we passed on for miles together with- 

 out seeing one. The crops are by no means enviable as 

 a whole; a few plots looked prosperous, but generally 

 they were thin and light. We thought the system bad, 

 there being too much land under corn crops, and but 

 little under grass seeds. What appears to be the great 

 requisite is plenty of sheep. These sheep should be 

 grazing with all the adventitious aid that corn and cake 

 can give them. It is said, " It won't pay." We do 

 not believe it. The corn crojis will pay for higher 

 management ; the turnip crop will pay for it. It is a 

 course of continued progression ; and the more of 

 artificial aids thus given, the more will the occupier 

 reap its benefits. If the migratory habits of our great 

 society shall tend thi.-5 year to urge on our southern 

 brethren to renew their energy, enlarge their views, and 

 open their practice, its visit here will be amply effective. 

 We earnestly wish our south-country friends may long- 

 enjoy the advantages this visit is intended to confer 

 upon them. 



On Friday the real business of the exhibition com- 

 menced. The implement judges began their duties 

 about 9 o'clock ; Messrs. Caldwell and Druce, Rowley 

 and Chalcroft, Owen and J. Clarke, Reed and King, tak- 

 ing their respective classes of implements; with Messrs. 

 Amos and Owen as the consulting engineers. The 

 trials consisted of the classes of drills, manuie distribu- 

 tors, horse-hoe.;, and mowing machines. These took 

 place on the faim of the mayor, Thomas Pain, Esq., 

 whose activity, hospitality, and earnestness to give due 

 effect to the meeting, were the theme of general praise. 

 The attendance was numerous, and the trials gave 

 evident satisfaction — the greatest novelty being 

 the mowing machine, which worked so well that 

 we may as certainly predict the doom of the 

 scythe as others have done the doom of the plough. 

 This was not only the especial feature of the day, but 

 promises to be one of the land-marks of the meet- 

 ing. It is an American invention, exhibited by Clay- 

 ton, of Dorset-square, and known as "the Eagle" 

 patent. Although so great a novelty amongst us, this 

 implement has long been in use in the United States, 

 It comes, too, with the highest possible introduction, 



