Report of the Judges of Hop Machinery, Sfc. 577 
assistance tliey afforded us ; and wo trust that the result of the 
recent competition will be, as we in effect know it will be, to 
render the unsuccessful on this occasion most earnest in their 
endeavours to come to the front the next time, while we believe 
those who have succeeded will know that to do so again they 
must add to their efforts rather than rest upon the position they 
have already attained. 
The Table which forms the Appendix to this Report require 
little explanation. In it are recorded the prices, leading dimen- 
sions, and proportions of the engines, the observations on the 
trials, and the results obtained. 
The averages of several of the columns are added beneath 
them, and in those in which there are marked contrasts between 
the results obtained from the Locomotive, Thomson, and Howard 
types of engines respectively, the averages of each of those types 
are recorded at the sides of the columns. 
(Signed) F. J. Bramwell. [ 
James Easton. 
XXVIII. — Report of the Judges on the Trials of Hop Machinery 
and Miscellaneous Articles at Wolverhampton. 
I. Hop Machinery. 
Although very liberal prizes were offered by the Society for machines and 
implements connected with the cultivation and management of hops, the 
entries in these classes were not niunerous. It is true that the total acreage of 
land planted with bops in the United Kingdom is comparatively small ; but it 
must be understood that their cultivation absorbs a very large amount of 
capital and requires many peculiar and complicated machines ; it is there- 
fore most surprising that there was not a larger competition for these prizes, so 
judiciously offered by the Council. As, however, the annoimcement that these 
l^rizes had been ofl'ered was not made until November, 1870, there was not 
much time to invent and manufacture new and improved machines for the 
Wolverhampton Show, and there can be no doubt' that when the year comes 
round in which these prizes occur again in their rotation, there will be keen 
comiMtition for them, as several implement-makers who watched the trials this 
year saw that there is room for improvement and the exercise of inventive 
skill, and resolved to make themselves better acquainted with the mechanical 
requirements of hop-cultivation. 
The trials of implements in the First Class, "for the best machine for the 
cultivation of hop-gardens to supersede manual labour," were held at Barnhurst, 
in the field where the steam-cultivators were tried. An impromptu hop-garden 
was marked out and measured, and the position of the " hills " was fixed by 
the marking-poles, tipped with small red flags, which had served to point out the 
course of the traction-engines. This arrangement presented a curious appear- 
ance, so that an eminent engineer inquired whether the " hop judges were going 
to have a bull-fight." There were three entries in this class, of which Messrs. 
Coleman and Morton's " Hop-cultivator" (No. 261), was the first to be tried. 
