at the Canterbury Meetiiifj, 1860. 
511 
In this trial tlio only inacliiues wliicli appeared capable of getting through 
the work without litojipages or derangement of their jjarts, were article No. 81, 
exhibited by Messrs. Burgess and Key ; article No. 794, exhibited by Kobert 
Cuthbcrt and Co. ; and article No. 3299, exhibited by VV. Dray and Co. The 
Judges were unanimously of opinion that the trial was unsatisfactory and 
insufficient, and deferred their award until they should have had an opportunity 
of giving the three last-mentioned machines a further trial, as they consider 
that the merits of a reaping-machine can only be satisfactorily tested in 
harvest time, and on ripe crops of different kinds of corn. 
The implements exhibited for the cultivation of hop lands proved to be 
in no respect superior to those in ordinary use in the county, and the Judges 
therefore withheld the prize. 
Mr. William Weeks, of Maidstone, exhibited a simple, effective, and much 
improved machine for pressing hops, article No. 1651, for which the Judges 
awarded him the prize of 10?. There was only one design exhibited for the 
most economical building adapted for drying hops, and as it differed in few 
respects from the oast-houses now usually erected in the county, the Judges 
did not feel justified in awarding the prize. 
The prize for the apparatus best adapted for drying hops was not awarded, 
there being no opportunity to test practically the merits of the respective 
articles exhibited. 
There were 24 entries for the prizes offered," for the plough on the turn-wrest 
principle, or otherwise best adapted to turn the furrow-slice according to the 
Kentish system of ploughing." 
There were other ploughs in the Show-yard, the exhibitors of which were 
very desirous of having them tried in competition, but as these ploughs were 
not adapted to lay the furrows all in one direction, the Judges did not consider 
themselves justified in ordering them out for trial. 
The ploughs were set to work on an old pasture, on a stony clay soil, very 
ill adapted for the purposes of a trial ground, and it soon became evident that 
it was utterly impracticable for any plough to fulfil the conditions attached to 
the premium, the Judges therefore requested that another piece of laud should 
be selected. The ploughs were then sent to a trifolium ley, near the Show- 
yard, where the soil was of medium quality ; the ploughs then did some very 
good work, turning over a furrow-slice 10 inches wide and 8 inches deep, 
laying the furrows all in one direction, turning them completely over, 
leaving a good crease for the reception of seed, and the surface of the soil in 
a good state for the action of the harrows. 
The draught of the three ploughs to which the ])rizes were awarded varied 
to some extent, but the old-fashioned Kent plough, which appeared to be the 
heaviest and most clumsy in its construction, proved to be the lightest in 
draught, and made excellent work, with an average draught of 803 lbs. 
The prizes were awarded as follows : — • 
The first prize, 30/., to Mr. F. B. Elvy, Bow-hill, Maidstone. 
The second prize, 201., to Mr. J. Wildash, Davington, Faversham. 
The third prize, lOZ., to Mr. Joseph Simmons, Eainham, Sittingbourne. 
p. s. punnett. 
Thos. Eammell. 
Fredk. Mubton. 
H. G. Austin. 
Thomas Abbott, 
Iteport on the Postponed Trial of Reaping Machines, exhibited at the Show of 
the Royal Agricultural Society, held at Gantci'hury in July, 1860. 
The deferred trial of reapers took place at Barton's-Court Farm, near Canter- 
bury, on Tuesday, September the 4th ; the competition was confined to the 
