468 Saddle and Sirloin, 



of place in the Skirbeck Works' office, and at one 

 corner of it is the scoop with which the attendant 

 watched the machines, and at intervals skimmed off 

 the smut-balls, sprouted, and lighter grains which 

 worked their way to the centre of the sieve. With a 

 variation in the size of the wire, it has been used fo/* 

 grass seeds, linseed, and coffee berries, and sent to 

 Egypt for lentils. 



A short ride from the Boston market-place where 

 the statue of Herbert Ingram, who knew, if ever man 

 did, as the poet of his own county has said, 



" The seasons when to take 

 Occasion by the hand," 



tells its sterling lesson to the lads of his own town 

 brings us to the Skirbeck Works, which now occupy an 

 area of six acres. An Italian ship was discharging its 

 freight of linseed, as we skirted the Witham on our route, 

 and then we turned inland past the site of the mother 

 church, the old red Hussey Tower, whose flagstaff 

 leans in its decay over the battlement, and the pasture 

 close of the Augustine friars. A few girders and 

 plates for the Thames Embankment are stacked ready 

 for departure to the order of Mr. Webster, who began 

 his rapid upward career sixteen years ago as a master 

 builder in a small village near Boston. 



The Skirbeck Works may be said to date from 

 1841, when they furnished a portable engine and 

 thrashing machine to the late Mr. Robert Roslin, of 

 Algarkirk, at a time when farmers hardly dared to 

 think of a fire in their yard. The machine was driven 

 on a frame, with the engine after the old fashion, and 

 was equal to thrashing-out eighty quarters of wheat 

 a day, with seven cwt. of coals. The firm's first port- 

 able combined machine was ordered by Mr. George 

 Holland of Wigtoft ; and having made their ground 

 sure on that point, they introduced their patent housed 

 engine with vertical cylinder at Exeter in 1850. Five 



