1870.] NOTES OF THE MONTH. 341 



To this part of the subject, however, I will revert anon. That our 

 cottagers already know much, I believe; that they are willing to 

 be taught more, I feel assured ; their teaching must not be pedantic, 

 but rather a labour of pleasure and of love. 



A Cottajge Gardener. 



NOTES OF THE MONTH. 



The reputed trial of Lawn-Mowers which took place at Leeds, on the 

 occasion of the Horticultural and Floral Show on the 3d of June last, 

 appears to have been of a character to call for a protest from the 

 friends of fair-play. The trial, so called, was between the American 

 machine known as the Archimedean, and certain machines constructed 

 by Messrs Thomas Green & Sons, the well-known manufacturers, of 

 Leeds. The result of this trial has been put before the public in a 

 somewhat pretentious manner, just as if it had been one of the duly 

 advertised incidents of the flower-show. There does not appear, how- 

 ever, to have been any public intimation previously made that such a 

 trial would take place ; the English agents of the American machine 

 were not only not requested to send a machine to Leeds to compete 

 with the others, but absolutely knew nothing of the trial till they saw 

 the result advertised. Who supplied the Archimedean Mower tested 

 on this occasion does not appear ; whether it was in a fit condition to 

 be justly tested, does not transpire. The verdict of the judges — " the 

 judges were the gentlemen who made the awards at the flower-show" — 

 was as conclusive as it was significant. This document is so curious, 

 and withal so instructive, as to be well worth reproducing : — 



" We, the judges of the Leeds Horticultural and Floral Society, having tested 

 lawn-mowing machines manufactured by Messrs Thomas Green & Son against 

 the one called the ' Archimedean ' in an open field where the bents were from 

 5 to 8 inches long, have come to the unanimous conclusion that the ' Archime- 

 dean' is perfectly useless either for long or short grass, the superiority of Green's 

 machines having proved on this, as on many other occasions, pre-eminent. We 

 find the 'Archimedean' is only suitable for banks and steep rising-grounds." 



The names of the judges who passed this verdict are those of men, 

 some of them at least, in whose judgment reliance might reasonably 

 be placed, did not the terms of the verdict itself interfere, and make 

 one pause with grave doubts as it was read. There is something about 

 it suggestive of a desire to reach a foregone conclusion — a not very 

 difficult matter under the circumstances — as each judge seems to have 

 been aware that " on many other occasions " Green's machines had 



