at the Gloucester Meeting, 1853. 



345 



of horses. It is yet a debatable question with farmers and 

 manufacturers, whether the wheels of carriages should be strictly 

 cylindrical or dished. There is also a difference in opinion as to 

 whether the hoop should be slightly convexed or otherwise. A 

 slightly convexed sole has without any doubt some advantages in 

 the field, where young clover-seeds or grass-lands have to be 

 carted over. Less mischief is done by the convexed sole than 

 the flat ; the latter by its sharp edges cuts the grasses, and leaves 

 an indentation not noticeable in the other. In awarding the pre- 

 mium to Milford's cart, it is not intended to overlook the many 

 carts placed in competition with it, which were in themselves 

 creditable to the exhibitors. Perhaps some were too heavy, and 

 consequently too dear ; others might again be too high on the 

 wheel, or too small in the body. 



Steaming Apparatus. — In this department there was little com- 

 petition, the contest being between W. P. Stanley, of Peter- 

 borough, and Richmond and Chandler, Manchester. The prin- 

 ciple of these steamers is the same as those exhibited for several 

 years ; they are extremely useful on every farm, particularly in 

 seasons like the present, when a considerable portion of the hay 

 crop has been damaged by rains. 



Churns. — In the churns there was some novelty. The So- 

 ciety's premium of 3/. was contested for by a practical trial 

 in the show-yard, each churn having a quantity of cream mea- 

 sured out for the purpose of testing their relative merits. The 

 following is a tabular statement of the time required for pro- 

 ducing butter, and the quantity made from each churn : — 



Name of Exhibitor. 



No. of 

 Stand. 



No. of 

 Article. 



Quantity of 

 Cream >.'iven 

 to each. 



Time 

 in producing 

 Butter. 



Weight of 

 Butter from 

 each Churn, 









Quarts. 



Minutes. 



lbs. oz. 



Dray and Co. (Willards) 



33 



29 



4 



18 



3 14 





55 



1 



8 



14 



3 0 



Burgess and Key . 



67 



10 



4 



16 



4 6 



Dodds 



103 



1 



4 



m 



3 8 



The butter w^as of excellent quality, and did not vary either 

 in taste or appearance. In this trial, the American churn, 

 exhibited by Burgess and Key, not only maintained its character 

 in producing butter rapidly, but in producing a greater quantity 

 from the like amount of cream. The plan of forcing continually 

 atmospheric air into the cream by means of a cup-form given to 

 the dasher seems to have a beneficial effect in separating and 

 collecting the buttery particles. The old form of the piston- 

 dasher does not at present possess this ; and it may be owing to 

 the want of this continued supply of atmospheric air, more than 

 mechanical agitation, that the old dasher makes less butter, and 



