Report on Implements at Preston. 
703 
it may be better to break a whippletree than to injure a good 
horse. 
Two prizes of hi. each were offered for Butter Packages. In 
Class Vil., " Package suitable to convey Salt Butter to market," 
the only competitors were Messrs. T. Bradford and Co., who sent 
a series of cubical boxes, very strong and iron-bound ; inside 
the outer box are six loose squares of American maple, fluted 
on the inside. The cube of butter is surrounded by these loose 
boards, and then placed in the outer box, which can be fastened 
either by a peg or a padlock. The prices of these boxes are 
to hold 28 lbs., 10a-. to hold 56 lbs., 125. to hold 84 lbs., and 
14s. to hold 112 lbs. The boxes are well made and very strong, 
and are not dear at the price ; but the Judges consider that an 
ordinary butter-firkin, at a very small fraction of this price, is 
much more likely to meet the wants of the few English farmers 
who send salt butter to market. A medal was awarded at the 
Kilburn Meeting to Messrs. A. Ransome and Co., of Stanley 
Works, Chelsea, for machinery that makes butter-firkins of 
better finish and at lower prices than they can be made by 
hand labour. 
It is to the farmer's interest to supply the home market with 
fresh rather than with salt butter, and in many places it is 
usual to pot down the surplus summer butter and make it up 
again in the autumn and winter for sale as fresh butter. For 
those who may wish to compete in the Indian or other markets 
against Irish and foreign salt butters, a cheap firkin will be 
much better than any expensive box ; the return of empty 
packages being only practicable for comparatively short distances. 
From these considerations, the Judges recommended that no 
prize should be given in Class VII. 
In Class VIII. they found it would be difficult to compare 
together the small light packages required for Parcels Post and 
the larger and heavier packages suitable for sending by rail ; 
they therefore obtained permission from the Stewards to separate 
the two kinds of boxes, and award an extra prize of 1/. for 
packages suitable for Parcels Post. 
Thomas Bradford and Co. entered a series of strongly made 
boxes for both purposes. The smaller ones we considered too 
heavy and expensive for Parcels Post ; but we found the larger 
size admirably adapted for sending butter by rail, and we 
awarded them the prize of 5/. The front of the box opens as a 
<Ioor, and shows a number of removable shelves, with sufficient 
space between them for a row of 2-lb. rolls of butter ; each roll is 
kept in its place by slips of wood on the surface of the shelf. 
The boxes can be fastened by peg or padlock. The sliding 
