490 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Class 9. — Hackney geldings of any age. 
The Prize, 15/., to No. 728, Francis Barker, of Westlands, Ingatestone, 
Essex. 
Class 10 . — Hackney geldings under four years old. 
The Prize, 10/., to No. 731, Frederick Barlow, of the Shrubbery, 
Hasketon, Woodbridge. 
Enough has been said, in the few remarks we have penned 
on this concours general of the English Agricultural Society, 
to show the continuous efforts which are made at progress 
and improvement; still we cannot refrain from observing 
that, in other respects, besides the bringing together of the 
largest number of our best animals for competition, the Essex 
meeting will ever be distinguished in the annals of agriculture, 
as marking a new epoch in its history, by the successful appli- 
cation of steam power to the cultivation of the land. Fowler’s 
steam plough, manufactured by Ransome and Sims, has 
solved this long disputed problem ; and the way in which it 
turned over a fair breadth of land excited the admiration of 
all who witnessed it ; nor does it appear that the cost of the 
working will hereafter be an impediment to the free employ- 
ment of the apparatus by ordinary farmers. We heard also 
much praise bestowed on Smith’s exertions in the same 
direction, so that ere long we shall probably witness the en- 
gineer with his locomotive wending his way from the home- 
stead to the fields, in the place of the ploughman with his 
horses, to perform those necessary operations which have for 
their object the production of food for our ever-increasing 
population. Let not veterinary surgeons take alarm at this. 
The application of machinery to man’s requirements, creates 
demand for animal power coequal at least with its extent, and, 
although horses may not be required so much for some of the 
daily operations of the farm, they will be needed the more for 
others ; besides this, more mares will be kept for breeding 
purposes, and necessarily more cattle and sheep for the same 
intent. 
