344 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



of mowing-machines, hay-tedders, horse-rakes, and many other 

 implements, without a practical trial on the field ? 



This mode of making awards opens the door to great injustice 

 to competitors, and ultimately to the whole farming community. 

 With many kinds of implements it is by no means easy to arrive 

 at a correct conclusion as to their comparative merits, even by 

 a careful trial, and without such trial it is simply impossible. 



Now, an award under such circumstances, often made on the 

 judgment of an individual member of the committee, not only 

 works to the disadvantage of unsuccessful competitors, but the 

 successful competitor uses this endorsement to establish the rep- 

 utation of a machine which, on a careful, practical trial, may 

 prove to be inferior. It amounts to an imposition upon the 

 farming community. The farmer has a right to suppose that 

 such awards are based on comparative merit, and this he knows 

 can be ascertained only by trial. He has a right, therefore, to 

 suppose that such trial has actually been made. 



CHARLES L. FLINT, 



Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture. 

 Boston, January 27, 1869. 



