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XXVII. — Report of the Judges of Steam Cultivators at Worcester. 
The description of the Trial Fields at Worcester, and of the 
Steam Cultivators there set in motion, having been embodied in 
]\tr. Clarke's Essay (see p. 365), the Report of the Judges, which 
follows, stands alone, though it will doubtless be read in con- 
nection with Mr. Clarke's comment. 
Beport of the Jitdges of Steam Cultivators, 
The Prizes offered by the Koyal Agricultural Society for Steam-Cultivators 
Avere divided into two distinct classes, viz. : To Class I., " for the general 
application of Steam-power to the Cultivation of the Soil," was assigned the 
Gold Medal and 50Z. ; and to Class II., " for the best application of Steam- 
power which may be efficiently and safely adapted for small Occupations," 
50?. was also appropriated. 
A preliminary trial took place on Wednesday July 15th, at the Nunnery 
Farm, near Worcester, to afi'ord an opportunity to the competitors for jiroperly 
arranging and adjusting their respective machines and tackle. This arrange- 
ment seemed to give general satisfaction to the exhibitors, many of whom 
found it necessary to make various alterations in their appliances ; but, beyond 
a superficial inspection, no official notice was taken of this trial. The soil, 
which was of a fair depth, with a slight admixture of gravel, lay in flat ridges ; 
part of the land was wheat-stubble, and on the other part vetches had just been 
eaten off. Eight plots, of Ij acres each, were measured off and assigned by 
lot. As some of these machines did not again come under our notice, we will 
at once offer a few words in explanation of their most prominent characteristics, 
reserving the description of the rest for our account of the subsequent trials. 
Mr. Hayes, of Stony Stratford, employs a stationary engine and self-acting 
windlass ; the peculiarity of his system being that the anchor-men at the 
headlands can instantly stop the action of the plough without stopping the 
engine ; no signals are required, and the work may be performed in foggy 
weather. One man superintends the engine and windlass, and no wheels are 
required to be put in or out of gear, owing to the winding-drums being driven 
by band-wheels, and the engine-strap being shifted from one to the other as 
required; whilst by the simple movement of a handle the pulling-drum is 
instantly stopj^ed, the rotation of the paying-out drum arrested by a steam- 
pressure break, and the motion of both drums reversed. With this apparatus 
Fowler's cultivator was set to work, which, however, did not accomplish its 
allotted jiortion, owing to an accidental fracture of the drum from some irregu- 
larity in the coil of the rope. 
Messrs. Turner, of Ipswich, also exhibited a steam-cultivating apparatus, in 
which the chief characteristic was a chain of a novel form, invented by Mr. 
Collinson Hall, of Navestock. Unlike the ordinary wire-rope of Messrs. 
Fowler and Howard, this chain consists of a number of round steel rods, 
18 inches in length, with open circukr ends, whicli are connected by a pair of fiat 
plates 4 inches long, riveted together through the open ends of the two bars, 
so as to form joints. These plates have an ajterture in their centre, which 
enables them to fit closely round certain projections on the "drum, which is 
polygonal instead of circular, the length of the pvincijial faces corresponding 
with that of the steel rods. This is evidently an ingenious invention, though 
it yet remains to be proved to what extent it will withstand the immense 
amount of friction which must necessarily arise from a continuous drag over 
