Report on the Trials of Implements at Cardiff. 443 
foot-ibs. of force expended on each pound of sheaf-corn, the flail 
is by far the more economical. It mijjht take an able-bodied 
labourer about seven days to thresh 4 quarters of wheat by 
flail and prepare it for market. Takings our estimate of a 
man's power Irom Mr. Morton's excellent 'Hand-Book of Farm- 
Labour,' at 200,000 foot-lbs, per day of nine hours, we find 
the whole force expended to be 7 x 200,000 = 1,400,000 foot- 
lbs., or only about one-tenth part of the power required to do 
the same work by machine. The cost of work, however, is not 
determined by its quantity ahme, any more than the value of a 
coin depends upon its mere vveijjht. Looking at their respective 
costliness we may call hand-power gold, horse-power silver, and 
steam-power copper. He who uses hand-power, for work that 
can be done by steam, is penny-wise and pound-foolish. 
In spite of the enormous increase in the power required, steam- 
threshing costs less than lialf as much as flail-work ; but we may 
, yet well ask how is it tliat so much more power is required? 
The sharp blow of the flail is, no doubt, better fitted to extract 
the grain than is the rubbing action of the drum. With the flail 
no power was wasted in breaking up the straw ; rubbing grain 
out of the ear by hand has been practised in all ages ; to extract 
it bi/ rubliini the roltole sheaf is probably a practice confined to 
modern times. The use of reaping-machines enables us to cut the 
straw much closer to the ground than formerly; and the bottom 
of the s'raw is its stiffest part, and requires much power to 
drive it through the machine. With a drum of 4 feet 6 inches 
or 5 fee long, one-third of its length is employed in extrac ting 
I the gra'ii from the ears, the other two-thirds are chiefly employed 
' in the profitless, and often mischievous, work of breaking the 
I straw. The application of steam to other departments of industry 
) has, in numberless instances, required important modifiotions of 
, practice before full advantage could be obtained from the new 
motive-power ; and we may well consider whether by any similar 
modification in our farm-practice it may be possible to get our 
I threshing done with less power, and consequently at less expense. 
To attempt to discuss the point here would lead to an un- 
suitable digression, but we may note it in passing as worth con- 
sideration. 
In addition to the money prizes, two silver medals were 
t awa)ded for improvements connected with threshing machines, 
one of them to Messrs. Ransomes, Sims, and Head for their 
I Pati ut Drum, already described as a part of their No. 4661 
machine in Class II., the other to Messrs. Clayton and Shuttle- 
worth, for their " Wilders' " patent 'self-feeding apparatus fitted 
, to their double-blast threshing-machine, No. 4951. In order to 
secure a thorough trial of the apparatus, this machine was 
