G30 



Report on the Trials of Implements at Bedford. 



Fig. 1. — Illustrating relative 

 positions of Seed-hox, Seed- 

 barrel Spindle, and Driving- 

 wheel in Drill. 



the pivot, c, the centre of the seed-barrel spindle, B, would 

 move towards h, and then it is evident that the relatiA^e position 



of the seed-barrel cog to the 

 driving-wheel cog. A, would be 

 altered, and would cause slipping 

 of cogs and breakages. If the 

 seed-box rested on the ends of 

 the seed-barrel spindle, it might 

 be levelled in either direction 

 without in the least degree alter- 

 ing the relative position of the 

 two cog-wheels. 



Mr. James Coultas, of Grant- 

 ham, carried off the principal 

 honours, including the first prize 

 in Class 2, which was strongly 

 contested. At the Plymouth 

 trials he took a good place, ob- 

 taining the third prize in that 

 class ; but the competitors who 

 excelled him there, did not enter 

 any implements for the present 

 trials. 



Class I. General Purpose Drills. 

 — These were heavy complicated 

 inachines ; combining too many 

 operations in one, each of which 

 could be performed at little, if any, extra expense, by separate 

 machines, and certainly more satisfactorily. The saving in 

 prime cost of the separate machines is nothing, for they could 

 be bought for the same amount as the general-purpose drill. 



The various parts and cog-wheels requisite for the different 

 changes are so numerous, that some of them might easily be 

 lost if under the charge of an ordinary farm-labourer ; and they 

 would also quite confuse him. The draught of these machines is 

 heavy. In the Report on the Plymouth trials a similar opinion 

 was expressed by the Judges there, who at the same time 

 recommended that this class should be abolished in future trials 

 by this Society ; and it was again the unanimous opinion of the 

 Judges at the present trials. 



The soil of the trial-field was an alluvial clay, which had 

 become regularly baked by the long-continued dry weather. It 

 therefore formed a pretty severe test for the drills, for in ordinary 

 practice drills would not often be subjected to more severe shaking 

 than was the case on these trial-fields. The soil was somewhat 

 difficult to penetrate, and many of the drills, with full pressure 



