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THE FARMER'S MAGAZIiNE. 



beaten in the race by American ingenuity ;" nor do wc 

 see any iuimiucut danger of being supplanted in our 

 own colonies, as well as in other distant markets of the 

 \vorld, by our keen competitors. The Americans may 

 find customers for some of their cheap inventions and 

 implements in the near markets of the British American 

 provinces, the West Indies, and Brazil : but even 

 there our English makers are not far behind them 

 in their sale ; and certainly in the former there has 

 been a steady increase in our exports for some years 

 past. 



While differing on these points, we are ready to con- 

 cede the merit of usefulness to many inventions and 

 implements enumerated. The stump extractors would 

 be invaluable in many parts of Australia and the West 

 Indies. The stone-crushing machines would be found 

 useful in our colonies for preparing material for the 

 roads ; the simple kind of springs for vehicles on 

 rough roads ; the grain scythe and cradle ; the " hoi'se- 

 power," as it is termed for brevity, by which animals 

 are utilized, in a species of treadmill cart, connected by 

 rotary motion by means of the axle of a driving- 

 wheel, to such purposes as thrashing, grinding, win- 

 nowing, and such like ; the unloading fork, the 

 shovel, the potato-digging plough, the elevator, and 

 others which space would fail us even to enumerate. 



There are many hints and notices in Dr. Eddy's 

 paper well worthy the attention of colonists. Here is 

 one on tlio snake or zig-zag fencing, worth adopting 

 where wood is plentiful, as in New Zealand, Tasmania, 

 and parts of Australia. " It is formed by laying slabs 

 of split stuff, no matter how rough, one over another, 

 with their ends overlapping, zig-zag fashion, till the 

 requisite height is attained, and then driving posts in 

 at each side where the ends overlap. It is as ugly a^ 

 can be, and in the States the eye gets quite M'eary of 

 its monotonous uniformity ; but the hard thrifty Ame- 

 rican fanner does not study the ornamental much. 

 Not the least advantage that it possesses is that, whilst 

 very strong against lateral pressure, it is easily pulled 

 down in case of fire, or for removal of boundaries. 

 Now, in Australia I have known many miles of expen- 

 sive post and rail fencing burnt in a few hours, owing 

 to the difficulty of pulling it down, and so arresting the 

 fire. Cheaply as this fence is put up, so immense is 

 the extent of it in the States that the total value of it 

 has been computed to exceed that of all the houses and 

 buildings there. It must be observed that there is 

 difficulty in America in rearing live fences, owing to 

 the severity of the cold in winter and the droughts of 

 summer : the same difficulty is felt in our Australian 

 colonies." 



MEETING OF THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY. 



This Great St. Leger of yearling bulls, which may be 

 said to open the Shorthorn year, began on Tuesday, 

 April 2, in the buildings of the Society adjoining the 

 Museum. The show has been, year after year, a steady 

 index of the advance of the Durhams in Ireland, and 

 the number of bulls alone, since Dr. Collins, the pre- 

 sent chairman, first entered the committee of agriculture 

 in 1835, has increased from about 20 to 187. This 

 Easter no less than 121 out of that number were en- 

 tered in the yearling class, and we saw but very few 

 stalls without their tenants. The contest derived great 

 additional interest from the announcement that the 

 judging was to be public, and that an extra fee of Ss. 

 was to be charged up to four o'clock on Tuesday after- 

 noon, in consequence. Breeders had grown weary of 

 dawdling nearly a whole day in Dublin, eagerly feeding 

 on such little scraps of intelligence, true or false, as 

 might reach them, through " some little bird" from the 

 show-yard, and argued that as Yorkshire, and other meet- 

 ings in the North of England, have long since adopted 

 the open principle, there was no " reason why" a Royal 

 Society should not follow suit. The question had been 

 very strongly agitated in the Royal Irish Society, but the 

 council preferred waiting to see how it answered at Dublin 

 before they came to any decision. The test was one 

 hardly in point, as although the matter is easy enough to 

 effect in an open-air ring, this was the first time, to our 

 knowledge, that it was ever tried in a covered building. 

 Thanks to the pouring day, which made a large reduction 



in the number of visitoi's, the experiment was successful; 

 but it is quite evident that in future the main avenue must 

 be left quite clear for the judges, &c., and the animals. As 

 it was, the spectators were latterly allowed to come 

 into the avenue ; and although the constables and other 

 officials formed a cordon round the judges, and enabled 

 them to do their work without let or hindrance, still there 

 was often a great deal of inconvenient crowding among 

 the animals on which they were not engaged, which ought 

 not to be permitted. The committee had begun the day 

 with the idea that they could "keep it dark," till all 

 was over ; but when the spectators had been worked up 

 to fever pitch, such secrecy was found impossible in 

 practice. The judges especially felt it to be so, and 

 very wisely allayed the popular excitement, by giving 

 the lucky numbers, in their few disengaged moments, 

 before the next class was brought out, to any friend 

 who asked them. This is to be obviated for the 

 future, and the public will not only be kept strictly 

 to the galleries, but the Yorkshire plan will be 

 carried out in its integrity, of handing diiferent 

 coloured rosettes indicating the respective prizes, H.C., 

 or C, to the leaders of the animals, before they leave 

 the avenue. All agreed that there had never been such a 

 pleasant or such an exciting eight hours since the cattle 

 show era began in Ireland, and by another year we ex- 

 pect to see the galleries crowded not only with young 

 agriculturists who regard the spectacle as their best 

 school of instruction, but by as much beauty and fash- 



