136 Report on Implements at Liverpool^ and on 
plicity as well as the novelty of its principle, and for the absence 
of complicated mechanism in its construction. Its practical 
merit must be measured by the durability of its grinding sur- 
faces and the cost of their renewal. This latter is stated to be 
30s. per set. The durability of its grinding surfaces depends on 
the character of the metal, the special composition of which I 
have no knowledge of. The wear of these, however, will be 
lessened by the special feature that the grinding surfaces remain 
idle when the mill is set for kibbling only ; in other words, 
they are so wide apart that the grain kibbled in the upper por- 
tion of the mill can pass between the surfaces ; hence the result 
is clean kibbling, and not a mixture of kibbling and grinding 
which is so common in many mills. 
Whatever may be said of other descriptions of mills in use, it 
is clear that this is an efficient and economical implement, and 
a really new invention. As such the Society's silver medal fell 
to it by indisputable right. The award will have an indirect 
beneficial result beyond that of distinguishing this particular 
implement if it should direct fresh attention to the value and use 
of this class of machinery on a farm. The necessity for such 
becomes day by day more imperative. A large and increasing 
proportion of home-grown grain is now consumed on the pre- 
mises, and large importations of foreign beans, peas, lentils, and 
Indian corn are used to still further increase the meat-making 
capacity of the farm. The grain for horses, too, is generally 
mealed for mixing with chopped hay and straw. To send these 
several kinds of seed-corn to be ground at a public mill would 
cost as much as would pay the rent of a small country mill. 
Forty years ago all corn was ground at the mill and paid for by 
" moulter," a system then legalised, by which the miller took a 
fixed proportion of each sack of grain in payment for his work. 
The proportion taken was certainly never less than the proper 
one, but there was no obligation that a larger quantity should 
not be taken, and tradition records that the " moulter " was often 
well done by being twice done. But little grain was ground for 
stock at that time, hence the continuance of the ancient practice. 
At this day, however, the farmer could not bear to see his 
waggon come from the mill with two or three sacks less than he 
sent. In due course no doubt we shall see competitive trials,, 
under the auspices of the Society, of the several grinding and 
kibbling mills now in use throughout the country, when the rela- 
tive standing of this machine will be positively established. At 
present it comes before us with visible claims that entitle it to 
the Society's medal and to public notice. 
The Hydrotrophe new boiler-feeder received a silver medal. 
There has lor some time been room for further improvement in 
boiler-feeding, which should combine the advantages of the 
