434 Report on the Exldbition and Trial of Implements 



Manure Distributors. 



The portion of the prize list which was allotted to ns comprised the Manure 

 Distributors and the miscellaneous department. The sum of 20/. was to be 

 awarded to the Distributors, but for the miscellaneous articles we had no money 

 prizes, and only such of the medals as the judges in the other classes could 

 spare. Of the twelve which the Society otJered they took but five, leaving us 

 seven to award over our large and varied department. 



The dry manure distributors were the first selected for trial. These machines 

 were required to sow half an acre at the rate of 2 bushels per acre, and half an acre 

 at 30 bushels ; also to distribute wet, coarse, and fine manure. Of course the price, 

 workmanship, and simplicity of the machines were taken into consideration. 

 Six Distributors were brought to the trial field, but it was soon evident that the 

 three foremost were those of Messrs. Cliambers, Reeves, and Holmes. The first 

 and the last have now been some time before the public ; a description of them, 

 therefore, would be superfluous, especially as an account of them, and their 

 lengthy trial in 1854, was detailed by the Carlisle judges. Mr. Eeeves's dis- 

 tributor is quite new. It is very simple in its construction. There is only 

 one box in which revolve a row of Archimedean screws. These turn the 

 manure out at holes in the bottom of the box ; a slide diminishes or increases 

 the openings, and thus determines the quantity to be soan^i. The price (10/.) 

 is greatly in its favour, but then its extreme simplicity renders the cost of 

 making it very trifling. Neither the materials nor the workmansliip were first- 

 rate, and there must be a considerable profit to the inventor at the present 

 price. On the whole we were much pleased with the machine. It s6wed a 

 small quantity of fine manure with great regularity, and all other sorts very 

 fairly. It requires a stirrer in the upper part of the box. This and one or 

 two trifling alterations in matters of detail which we pointed out to the manu- 

 facturer will tend greatly to improve this machine. Mr. Holmes's distributor 

 sowed coarse manure better than any of the others, but Mr. Chambers's 

 seemed to us the more generally useful macliine, as it acted well in distributing 

 all the manures, whether dry or wet, coarse or fine, a large quantity or a 

 small. The price is high, 20 guineas ; but there is a great deal of work 

 about it, and that work is turned out in first-rate style. This is essential, 

 for such corrosive manures as guano, salt, and the like, speedily damage all 

 iron work wliich is not well made, and of the best materials. We awarded 

 Messrs. Garrett and Sons, for Chambers's broadcast manure distributor, the sum 

 of 8Z. To each of the other two we gave a 5/. prize. 



It has recently been said that it is the duty of the Implement judges to point 

 out to the public the shortcomings of the imsuccessful machines. We do not 

 see the necessity of this. We explained to the makers, as courteously as we 

 could, what we thought the chief defects in their machines, but those remarks 

 do not want to be paraded before the public. The absence of a prize or a 

 commendation will show we did not appreciate this or that implement very 

 highly, and as long as prizes are awarded by the Society they ought to be 

 considered as certificates of merit, and direct the agriculturist to the best 

 implement in its class. We can confidently recommend any of the tln-ee 

 Salisbury prize-Distributors to our brother farmers. If they want a machine 

 to sow any sort or any quantity of manure, and do not mind the price or its 

 weight, Chambers's is the best ; if they require one to sow coarse or long 

 manure, Mr. Holmes's is to be preferred ; but if they Avish for one that will 

 distribute a small quantity of fine manure with great exactness, then we 

 should recommend J\Ir. Reeves's. And this, after all, is a great point ; we do 

 not so often want distributors to scatter a lot of rough stuff, as to sow from 2 to 

 4 bushels of highly concentrated manures. We \ia\e said that Mr. Chambers's 

 machine was well made. We do not mean by this that the oak was beauti- 



