TRIAL OF GORDE CUTTERS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2094, 9 November 1880, Page 3

TRIAL OF GORDE CUTTERS.

A trial of gorse cutters, under the auspices of the Canterbury Agricultural end Pastoral Association, took place yesterday on the Riooarton read, near the course. The selection of the fences for the trial hod been confided to Messrs Gilmour and Mcllwraith, and these gentlemen discharged their duty very satisfactorily, as no better fences for the trial could have been found. The contest was a limited one so far as entries went, only two putting in an appearance, viz., Messrs Reid and Gray and Messrs Andrews and Beaven. Tho judges were Messrs Oroll, Bourn, and Job Osborne, and the arrangement made was that 280 yards of fence should be out by each machine, time and cleanness of out being taken into consideration. Messrs Mcllwraith and Gilmour acted as marshals, and carried out the necessary arrangements. Messrs Reid and Gray were first to start. Their machine, which was drawn by twohorses, may be described as a long doable knife, the teeth working in each other, braced with iron rods on to a strong wooden frame, and worked by cog wheels. Tho machine worked only moderately well, the great fault being that tho knife did not out the gorse, but appeared to bound forward from it, and thus escaped cutting a large portion. The time taken in completing the allotted piece was eleven minutes. The knives were then altered, and set to cut a bevel sweep upwards to the top of the fence, and here some very good work was made, though occasionally the same defect as spoken of in the straight out was noticeable. Messrs Andrews and Beaven’s machine was much smaller and lighter than that of Reid and Gray, being only intended for one horse. It comprised two short knives, with a kind of iron shield at the back. Tho knives were driven by a belt and fly-wheel. On getting into the fence the knives did fairly good work, hut were, as was suspected, far too short—in fact, cutting only the middle of the fence and leaving bushes below. In this, also, as in Messrs Reid and Gray’s machins, it appeared to pass over a great deal of the gorse, leaving the ends of a bush entirely untouched and cutting the middle. Of course, as was explained by tho makers, these machines are merely experiments, but the practical trial of yesterday proved that some other method has yet to be discovered for cutting fences expeditiously and economically. Taken as a whole, the trial yesterday must have been far from satisfactory to Mr Tripp, the donor of tho prize for the best gorse cutter. As such a machine would be a great boon, not only to farmers but to all who have a large extent of fencing, it is to be hoped that the competitors of yesterday will try again and yet produce something equal to the work.