Report on Miscellaneous Implements at Newcastle. 195 
should in no circumstances be used in any of tlie processes, 
unless as a last resort. 
This is a question which strongly affects all agriculturists, 
whether owners or occupiers. Corn and cattle nowadays hardly 
pay for rearing or growing, but orcharding and the production 
of cider and perry is one of the many smaller farming opera- 
tions which will well repay attention. Rents possibly axe 
higher and our seasons more uncertain than those of France 
and America, but these disadvantages are counterbalanced by 
the smaller expenses of packing and carriage and loss from 
deterioration or injury. In tlie neighbourhood of large towns 
there is always a sale for hardy fruits, and those who have not 
that advantage can turn their energies to cultivating these fruits 
for cider and perry purposes. There are many advantages 
attending it, especially at the present time. There are now no 
restrictions whatever on the production of these liquors by 
taxation, or on their sale direct from the orchard, and the small 
amount of alcohol wliich they contain will always militate 
against their conveyance from a distance. 
Every encouragement should be given to the practice of 
fruit-growing on an estate, and, if possible, the subject should 
be taught in elementary schools. The late Professor Henslow 
introduced the subject in his village school in Cambridgeshire, 
and the writer owes his taste for it to the fact that, as a choir- 
boy in Oxford, he was given a small patch of land at the back 
of the school to cultivate in common with the other boys, who 
had similar patches, and which was a source of endless amuse- 
ment and also a little profit. The keen competition of the 
present day must be met by the farmer with greater economy, 
higher cultivation, and indomitable perseverance, and by atten- 
tion to these there is little fear but that the British farmer will 
hold his own. 
IX. — Beport on Miscellaneous Implements at Newcastle. By 
Dan. Pidgeon, Assoc. Inst. C.E., Holmwood, Putney Hill, 
London, Reporting Judge. 
Judges. 
J. W. KiMBER, Fyfield Wick, Atingdon. 
John Coleman, 7 Park Street, The Mount, York. 
James A. Oaihb, Northbrook, Miclieldever, Hants. 
The condition of English agriculture, coupled with the vast 
increase of foreign implement-making, are, doubtless, together 
responsible for the considerable diminution of exhibits which 
characterised the implement department of the Newcastle Show. 
0 8 
