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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



able committee from one end of the county to the other ; 

 everything had been done that waa possible ; and the result 

 was one of the finest and best meetings he ever saw. (Cheers.) 

 They had endeavoured to encourage the ploughboy, the plough- 

 man, and the farmer's son, preparatory to his becoming a far- 

 mer and one of themselves. In round numbers, they had 

 awarded in premiums, during the twenty-nine years, something 

 like £1,100, and about 1,500 ploughs had been brought out 

 for public competition, to say nothing of private trials of skill 

 which had taken place in almost every parish ; neighbour 

 against neighbour in happy rivalry. Last week he witnessed 

 no fewer than sefven such private trials, and those were as 

 good as some of their ploughing meetings when first origi- 

 nated. (Hear, and cheers.) At the outset they could scarcely 

 get half a-score subscribers, whereas on this occasion they 

 had nearly a hundred, distributed over the whole county. 

 The number of ploughs, too, brought together on that day, 

 had exceeded that of any former meeting. Therefore, with 

 these facts in view, and considering that the ploughs had been 

 brought from upwards of thirty villages, the affair seemed to 

 have excited a very general interest. (Hear, hear.) They 

 had been favoured with a very fine day, and nothing could have 

 been more pleasant for all parties. The steam-plough he had 

 left out of the question, for that, he understood, could work 

 in aU weathers. (Laughter and cheers.) He hoped that in 

 the course of the evening they should have some very interest- 

 ing remarks upon steam and its application to the cultivation 

 of the soil. Before concluding, he might mention that no less 

 than five counties had contended for the champion prizes, and 

 that twenty-one ploughs came into competition. He took an 

 opportunity in the earlier part of the day of noticing whether 

 there was competition amongst plough-makers, and he found 

 that the twenty -one ploughs were produced by no less than 

 nine makers, viz. : — Duncotnbe, 1 ; Chamberlain, 3 ; Freer, 

 6 ; Downes, 4 ; Bird, 1 ; Bailey, 2 ; Pearson, 2 ; Goulding 

 and Co., 1 ; Tarlton, 1. The Chairman concluded by proposing 

 "Prosperity to the Rutland Ploughing Meeting." (Drunk 

 with loud applause.) 



The Chairman then read the list of prizes as above. 



The silver cups were then presented to Mr. Arthur Hack 

 and Mr. Wm. Scott, by J. Brown, Esq., who addressed a few 

 appropriate remarks to each. The other prizes were also dis- 

 tributed, the winners being warmly cheered. In reply to the 

 Chairman, Scott said he had gained prizes to the amount of 

 about £100 at the Rutland ploughing meetings, and Hibbit 

 said he had won upwards of £40. The Chairman passed a 

 high encomium upon the character of Scott, who, in reply, 

 stated that although he had not lived in Rutland for the last 

 thirteen years, yet he was born in the county, and learnt to 

 plough there (cheers.) 



The Chairman informed the meeting that Messrs. Gould- 

 ing and Co., of Leicester, made the plough used by Scott, and 

 Mr. Bailey, of Casterton, that used by Hibbit. Bell, whose 

 work waa commended, used a plough made by Mr. Cham- 

 berlain. 



In reply to a question, the Chairman said that Scott did 

 not bring horses with him, but that he borrowed a pair which 

 he had never seen till he took them in hand that morning (xip- 

 plause). 



The Hon. H. Noel waa entrusted with the next toast> 

 " The Health of the Judges in Classes 2, 3, and 4 — Mr- 

 Everard, Mr. Rimell, and Mr. John Algernon Clarke" (cheers). 



Mr. John Algernon Clarke responded. He remarked 

 that they had had a fine day, land in good order, admirable 

 ploughing, a large assembly out of doors, pleasant company 

 within, and a very satisfactory dinner (cheers). He hoped 



they would remember that the great success of this plough- 

 man's festival was mainly owing to the exertions and energy 

 of their friend Mr. Baker, who on this occasion seemed to have 

 fully acted up to the motto of his family, Non sibi, sed patria 

 (cheers). He (Mr. Clarke) had that day been reminded of the 

 time when ploughing matches, however interesting and 

 pleasant they might be, would be perhaps altogether forgotten, 

 or at any rate numbered with the things that were. They had 

 been brought face to face with the possibility and the actual 

 realized practicability of tillage by steam power. Now they 

 were all prepared for steam power. A few years ago, the mere 

 mention of such a thing would have been met with scorn and 

 ridicule. Now, however, it was met with nothing of the kind, 

 but with a great deal of scrutiny and judgment on the part of 

 practical men ; and, he said, they not only wanted it, but they 

 were prepared for it (cheers). How many there were who had 

 portable engines, with men on their farms who understood 

 how to run and drive an engine ! In the parish he came from 

 there were ten, in the next parish five, and in the next to that 

 four, each of them having one or two men going out with it, 

 who understood how to drive an engine, and how to pack a 

 piston rod, and do other little matters of that sort. It would 

 be seen that instead of common ploughboys and agricultural 

 labourers of a common sort, they were beginning to have men 

 as engineers or semi-engineers ; and, as he said, they were 

 prepared for the adoption of steam culture (cheers). After 

 briefly glancing at one or two of the various schemes which 

 have from time to time been propounded for ploughing by 

 steam, the speaker said that as many of them had portable 

 engines, it was very desirable that they should be able to em- 

 ploy them in working cultivators of some kind, to perform not 

 merely the lighter operations of agriculture, but the funda- 

 mental work of the agriculturist — that was, ploughing. Now 

 Mr. Fowler, an engineer of the right sort — he hoped he was in 

 the room — was a man, he believed, endowed with the true 

 daring and courage of genius ; and who, when backed by such 

 a firm as that of the Messrs. Rausome, v.ould be deterred by 

 no difficulty. Mr. Fowler had informed him (Mr. John Alger- 

 non Clarke) that very day that he had brought out an appa- 

 ratus, the cost of which was about £250, to be worked by a 

 common portable engine. That was the sort of thing they 

 wanted. With that machine he understood they could not 

 only plough, but, by attaching scarifying tines, they could 

 thoroughly pulverize the soil (cheers). He (Mr. Clarke) did 

 not know that he had anything to say with regard to the de- 

 tails of steam culture ; he would leave it to Mr. Fowler and 

 other gentlemen conversant with the subject, to give them the 

 prices at which they could cultivate the soil, and to describe 

 the superior effects which might be expected to follow from 

 their mode of culture as compared with the old system of 

 ploughing. He might, however, remark that though the 

 champion ploughing might look very light and beautiful, yet it 

 was not always such as was best for the farmer ; and when 

 they looked at the steam ploughing that day, and saw the 

 rapidity of the motion, the depth of the furrows, and the ad- 

 mirable way in which the soil was pulverized, they would see 

 that in calculating expenses they must allow for the superior 

 order of the work (cheers). With regard to the decisions of 

 the judges, they very much admired nearly all the ploughing, 

 and he thought their especial admiration was drawn forth by 

 the boys. He never saw such ploughing, and he should think 

 it must be altogether unexampled, even at the Rutland meet- 

 ings (loud cheers). 



Mr. Morris (Luffenham) proposed " The health of the 

 judges of the second class— Mr. Painter, Mr. Pack, and Mr. 

 Everett" (cheers). 



