576 Report on the Exhibition and Trial of Implements 



which were tried upon a field of light loamy soil, in most favourable condition 

 for exhiliiting excellence of work. A furrow 7 inches by 9 was the condition 

 proposed, at which depth the dynamometer was applied. The work of the 

 entire class, excepting Mr. Carson's plough, was excellent, and the competition 

 unusually severe. So evenly balanced were the merits of ilessrs. Eausome, 

 Ball, and Bentall, that no distinction could be made, and the Judges awarded 

 to them an equal prize ; but the superior work by Messrs. Ho^vard's plough, 

 combined with its lightness of draught, induced the Judges to award to them 

 the highest prize. 



The following is the result of the trials : — 



Exhibitors' Names. 



Ball 



Bentall 



Busby 



Carson 



Fry 



Howard 



Eansomes and Sims 



Force 



of 



Traction. 



1400 

 1444 

 1470 



Price. 



£. s. d. 



4 8 



3 10 



4 7 6 



Discontinued work before 

 Trial was completed. 



1330 

 1100 

 1225 



4 15 



3 12 6 



4 7 G 



The Judges awarded the sum of 10?. apportioned to this class as follows, 

 viz. : — 



To Messrs. J. and F. Howard £4 



„ Messrs. Eansomes and Sims 2 



„ Mr. Ball 2 



„ Mr. Bentall 2 



Bidge Ploughs. — Messrs. Howard and Eansome were the only competitors 

 in this class, and the Judges awarded the prize of SI. to Messrs. Howard. 



Turnwrest Floughs. — Five ploughs belonging to Messrs. Eansome, Howard, 

 Bentall, Comins, and Coleman, were selected for trial, and the prize of 21. was 

 awarded to Messrs. Eansomes and Sims for their turnwrest plough, " Low- 

 cock's Patent," stand 37, article 22, price Ql. 17s. 6c7. 



Upon the whole the Judges are of opinion that these experiments have ex- 

 hibited ploughing fully equal in merit to what has been seen at any former- 

 meeting of the Society ; and though no striking novelty has been introduced 

 in the construction of ploughs, yet some minor improvements have been made 

 tending to the perfection of these important implements. 



It is a peculiarity of English agriculture that ploughing is an operation of 

 greater difficulty in England than on the continent. Besides the greater na- 

 tural tenacity of the soil, arising in part from the greater humidity of the cli- 

 mate, the alternation of grass and corn crops, and the amount of stock depas- 

 tured upon the land, all give to our arable fields an unusual degree of solidity, 

 while the growth of artificial grasses renders a complete inversion of the soil 

 an absolute necessity. Those who witnessed the trials of the ploughs at the 

 Paris Exhibition will have seen the widely difierent conditions of ploughing in 

 England and France, and how completely the improved construction of our 

 English ploughs is fitted to cope with the special difficulties of English farm- 

 ing? In proportion to the difficulty of the operation is the necessity of having 

 o-ood instruments, and the most useful lessons inculcated_ by the trials "at 

 .Chelmsford appear to the Judges to be, that they establish 'the importance of 

 solidity and strength in the construction of jjloughs, and demonstrate the de- 

 cided superiority of the iron ploughs with wheels to the wood ploughs without 

 wheels, still too extensively in use. 



