Report of the Senior Steward of Implements at Shrewsbury. 689 
dietetic purposes, and the effluent water of sewage purification 
and sewage farming can be made not only unobjectionable, 
but a decided gain to the stream into which it may flow. It 
may further be remarked, that freedom from colour, bright- 
ness, and palatability of water are no evidences of its purity in a 
hygienic sense. It has been shown over and over again, as for 
instance at Caterham during the epidemic of typhoid in 1879, 
that such waters have held the germs of deadly diseases ; but it 
is almost equally certain that, after treatment by iron, they 
become perfectly safe and wholesome — in fact, the process of 
purification by iron is a guarantee of the fitness of any water for 
the use of man. 
XXIII. — Report of the Senior Steward of Implements at Shrews- 
bury. By Lord MoRETON, M.P., Senior Steward. 
In writing the customary Report which is required from out- 
going Stewards, I need not enter into any detailed account 
either of the mechanical novelties exhibited at the Show or of 
the Trials of Sheaf-binders which were held afterwards ; both of 
these subjects will be dealt with in the next number of the 
' Journal ' by the able pen of Mr. Thomas Bell. 
I am glad to be able to congratulate the Society on the 
success of this year's Show. They were extremely fortunate in 
the Showground, in the weather, and in the crowds who 
thronged the ground. I hope the financial result will not lead 
the Society to regret that, after an interval of thirty-nine years, 
they revisited the ancient town of Shrewsbury. 
The Working Dairy was again an object of great interest to 
visitors. This year a change was made in this dej)artment, 
horse-power being substituted for steam, to demonstrate that 
expensive steam machinery is not an absolute necessity in this 
important branch of farming. The unfortunate accident (happily 
not so serious as it at first appeared) to one of the dairymaids 
cast the only cloud over what was otherwise a most fortunate 
week. 
The Trials of Sheaf-binders were held in August, a few miles 
from Shrewsbury, and lasted a week ; during this time the 
weather was all that could be desired, indeed, those whose duty 
required them to walk behind the competing machines will not 
soon forget the intensity of the heat. Although the trials did 
not prove very attractive to the general public, it would be 
difficult to overrate their importance, being perhaps the most 
