The Development of Agricultural Machinery. 265 
(1888) may be similarly characterised. Six long summer days 
were given to investigations concerning a single type of macliine, 
with the effect of clearing up a perfect chaos of constructive 
principles, and putting makers, attempting in this case a new 
road, definitely in the right path. 
There is something, of course, to be said on the other side 
of the question. Sir H. S. Thompson, with the frankness of 
true ability, admits, in more than one passage of his writings, 
the difficulty of proving exactly how far improvement depends 
upon tests ; and if the steam-engine has been spoken of above 
as plastic in the hands of a Society dictating the conditions of 
its trials, it must be remembered that much had been done 
in steam between 1872 and 1888 — years during which there 
were no engine trials — for which the Society can, of course, 
claim no credit. Similarly, the period between Plymouth (1865) 
and Manchester (1869) was void of Reaper trials, yet saw the 
introduction of the " controllable rake " ; while the sheaf-binding 
reaper was introduced and had become a practical success in 
America during years also void of Reaper trials in England 
(1870-1876). Both these inventions were of American origin, 
and, provably, children of no other parents than Supply and 
Demand. They, however, with other examples that could be 
mentioned, tending to support the doctrine that trials are vain, 
may be freely yielded by the advocates of tests, in view of the 
fact that the sheaf-binder certainly was made useful to English 
farmers only through the modifying influence of the Society's 
repeated trials. 
It would be strange if the action, searching as it was, of the 
Royal Agricultural Society of England upon the craftsman, and 
the reaction of the latter upon the Society itself, had been 
always unaccompanied by friction. Such differences of opinion 
as have, rarely, occurred between the two have, however, been 
only amantium irce, so soon, and so happily, composed as not 
to call for record, saving for a certain light thus thrown on the 
importance which the Society has always attached to recom- 
mendations of implement-makers. Eight years of dynamo- 
metrical trials (1848-1855) had already not only separated the 
goats from the sheep in the implement-yard, but graded makers 
pretty accurately, in spite of hurry and of errors. The burden 
of annual trials in all classes of implements was terrible. Well 
might makers declare that they could not be always scheming 
and at the same time give that attention to their business 
which its rapidly growing importance required. Well might 
implement judges and engineers feel overdone by labours for 
which no adequate time was given. Meanwhile, the great 
