Report on Implements at Preston. 
743 
Messrs. P. H. Bracher and Co. stowed three implements, 
Nos. 3361-3363, for Peat Breaking, at a cost of 3Z. IO5. for 
one that can be worked by a lad, lOZ. for a double-action 
machine to be worked by two men, and 201. for one suitable 
for manufacturers of peat-litter for sale. These peat-breakers 
are like cake-crushers in general arrangement : but in place of 
the rollers for cake-crushing they are furnished with two square 
spindles, set parallel, and fitted with long curved teeth, which 
seize the turf and tear it to pieces. A wrought-iron grid is 
placed immediately under the spindles. Each tooth in its 
revolution passes between teeth on the opposite spindle, and 
then between two of the bars of the grid. The machines were 
tried with some Cheshire peat of average toughness, and dealt 
with it in a satisfactory manner. 
The new Vertical Boiler, No. 4123, manufactured by 
Messrs. Coles and Matthews, presents a refinement in con- 
struction, on the merits of which agricultural Judges can hardly 
venture to express an opinion. The chief feature in this boiler 
is the employment of a deflecting cone placed over the upper 
orifices of the quadrant-shaped tubes which extend from the 
sides to the crown of the fire-box. It was found, as the result 
of experiments with vertical boilers, such as these, that the water 
was violently ejected from the tubes and mixed with the steam ; 
but that when the conical protector was placed over the tubes, 
it prevented the water from entering the steam-space outside 
the cone. 
No. 4129, Messrs. R. Homshj and Sons " L il " Two- Wheel 
Ridging and Moulding Plough was exhibited, with a new 
double wing share and skeith coulter for cutting ant-hills. The 
disc of the skeith coulter cuts through the centre of the hill ; the 
wing share, 21 inches wide, severs it from the ground ; and 
the double mould-boards split it open, and throw it out on either 
side. The plough can also be fitted for subsoiling, hoeing, 
potato-raising, or single-furrow ploughing ; the share and 
skeith for ant-hill cutting cost 12s. extra, — a moderate price for 
appliances that will be of great service in many parks that 
are infested by these troublesome insects. 
No. 4130 is the Draining Plough previously described. 
No. 4131 is a new Iron Double Furrow Digging Plough, 
" D G D," with short abrupt breasts, for pulverising the land in 
summer fallow work, similar in construction to their " c D " 
Single Furrow Digging Plough. Each breast is fitted with an 
adjustable steel rubber, or levelling plate, for equalising the top 
surface of the broken furrow. A rest is fitted on the inner and 
lower part of the breast, which slides along the furrow sole, and 
keeps the plough steady in work. 
