178 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



One by Mr. James Whitton, gardener, Coltness, Wishaw, seemed the best. It is a 



t o- wheeler, on the " Ianker " principle, and is capable of removing trees 30 feet high 

 and w eighing 2 tons, one of its advantages being the ease with which its lever-power 

 < an be applied in lifting the tree from the earth. Several simple and efficient plans 

 for transplanting shrubs so as to preserve the " ball w intact were shown by the same 

 exhibitor. 



Messrs. Benjamin Reed & Co. showed a " simplex pump" — for draining ditches or 

 for use in connection with liquid manure — the valve action of which is so simple that 

 it cannot be choked or thrown out of gear; also a powerful root-extractor, which 

 gives a sufficient leverage to enable one man, it is said, to lift 5 tons ; and they have 

 an ingenious iron tar-barrow, with brazier and pot, for use by foresters when tarring 

 fences. 



Mr. N. Ahlbottn, Leith, showed a patent composition for the protection of young 

 trees from game, which has been attested to be of great utility by many eminent 

 foresters. The composition is tar-like in color and consistency, non-porous in its na- 

 ture, does no damage to the tree to which it is applied, and is regarded with great 

 aversion by hares and rabbits. 



William Wells, Leith, exhibited an approved composition for the filling up of cavities 

 in trees so as-to prevent the lodgment of water and subsequent decay ; and alongside 

 of it was a patent varnish made of marine glue and fusel oil — one of the waste pro- 

 ducts of the distillery — which can be used as a substitute for creosote in preserving 

 fencing, sleepers, and such like exposed timbers. Applied to stout paper it acts as a 

 w ater-proofiug agent, and strips of this prepared paper wrapped round a tree are 

 found to preserve it from the attacks of ground game. 



A. Gardener & Son, Glasgow, exhibited timbers prepared and preserved by a pat- 

 ent process for which it is claimed that it not only seasons timber in about one- 

 twelfth the time, but greatly increases its strength. 



Mr. James Dairsie Morrison, of Swanston, near Edinburgh, a gentleman who has 

 made ventilation subjects a 11 hobby," showed an ingeniously constructed model of a 

 foresters hut, which aims at providing within the space which can be afforded iu 

 such dwellings the most perfect conditions of healthy life. The principle embodied 

 is that of maintaining in an apartment, without creating an objectionable draft, a 

 continuous current of pure air. This fresh air is made to enter at one end of the room 

 so treated and to leave it at the other in a sort of drain under the flooring, this drain 

 being carried into the flame chamber of a newly-invented oil lamp used for heating 

 the room, where all impurities are burned. The same exhibitor also shows a drying 

 shed in which there is sought to be obtained the drying of wood at a low temperature, 

 and at the same time the rmisoning of all the conditions of low plant and animal life. 

 The low amount of heat applied is made to evaporate from the cells of the wood everv 

 trace of water, and at the same time to act as the carrier of gaseous poison, such as car- 

 bonic acid in different shapes, which, though harmless to the woody fiber, kills all low 

 forms of plant or animal life. 



There were several inventions for making wood non-combustible; the cheapest aud 

 best was said to be Wilkins's fire-proof paint, shown by Craig & Rose, Leith. 



The marquetry work exhibited by D. Mongenot, Paris, attracted much attention. 

 It is a branch of furniture and decorative art not much practiced in Scotland, but 

 which is taught to a considerable extent in the technical schools of France. Work- 

 ing with veneers cut to thinness ranging from 20 to 110 to the inch, the artist frets 

 oat his design and then fills up the pattern with small pieces of differently colored 

 natural woods, the effect being heightened by the introduction of woods previously 

 stained iu the block. A table-top and several ornamental panels shown were very 

 pretty, the shading especially being most delicately managed. There was also show n 

 a log of maple 15 inches in diameter cut into a paper-like roll of veneer 340 feet in* 

 length. 



Of parquetry work, which is a species of wood-inlaying applied to produce orna- 

 mental flooring, there were several very fine samples, notably by Arrowsmith &. Co., 

 Loudon. • 



The Jocul cabinet and furniture makers had an annex all to themselves, and their 

 work, in sideboards and suites of furniture, was in the highest style of art and work- 

 manship. 



The rubber manufacturers were also well represented, and the adaptability of rub- 

 ber as a water-proofing material and for use in machinery was abundantly illustrated. 

 In motion, was shown on the outside grounds, the most approved wood-cutting and 

 preparing machinery. This, to many, was au interesting part of the exhibition. 



The outside grounds referred to were for the most part allotted to nurserymen, who 

 had laid them tastefully out, aud showed in them the newest ornamental conifers 

 and other trees. A remarkable fact about the display, which was of a most interest- 

 ing nature, was the large number of such trees which came from Japan. 



In what was styled the loan collection, there w r ere 150 exhibitors — the exhibits 



