442 Report on the Trials of Implements at Cardiff. 
The construction of caving riddles seems to be a point in whichi 
each maker follows his own fancy ; hardly two are alike. We fear 
we can do little to remove the uncertainty that evidently prevails 
on the question of the best form of riddle. It is easy to be "wise 
after the event," but in future trials it will be well to make an 
extra column of merit. No record was made of the freedom of 
cavings from chaff and grain : without this the entry of chaff free 
from cavings in column 32, is a one-sided indication of the 
merits of a riddle for separating cavings from grain and chaff. 
We have given the averages, for what they are worth, in the pre- 
ceding page. 
Turning now from these special points to the general results? 
of this second run, we find all the competitors well up in the race, 
with Ransomes, Holmes, and Clayton in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd 
places. Combining the results of the 1st and 2nd runs, the result 
stands thus : 
No. of 
Article. 
E.xhibitor's Name. 
Total Points 
in Two Trials. 
Average Foot- 
lbs, of W..rk 
done for 1 lb. 
Sheaf Corn in 
the Two rrials. 
Awards. 
4944 
Clayton & Shuttleworth 
807 
2407 
First Prize, 40J. 
4661 
Ransomes, Sims, & Head 
803 
2701 
Second Prize, 201. 
4993 
Tasker & Sons 
770 
2305 
Highly Commended. 
5026 
Marshall, Sons, & Co. .. 
767 
3077 
Ditto ditto. 
4981 
Nalder & Nalder .. 
757 
2793 
498G 
P. & H. P. Gibbons .. 
745 
2093 
Commended. 
4229 
Holmes & Sons 
734 
2240 
Ditto. 
The difference in the quantities of corn left in the straw by 
each machine in these trials is small ; but, when we calculate 
the pecuniary value of the corn that would be thus lost in a year^ 
it is clear that the best machine will generally be the cheapest 
In the first trial the worst performance left 5 lbs. more grain in 
the straw than was left by the best. A threshing-mathine would 
not be purchased by a farmer to thresh a smaller quantity than 
800 quarters per annum ; one used for hire-work would probably 
thresh ten times as much in the course of the year. A loss oi 
5 lbs. of grain from each 6 bushels threshed would, in the first 
instance, amount to about 5300 lbs., or 10 quarters, worth 20/. j 
while, in the case of a machine in constant work, the value oi 
the grain might amount to 200/. 
It has been well said that these expensive and complicated 
machines have, by their economy, superseded the sixpenny flail 
This is not, however, an economy of force, for, measured by thi 
