554 
Implement Shoio at Manchester. 
Hay-Collectobs. 
A few words will suffice to describe this portion of the programme. Only- 
three makers exhibited, tlie five implements being all more or less similar^ 
viz., on the principle of the American turn-over horse-rake. Far be it from 
us to condemn these cheap machines. When put into form and properly 
worked, they will collect a quantity of stuff, and leave the same lighter than 
an ordinary hay-rake. It is quite evident that they cannot at the same time- 
rake the ground, consequently the horse-rake would be required afterwards. 
Unfortunately, the makers and their men were ignorant how to work the- 
rakes, and having double the right number of teeth for such a heavy crop, 
they blocked up continually. We may mention the names of those present. 
Riches and Watts, Norwich, two machines. 
Hunt and Pickering, Leicester, one machine. 
Bristol Waggon Company, two machines. 
James W. Kimbek'. 
John Hemslet. 
Matthew Savidge. 
John Coleman. 
4. B,eport of the Judges on Systems and Machines for drying Say met 
Corn in wet ■weather. 
This subject has engaged considerable attention lately, and its importance 
cannot be questioned, especially in those localities where the uncertainty or 
lateness of the climate renders the harvesting of both hay and corn precarious, 
and in cases where sewage is applied to the growth of grass, artificial 
drying is a great desideratum. In more favoured districts, a really wet harvest 
may be looked for as an exception once in every six or seven years ; to provide 
against such an occasional contingency an economical apparatus is necessary. 
The Council, in offering a Gold Medal for the best system of drying hay and 
corn in wet weather, accompany the offer with this, as we think, proper 
restriction, viz., that the system must be sufficiently economical for practical 
purposes. It would be a serious mistake, injurious to the progress of improve- 
ment, if a crude invention, although possessing much ingenuity, and possibly 
containing the geim of future success, were to be stamped by the Society's 
most honourable notice, and go forth certified as a system which farmers- 
could profitably employ. After giving a careful consideration to the two 
systems which were exhibited, we were unwillingly driven to the conclusion 
that we could not make an award. 
Mr. W. A. Gibbs, of Gilwell Park, Essex, exhibited his apparatus, which 
has been so frequently described in the agricultural papers, and more par- 
ticularly in an essay for which Mr. Gibbs was awarded the prize by the 
Society of Arts.* The idea is simple. The products of combustion are driven 
through a chamber containing the corn, or are brought directly in contact with 
damp hay, which is constantly being moved. The fan which exhausts maj' 
be worked either by horse-power or steam ; if the latter, then the waste 
heat is utilized by bringing the smoke-box end of the engine in direct communi- 
cation with the fan, which acts equally upon a dog-kennel furnace below, that 
being the chief source of heat. The products of combustion are driven by 
means of the fan into the drying chamber, which is in two compartments, 
acted upon alternately by means of a valve. Thus, whilst the corn is being 
dried in one part, it is being removed and renewed in the other. The fan is 
* The prize given by the Society of Arts was not awarded for the machine 
described, but for the principles upon which it was founded. 
