<530 
Report on the Trials of Implements at Taunton. 
be saved, and its execution in work, cannot be determined bv the 
eye : red and blue paint and fine gilding, first-class workman- 
ship, and even the persuasions of a clever pushing agent, are not 
sufficient to induce farmers to approve and adopt, without more 
convincing proofs of excellence. It is not to be supposed that 
prize-taking machines are the only ones in favour with the 
public ; but any of those selected machines which get well 
through these severe tests and examinations may be considered 
safe ones to buy. In arranging these trials, an institution like 
the Roval Agricultural Society may be expected to look a little 
farther into the requirements of the English farmer than indi- 
viduals might do. A good opportunity is also offered to manu- 
facturers on these occasions for comparison and improvement. 
These trials have of late years been watched so intently, and 
reported upon so ably and, generally, so truthfully by gentlemen 
of scientific and practical knowledge, in the daily and weekly 
press, that a report in this Journal, necessarily delayed until a 
large amount of interest is lost before it reaches the hands of 
members of the Society, seems somewhat of a repetition of 
matter patent to the agricultural world ; but the official report 
has the ad^ antage of being prepared with that care which is 
required in drawing up tables and in noting facts which mav 
be referred to in future, as a kind of record of the present state 
of agricultural machinery. 
The same scissors-like motion, and the same principle of con- 
veying power from the bite of the travelling wheel upon the 
ground, have been maintained since the first introduction of 
mowing-machines. Those two important elements, power and 
speed, have always seemed to be wedded on very fair terms in 
these machines ; but we may well suppose that the simplifying 
and arranging of all their parts, according to their present me- 
chanical construction, must have required many thousands of 
experiments, especially when we consider what work is performed 
by them. The knife runs at a very rapid speed cjlose to an 
uneven surface, consequentlv coming into contact with stones, 
sticks — not unfrequentlv with pieces of iron brought in manure — 
mole- and ant-hills, often of a consistency like glue ; at other 
times driving through the uneven surface as hard as a road, or 
running full speed into deep unseen furrows. 
The comparison of these machines is therefore very different 
from that of barn machinery, or even of corn-mowing machines. 
Superior material and construction are of the utmost importance, 
and fairly claim one-half of the points of merit ; but it may be 
doubted by many whether it is not more easv to compare con- 
struction and material in prize-taking machines, than it is with 
commercial ones. Upon this point the Society, in the printed 
