Report on the Trials of Implements at Reading. 
691 
keep it clear of damage. It must not be forgotten that these 
stacks were very small ones (about 9 and 11 tons); had they 
been three or four times as big, it is more than doubtful whether 
the hay, if taken in the state in which this was when stacked, 
could have been successfully treated. If this be the case, the 
advantage to be gained by the use of the fan is reduced to very 
small limits indeed. 
Upon the much-debated question of what is the proper time 
to commence and cease fanning, it must be confessed that these 
trials do not throw any very clear light. It is obvious that the 
sooner the fan is worked after stacking, the greater is the chance 
of the air permeating the whole stack equally. When the hay 
has settled closely, air may be drawn in, but it will enter most 
freely through the lightest hay, which least requires ventilation. 
On the other hand, it seems probable that the early application 
of the fan checks that natural sweating of the ha}' which is 
recognised as having a beneficial effect. In almost every case 
the stack indicated a temperature of 140^ or more in some part 
before the fan was set to work. Mr. Bamlett, in his second trial 
stack, started before this point was reached, probably in fear that 
it might get master of his fan, as his first stack seemed likely to 
do. Mr. Greening, true to his teaching, started his hand-power 
fan when the highest reading of the thermometer was 122° ; and 
with his steam-power fan he began before his stack was roofed, 
with a reading of 136^. Mr. Phillips, in his third stack 
(Plot 13), began at 140°, but was content with half-an-hour's 
working of a hand-fan. Mr. Coultas's second stack (Plot 10), 
and Mr. Lister's (Plot 11), were put together under very similar 
conditions, and there was little difference in the stacks when 
they were opened ; if anything. Lister's had less mouldy hay 
than Coultas's. The two methods of treatment maybe contrasted 
— neither was very successful. 
The conclusion which was forced upon the Judges was that 
the exhibitors were perfectly right when they said, at starting, 
that they could not deal with wet hay. But that is exactly what 
the fans are wanted to do, and what the British public, misled 
by the newspapers, confidently expected them to accomplish. 
It must be borne in mind that Mr. Sutton's prize was offered 
for the best method of drying hay artificially, and the fact that 
none of the exhibitors of exhaust fans proved that they could 
dry hay at all cannot be too strongly insisted upon. 
Trial of Fans on Baeley Stacks. 
As Mr. Sutton's prize was offered for the best method of 
drying hay or corn, the Judges thought it desirable that some 
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