of String Binders at Derby. 
293 
were greatly surprised at the selection of a machine for the first 
prize, which did not so much cut as tear the stems away from 
the ground, a result entirely owing to defects in the knife, which, 
having been exposed to the action of sea-water during the time 
the steamship ISritannic was under water, had become so brittle 
that the serrations chipped off, leaving, of course, a blunt surface. 
One other point requires explanation before I proceed to 
describe the trials. It will be seen by the conditions of trial, 
that beans were included in the crops that were to be cut, and 
two fields were found in the locality, both of spring beans, 
which were quite a month off harvesting ripeness. Under these 
circumstances only two courses were open — either to adjourn the 
trials until the beans were ripe, or to omit this part of the pro- 
gramme altogether ; to do which the unanimous consent of the 
competitors was necessary. In order to obtain their opinions, 
a meeting was called by the Stewards, the state of the case laid 
before them, and they were all agreed to abandon the bean test. 
Although this was one of the conditions desired by the Imple- 
ment Committee, the Judges did not attach very much im- 
portance to the test ; firstly, because the area under beans is not 
large or increasing, and secondly, because it is doubtful whether 
the cutting of beans by machinery is either a practicable or 
an economical process. 
Before describing the Trials I may repeat the conditions under 
which they were held. In the general regulations issued by the 
Society for the Derby Meeting, the Judges were empowered to 
award a Gold and Silver Medal to the Sheaf-binding Machines 
which, after the Trial, during the harvest-season of 1881, should 
in their opinion be the best and the second best — the binding 
material to be other than wire. 
CONDITIONS. 
1. The Machines must be brought complete into the Showyard for exami- 
nation, description, and weighing. 
2. The makers must declare the number of horses and attendants that each 
machine will require. 
3. The strength of the bands will be tested as at Bristol. 
4. The Machines Entered for Trial and selected by the Judges, will remain 
in the possession of the respective exhibitors up to the time of Trial, with a 
view to enable the exhibitors to work and improve their machines between 
the close of the Show and the time fixed for the Trial ; and any exldbitor 
whose macliine shall be selected by the Judges, and who does not produce it 
at the time, shall forfeit 25Z. for each machine not thus submitted. 
5. Broken or injured parts cannot be replaced during the time of the Trials 
■without the consent of the Stewards, unless they are duplicate parts liable to 
injury. 
The chief difference in the above and the conditions affecting 
the Trials of 1877 and 1878 will be found in the fourth clause 
