of String Binders at Derby. 
291 
is thus effected : — The teeth on the mutilated pinion are so 
arranged that five engaged on the pinion on the bottom shaft 
give sufficient motion to give one half-turn to the twister. The 
bottom rubber is then pushed forward, the half-twist of the 
string being below the rubber. There is then a blank space on 
the pinion, then a sufficient number of teeth to give five revo- 
lutions to the twister ; after which the top rubber is pushed 
forward and the bottom withdrawn. The effect is, that the five 
twists are rolled or rubbed together into a compact condition, 
which is supposed to hold the sheaf. The face of the rubbers 
are covered with small rasp-like projections, which appear likely 
to injure the strings. 
The Trials. 
It was fortunate that in a district so largely composed of 
grass-land, the Society was able to secure, within four miles of 
Derby, crops of corn suitable for the purpose of the trials. 
Not only was there the necessary variety of cereals (wheat, 
barley), and oats, in fields closely adjacent, but crops of the same 
kind presented a sufficient difference of bulk, to afford the easier 
and severer tests required for preliminary and conclusive trials. 
Most of the fields were on the farm of Air. Hall of Thulston, not 
unknown to fame as a breeder of Longhorns. Valuable speci- 
mens of these useful hardy animals were seen grazing in an 
adjacent field. A field of oats and of wheat were placed at the 
disposal of the Society by Mr. Radford, a neighbour, all the 
land forming part of Lord Harrington's Elvaston estate. And 
its suitableness for the purpose was suggested, and arrangements 
for the trials were carried out by Mr. Gilbert Murray, the agent 
for the estate, and an active member of the Local Committee. 
The forcing weather that characterised the Show week, con- 
sidered in connection with the warm gravelly soils on which the 
crops grew, led the local authorities to fix August 1st as the 
proper date for the trials. Subsequent events modified this 
view, and eventually the actual trials commenced on Monday, 
the 8th ; competitors having an opportunity to work their 
machines in a field of oats on the previous Saturday. It may be 
said in passing that the putting back the trials until the crops 
were in a fairly ripe condition was a judicious step. The object 
being to test the machines under as nearly as possible similar 
conditions to those of ordinary work, it was necessary that the 
crops should be as nearly as possible in the stage at which they 
would be cut in the ordinary way. The oats were quite ripe 
enough ; indeed, as a general rule, they would have been better 
cut three or four days sooner. The wheat was in excellent con- 
U 2 
