SECRETARY'S REPORT. 207 



of ours, in 1851, admitted tlieir immense superiority, and have 

 been trying ever since to equal them in lightness, united with 

 sufficient strength and flexibility ; but, though they have vastly 

 improved ours, they cannot yet compare with yours." The 

 ditference was so marked that one could tell blindfolded which 

 was the most desirable to use. Tlie tines of the American fork 

 were not only strong, but very flexible. They could bo bent 

 nearly double without breaking. Besides, they were light, and 

 far better finished than the English. Our implements, as a 

 whole, may not be quite so durable, but they are durable 

 enough. What is the use in adding to them a pound of extra 

 timber or iron ? Who would use a plough made twenty years 

 ago, even supposing it to be in running order ? 



But there are some things that we ought to have. Among 

 them may be mentioned the good tile-making machines. Why 

 should good draining tiles be so high with us, when equally 

 good ones are produced in Europe at a quarter part of the cost 

 to the farmer ? I saw a machine worked by one man making 

 tiles at the rate of ten thousand a day. The machine cost $140. 

 Others making bricks at the rate of twenty and thirty thousand 

 a day. I do not know how these latter machines compare with 

 ours in the amount of work they perform. Then, too, many 

 of the lawn mowers were very useful implements. In threshing, 

 mowing and reaping machines, horse-rakes, hand-rakes, hoes, 

 &c., it strikes me we are, on the whole, decidedly in advance 

 of the English manufacturers. But in steam cultivation, which 

 formed a prominent part of the show, they have done more 

 than we. 



During the exhibition, a trial of steam ploughs and steam 

 cultivators took place in Kent, and I was there to see. Most 

 of the land selected for the trial was light, and some of it was 

 shallow. 



Several machines had already steamed up ready for action, 

 on our arrival ; among them Fowler's, with a large fourteen 

 horse-power engine, with clip-drum and rope, a four-furrow 

 plough, and a balance cultivator of seven tines. Both did 

 good work, the plough making about an acre and a half an 

 hour, and the cultivator about three acres. It was evidently 

 deeper work than the land had ever before received, but that 

 was not saying much. The depth of the cultivation in the 



