142 EEVIEWS — ACrEICULTTJBE OF THE EEENCH EXHIBITION. 



20 francs per 100 kilogrammes (about £8 per ton), and the demand regularly in- 

 creasing. Probably there are few places where this manufacture could be carried 

 out more advantageously than along the north-east coast of this country, where 

 both the raw materials, — fish and fuel, — are so abundantly provided ; and I cer- 

 tainly think the simple process of the " Bngrais Boisson " is more economical than 

 and preferable to the processes hitherto recommended." 



In the agricultural implement department there was an extensive 

 display, but nothing particularly novel or superior to what had been 

 previously exhibited elsewhere. There were no less than 350 exhibi- 

 tors, whose productions as might be expected indicated very different 

 orders of merit." 



" The practical trials of the implements were of a somewhat irregular and pro- 

 tracted character. Those coming immediately under the adjudication of the 

 Agricultural Jury were carried out satisfactorily, considering the difficulties 

 attendant upon the operations of such a large number of machines and implements, 

 most differing from, and many of them entirely new to the agriculture of the land. 

 The trials occasioned considerable excitement, — each time the country sent its 

 representatives from far and near. Ministers of State and Imperial Commissioners, 

 with their President, the Prince Xapoleon, Arab chiefs, and foreigners from all 

 parts of the globe, came to see the experiments ; while the presence of a battalion 

 and a brigade, with their martial accompaniments, conferred a novelty, if not a 

 charm, upon the field. After all, these warlike accompaniments formed a striking 

 background for such a living picture of the peaceful arts. The results of all these 

 comparative trials will be officially made known by the Jury. The character of 

 the English implements was well sustained, in none perhaps more than in the 

 ploughing trials, when the dynamometer showed, that while it required only a force 

 equal to 17'01, to turn over a certain, quantity of earth in a certain time, with the 

 best English plough, it required a force of more than 27 to do the same work with 

 the best French one, and 32*8 with the best Belgian plough. Many other ploughs were 

 tested, some requiring a force of 60, 80, and indeed nearly 100, so that practically 

 one horse with the English plough would be as efficient as four or five horses 

 attached to some of the other ploughs. In the trials of Reaping Machines, the 

 Americans were each time victorious ; the work was admirably done. An English 

 and a Canadian machine, on Bell's principle, were forced to withdraw from some 

 derangement of the working gear. These machines, from their economy of labor, 

 and rapidity and excellence of work, appeared to produce a great effect upon the 

 crowds who witnessed their operations. I fear, however, that the agriculture of 

 France is not yet sufficiently advanced for their successful introduction. What 

 Palladius said of old, is equally true now, — that they are on.y to be used when the 

 fields are large, and the surface level, — and these are certainly not the present 

 conditions of France." 



" Of all implements," saj s M. de Lavergne, " the most necessary is 

 the most difficult to perfect ; there is not such a thing as a perfect 

 plough, and it is very doubtful if it be possible to find one which 

 shall satisfy every condition. All the ploughs were tried by the 

 jury ; those which did apparently the best work with the least 

 draught were, the English Howard, the American [Canadian] 



