96 
Report on the Trials of Sheaf-Bindcrs 
of Sir Philip Miles, about a mile from the Suspension-bridge 
and adjoining Ashton Park. The situation Avas admirable. 
This, and the apparent difficulty of finding anything else, induced 
the Stewards to accept the offer, notwithstanding that the crops 
were miserably light, unequal, and extremely dirty. I was much 
surprised to learn that this was a farm of about 500 acres which 
the late Sir William Miles, A^hom I remembered as a great agri- 
cultural authority, had occupied for many years. There may 
have been peculiar reasons lor its impoverished and neglected 
condition, but, after seeing it, I was not surprised at a remark 
which was once made by a shrewd neighbour : " If it were not 
for Sir William, Farmer Miles would soon be in the County 
court." The soil of the higher land was. thin, on mountain 
limestone, and full of stones, which were in some cases of rather 
inconvenient size. It would have been most unfortunate if the 
trials had been entirely confined to crops manifestl}- below the 
average yield of the country, and which, from the shortness of 
straw and perfect upstanding state, presented no test of the 
capabilities of the machines to deal with full crops. The grass 
in the bottom was, on the whole, advantageous, because even on 
the cleanest farms there are crops with seeds to be cut, and the 
couch grass was very similar. It would have been so natural 
for sceptics to say, " Yes, you did fair cutting and tying on 
crops representing about one half of a fair yield, but how 
would the machines have behaved in big good corn? We know 
that in the States the yield is much below us, and the straw 
is shorter, to start with, and the stubble left higher ; no evidence 
has been afforded that these machines can deal with English 
crops, and the very point which it was your business to prove 
you have left undecided." This would have been just criticism ; 
moreover, the Judges could hardly have satisfied themselves 
with such inefficient tests. It was then extremely fortunate 
that, on the second day, a piece of oats was found within half a 
mile of the Hill Farm, estimated to yield 8 quarters, with straw 
about 5 feet long, and though not lodged yet somewhat dis- 
turbed from the perpendicular. It was here that the final and 
decisive trials were made, and they were of such a character as 
to confirm previous results, and to leave no shadow of doubt on 
the minds of the Judges as to the verdict which they would 
give. The public, who are so deej)ly interested in this (juestion, 
as well as the Society and its officials, have cause to feel grateful 
to Mr. Bishop, the enterprising tenant of Sir Greville Smyth, 
for coming forward at a moment's notice, and placing his partly 
cut field at our disposal. Nothing could have been more oppor- 
tune, and we trust he will enjoy the satisfaction of feeling that 
his willing coinj)liance, at no doubt considerable personal in- 
