Implement Show at Leicester. 
449 
axles. This is a very great and obvious improvement, rendering 
it mucli easier to make alterations in the settling, while at the 
same time the friction of the wheels and axles is greatly reduced. 
The value of the improvements in ploughs generally was well 
tested. Twenty years ago no one would ever have thought of 
trying to drive a plough through land such as that which was 
experimented upon at Leicester. 
The harrows now used in steam-cultivation appeared to work 
admirably. But the real centre of interest was the trial of steam- 
cultivators themselves, though, strange to say, the attendance of 
the public was meagre in the extreme. It would seem as if 
the novelty of the thing had worn off, and steam-cultivation was 
beginning to be regarded as an established fact. This, at least, 
is the only way in which the apparent apathy of the public can be 
accounted for. Certainly the trials were not at fault, for never 
since the Society was formed have they been so interesting or so 
thorough. The conditions under which they were carried on 
were exceedingly severe. The land was as hard as iron. It 
seemed about as " arable" as solid rock. And yet it can hardly 
be regretted that it was so. The test applied to the steam-culti- 
vators was this year at least a crucial test, and it only served to 
bring out all the more triumphantly their extraordinary powers. 
At one time, indeed, there was a doubt as to whether, con- 
sidering the excessive hardness of the soil, and other difficulties 
that had arisen, it would not be well to defer the trials until the 
autumn. But the judges felt that they could make their awards; 
the exhibitors were consulted, and expressed their willingness to 
submit to the trials without delay ; and a special meeting of the 
Council concurred in the opinion, to which the stewards cor- 
dially assented, that the trials should be held then and there. 
I venture to think that this decision was right, and that the 
result of the trials could not have been different nor more 
satisfactory. The one prominent moral of the show may 
be said to be this, — that in a few years every operation of field 
tillage will be performed by steam. How this will be done 
is another question, but the general direction that will be 
taken it is not very hard to predict. The machinery is so 
expensive, that it will not be worth the while of individual 
farmers to provide themselves with it. It will be best taken 
up as a distinct speculation, and sets let out for hire. The 
plan has been tried with considerable success in the district 
from which I am writing, the charge for hire being 1/. per acre 
twice cultivated. It might be thought that as a consequence of 
the increased use of machinery, fewer hands would have to be 
employed ; but the probability is that, as has pieviously been 
the case, fewer hands will not be employed, but the land will be 
