606 Repoi't on the Trials of Comhined StacJiiin/-3Iachines 
Experience lias proved that double-furrow ploughs are most 
applicable to liglit and medium soils, and it is easy to under- 
stand that the advantages in economy would be more marked 
under such favourable conditions than when tried on com- 
paratively strong land. The fact that swing-ploughs consume 
more power for a given amount of work than wheel-ploughs is 
probably owing to their being less steady in work, and is a 
strong argument against their use ; indeed, looking at this fact, 
and the greater skill necessary for their management, one is 
at a loss to imagine arguments in their favour, save under 
exceptional conditions, such as the sticky condition of the land, 
causing the wheels to clog and drag, and under such cir- 
cumstances the attempt to execute work at all is probably a 
mistake. 
The comparison between the dynamometer trials at Hull, and 
the indicator returns at Wolverhampton, is defective to this 
extent, that the conditions under which they were taken differed 
materially ; thus, in the former, the dynamometer was placed 
between the implement and the rope, whereas in the latter the 
friction of the rope was recorded in addition to the actual work 
of the implement. Of course it may be said that the distance 
of the implement from the power is a feature of the system ; but, 
though this is so, it must not be forgotten that the experiments 
at Hull were carried out by steam-power, a more steady draught 
than that of horses, and consequently the records were more 
favourable than would actually be the case in practice. 
XXIII. — Report on the Trials of Combined Stacldn (/-Machines 
and Miscellaneous Implements at Hull. By Chakles GaY 
Roberts, of Shottermill, Haslemere, Surrey. 
In the Report on the trials of implements last year at Cardiff, it 
was stated that the trials of the threshing-machines consumed so 
much of the time allotted to judging that it was impossible to 
give the stacking-machines as full a trial as they deserved. In 
compliance with a suggestion made last December at the general 
meeting of the Society, the Council offered this year a special 
prize of 25/. for a " Combined Stacking-Machine ; to be tried 
with sheaf-corn, hay, and loose corn and straw, and worked by 
horse-power ; and adapted for use in conjunction with a steam 
threshing-machine, if required." This repetition of the trials 
was fully justified by the result, for, in spite of the counter 
attrac tions of the Vienna Exhibition, there was a much larger 
entry than we had at Cardiff for the same class of implements. 
