Report on Miscellaneous Implements at Newcastle. 201 
Essex, exhibited tlie same Thatch-making Machine (Art. 519) 
as that to which the 25/. prize of the Royal Agricultural Society 
was awarded at Norwich in 188G, improved in certain parti- 
culars. The Judges of miscellaneous implements recommended 
these improvements for a silver medal, which was granted. 
The machine itself was fully described in the 'Journal ' for 
1886 (Vol. XXII. p. 529), and needs no further notice. The 
improvements in question are twofold. The straw, or reed, was 
originally supplied to the sewing needles by hand, and the 
attendant had to be very careful in order to prevent the feed 
from becoming intermittent. A feed-roller, driven by gearing, 
has now been added to the machine, and materially diminishes 
the need for constant watchfulness on the part of the man in 
charge. The stitching-twine, which was previously used with- 
out any dressing, is now drawn through a mixture of tar and 
petroleum before entering the needles. These two apparently 
trifling changes have considerably enhanced the value of this 
clever and useful machine. 
Gliomas T. Mayo, of Llangunnock, Ross, Herefordshire, 
showed a " Straw Trusscr, or Bolting Tier " (Art. 420), manu- 
Fig. i.— View of Mr. T. T. Matjo's Bolting Tier. 
factured by Kell, Meats, & Co., of Ross, to which, after trial, 
both with loose straw and behind one of Ransome's thrashing 
machines, the Judges awarded a silver medal. This implement 
was shown as a novelty at Norwich last year, described in the 
' Journal,' and ordered forward for trial at Newcastle. Having 
now taken a medal, it will be re-described here. 
The function of the machine is that of trussing and binding 
straw as it issues from the thrashing machine, an object which 
is accomplished in the following way (see fig. 4) : — 
A pair of straw receivers, each consisting of three wrought-iron U's, are 
fastened vertically to a long board, which slides easily upon rollers contained 
