Exliibited at Windsor. 
503 
It may, perhaps, be iirged that the award of the Society's 
Silver Medal should be withheld from all machines whose practi- 
cal value has not been fully demonstrated, on the ground that 
such awards are in the nature of guarantees given by the 
Society. This is perfectly true in the case of competitive trials, 
where, as in a race, there must be a first and a second, while it 
is the oflBce of the Judge to declare the winner's name. But, in 
recommending the award of the medal, the Judge simply 
affirms that, in his opinion, a certain implement has sufficient 
merit or promise of merit to justify its being brought to the 
notice of the iDublic. The Judge may err herein, undoubtedly, 
for, without scientifically conducted competitive trials, it is very 
easy to do so ; yet it would be shirking a responsibility imposed 
on him by his very choice as Judge if he did not sometimes 
reward promise as well as performance. When that promise is 
great, and its field of action highly important, it is his bounden 
duty to " back his opinion," and he may do so fearlessly because 
he knows that every intelligent man will, before buying, read 
his report and note his qualifications, especially in cases where, 
whatever the presumptive merit, there has been no opportunity 
for the exhaustive examination of a competitive trial. 
Messrs. Crocker & Co., Dorchester, exhibited in connection 
with one of their " Eclipse " Mowers, C. J. Fosters patent corru- 
gated finger-bar (Art. 2616). The greater strength obtainable 
Fig. 3. — Foster's Patent Corrugated Fincjer-Bar. 
in a corrugated section must be apparent to any one who con- 
trasts the greater rigidity of a thin corrugated plate as compared 
with a flat plate of the same weight. This gain in strength at 
once enables a lia^hter finder-bar to be used. In addition to this, 
the corrugated section of finger-bar lends itself admirably to 
a simple, efficient, and inexpensive attachment of the fingers, 
which is effected in the following manner. A rectangular slot 
is cut by a milling machine at given intervals in the forward 
corrugation of the bar ; a boss on the shank of the finger, with 
a hole through it, fits accurately into this slot, and the finger is 
