578 Report on the Exhibition of Implements at Liverpool. 
The death of a visitor to the Show, through the bursting of an 
emery-grinding and polishing wheel, is the one untoward event 
of the Meeting that has to be alluded to. Mr. H. M. Jenkins, 
the Secretary, and Mr. Anderson, the Consulting Engineer of the 
Society, both attended the inquest, and tendered all the informa- 
tion it was in their power to afford. It is gratifying to find that 
the Coroner stated upon the occasion that no culpability attached 
itself either to the management or to the officials of the Society. 
The annals of the Society record no case of accident for the past 
eighteen years ; but the lamented occurrence at Liverpool is sug- 
gestive, and it behoves the Council to seriously consider whether 
the time has not arrived for the machinery in motion to be 
better guarded in future. 
The trials of automatic sheaf-binders took place on the farm 
of Mr. Scotson at Aigburth, near Liverpool, on the 16th and 
17th of August. The number of entries for competition was 
reduced by the withdrawal of several machines, and the field was 
ultimately left in the hands of our enterprising Transatlantic 
cousins, three of whom contested for the coveted honour of the 
Society's Gold Medal. 
Without entering into details belonging to the province of 
another, it is sufficient to say that the ordeal these machines were 
put through was severe ; and although the Judges, Messrs. Henry 
Cantrell and John Coleman, were not sufficiently impressed with 
the result of the trial to recommend the award of the prize 
offered, it was obvious to them and to all those who had the 
opportunity of witnessing the trials, that the elements essential 
for success existed in each machine, and will doubtless be deve- 
loped before long. The importance of perfecting such a machine 
cannot be overrated, and it is to be hoped that the Council will 
continue its offer of the Gold Medal for the same purpose in 
connection with the Bristol Meeting. 
With respect to these trials the Judges report that, having made 
a careful and thorough examination of the American Sheaf- 
binding Machines, which were tried on wheat and oats on Mr. 
Scotson's farm at Aigburth, they are of opinion that whilst great 
credit is due to the three inventions, viz., those of Walter A. 
Wood, D. M. Osborne and Co., and C. H. McCormick, for the 
considerable efficiency attained, none of them have, as regards 
the requirements of English farmers, attained that perfection 
which would justify them in awarding the Gold Medal of the 
Society. They, however, strongly recommend that a Silver 
Medal be awarded to Walter A. Wood as a recognition of Pro- 
gress, and that high commendation be bestowed on the binding 
mechanism employed by D. M. Osborne and Co. 
Believing in the great importance of this invention, when 
made practically efficient, they were glad to know that the 
