1920.] 



G.E.R. Demonstration Train 



205 



Standardisation is likely to be greatly assisted by the progress 

 of research, but good will on the part of the various manufac- 

 turing interests concerned should accomplish a great deal in 

 the immediate future. Each section of the industry would 

 clearly require to be considered separately, and the prospects 

 of eiiective work would be found more favourable in some cases 

 than in others. Ploughs and other implements of cultivation 

 appear to aftord considerable possibilities of standardisation. 

 The question is one which could no doubt suitably be considered 

 by a Research Association either of the whole trade or any of 

 its sections. The active assistance of the British I^ngineering 

 Standards Association is assured in advance. 



H: ^ H: * * * 



l^HE Eastern Counties are fortunate in having agricultural 

 demonstrations brought, as it were, to their very door, by 

 the energy and enterprise of the Great 

 The Great Eastern Eastern Railway. This Company has now 

 Railway Demonstra- . ^ ^ -x' -r^ ^ x- -r • 



tion Train maugurated its Demonstration Iram, 



which is, in effect, a mobile exhibition 

 of the most approved methods of poultry rearing, rabbit 

 breeding for fur, beekeeping and general horticulture, 

 applicable to small holders and fruit growers. The train, 

 it is interesting to know, was originally used in the War Hospital 

 Service. In the horticultural coach is an exhibit representing 

 fruit and allotment culture, plant diseases, and fruit and 

 vegetable preservation. Methods of grafting and pruning, 

 photographs of fruit trees, of model allotments, specimens 

 of implements, and the apparatus of beeculture, are included 

 in the exhibition. Fruit growers, who know only too well 

 how seriously apple-scab, mildew and similar diseases have 

 affected prices of home-grown produce, can here study the 

 various sprays and spraying machines which are so great an 

 aid to the production of clean fruit. Bee-keepers and 

 prospective bee-keepers will be able to handle and examine 

 the latest forms of apparatus, and those specially interested 

 in potatoes can study means of preventing disease. Onion 

 growers will have an opportunity of becoming acquainted 

 with the symptoms of onion-smut, which has lately obtained 

 admittance into England by means of foreign seed. A special 

 exhibit has been arranged to enable cultivators to recognise 

 and cope with this trouble. There is also a display of bottled 

 fruits and vegetables, together with the various types of 

 bottles, cans, ovens and sterilisers. Practical demonstrations 

 of methods and processes will be given from time to time 

 by expert lecturers. Three officers of the Ministry accompany 

 the train. 



