1 
196 Report on Miscellaneous Implements at Newcasile. 
That diminution was, indeed, heralded, first, by a request, ad- 
dressed to the Royal Agricultural Society of England by the 
Agricultural Engineers' Association in the autumn of 188G, for 
a reduction in the price of shedding, and, afterwards, by an 
agreement entered into between the makers to curtail their 
exhibits at Newcastle, because the Society had not felt able to 
comply with their wishes. 
It is, however, certain that the desire to save a few pounds 
expenditure upon an Exhibition, which is universally regarded 
by implement-makers as the best and cheapest possible form of 
advertisement, has had little or nothing to do with the contrac- 
tion in question. The times are so " hard " that many a British 
farmer makes shift with old tools instead of buying new, and, 
meanwhile, the great implement factories which during late 
years have sprung into existence on the Continent are supply- 
ing many wants that used to be filled by English makers. 
The Showyard is not now, indeed, what it once was — a 
mart, which the farmer visited annually for the purpose of 
selecting and purchasing his own machinery ; for, with the in- 
creased and increasing use of implements, he finds it convenient 
to buy what he wants of the local agent, who, besides keeping 
a large and varied stock of the best tools, has his stores always 
full of spare parts, easily and instantly accessible in case of 
need. 
But, while no longer a great retail shop, the Showyard has 
become almost indispensable, both to the manufacturer and 
the useful " middle-man " — a place where experiences, gathered 
from every county, crop, and soil in the kingdom, are placed at 
the service of the mechanic, insuring important and rapid im- 
provement, and where personal intercourse tightens commercial 
bonds. 
The Royal Agricultural Society of England, on the other 
hand, is more alive than ever to the need of encouraging by 
every means in its power, not only failing agriculture itself, 
but the development of every aid to agriculture, so that if, at 
the moment, implement-makers are over-economically inclined, 
this mood is the child of the " hard times," and not of any 
churlishness on the part of a Society which is acknowledged to 
be their most useful friend and ally. 
It may, indeed, be taken for granted that although the 
implement shedding at Newcastle was of only two-thirds its 
usual area, while machinery in motion occupied little more than 
half its usual space, the serious " agricultural depression " cha- 
racterising the present time is the true reason why the imjjle- 
mcnt-makor on this occasion "cut his garment according to 
his cloth " more closely than was his wont in the prosperous 
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