at the Chester Meeting, 1858. 313 



plough ; Messrs. J. and F. Howard, of Bedford, with Smith's 

 patent apparatus, consisting of cultivators and ploughs ; and Mr. 

 Thomas Ricketts, of Buckingham, also brought his very in- 

 genious rotary steam-cultivator to the trial-ground. These 

 three implements occupied the attention of the Judges till 

 dusk. 



On the following morning the trials were resumed, when Mr. 

 Boydell, of London, with his well-known traction engine, appeared 

 in the field, but for reasons stated in the Judges' Report he was 

 not considered as a competitor. 



Mr. Ricketts having now withdrawn his cultivator, the contest 

 lay between Messrs. Fowler and Howard, and it was determined 

 to continue the trials on heavier land. 



Through the kindness of Mr. Humble we succeeded in ob- 

 taining the use of a 35-acre field on Blacon Farm, which 

 could scarcely be considered heavy land ; such as it was, how- 

 ever, we were obliged to make the best of it, and, having mea- 

 sured off 10 acres to each competitor, the trials were here 

 brought to a conclusion the following day. 



The very able Report of the Judges leads inevitably to the 

 conclusions at which they arrived, viz. " that Mr. Fowler was 

 fully entitled to the prize of 500/.," and their award was 

 unanimously confirmed at the Meeting of the Council of the 

 Society on the 4th August, 1858. 



The trial of Steam-engines commenced on Wednesday, the 

 14th July, under the superintendence of the Engineer Judges, 

 Messrs. William Owen, Edward Wards, and Benjamin Fother- 

 gill ; Mr. Amos, Mr. Easton, jun., and their assistants, taking 

 charge of the dynamometer and breaks. 



The labours of these gentlemen were not brought to a close 

 until the evening of Monday, the I 9th ; during which lengthened 

 period the trials were conducted with the greatest care and with 

 the utmost strictness. 



In one instance an over-zealous engine-driver was detected in 

 the act of appropriating a handful of cinders, in order to prolong 

 the spark of life in his expiring engine ; the consequence of this 

 was, that the culprit was immediately tried by a sort of drum- 

 head court-martial, and expelled the yard. 



The recommendations contained at the close of the Engineer 

 Judges' valuable Report deserve the immediate attention of the 

 Society. 



On entering the show-yard at Chester the visitor's direct path 

 to the stock and implements lay through an avenue of steam- 

 engines, neatly arranged at equal distances, their fly-wheels in 

 perpetual motion, presenting a very animated scene ; but what 

 would have been the effect produced on the visitor's nerves had 

 VOL. XIX. Y 



