IMPLEMENTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 1594, 30 October 1879, Page 3

IMPLEMENTS.

' Thoshow of implement* was not lnrgo m respect of Iho number of entries, but it included one or. more representatives of almost every large implement required m colonial agriculture, from the ' turning of the first sod to the delirory of the produce at iho store or railway station. Immediately. to the right on entericg tbo • main gates wcro the ploughs, tingle, double and treble f arrow, oil colonial make except a wooden- beamed double- furrow plough of HoTDßby'Sj-and all excellent of their several kinds, with again tho same exception: Wo can scarcely imagine a sensible farmer purchaiing ao old-fashioned an article as the one we hare execpted, notwithstanding that its price is a few pounds less than those its more easily managed follows. Mesisra Beid and Gray and P. and D. Duncan are the colonial competitors m these, classes, and their productions ate calculated to do them credit anywhere. One of Eeid and Gray's doublefarrow ploughs was a centre of attraction 7 all the afternoon, its superior finish exciting groat admiration.; In ' toothed, barrows',' Boid and Gray's four exhibits offered a choice of as many different kinds, as regards' weight and strength, of well made and aerriceable implements. Of ' squart'-Jinked • chain harrows there were seyeral specimens, presenting, however,little or no Variety.' The value of this kind of harrowf or nibbing to pieces a fibroas clod is well-known, and the excellent manner m which it cotbm seeds and smooths tho surface is also well known, and if it were not, it might be inferred from the extent to which it was used as an attachment to eeed-sbwen> exhibited. Among the extra exhibits wbsaßayliss wheelharrow, acute looking arrangement of dished disa wheels.- It was impossible, however, to formed opinion of 'the yalae of this Yankee notion from • mere inspection of it. We should Tory mu'eb. liko to see 'it at work. Messrs Beid and Gray were tho only exhibitors of chaffouttersj entering two for competition and two among tho Extras. Their chaffeutters [are not so compact-looking at most English males, and tbo cogwheels are, though strong enough for their work, too slight to stand the almost iocvituble accidental knocks from falling objrets m the barn or at the stack side. This remark applies moro particularly to tho smaller sizes'. Two of Iho four shown were large 3-knifc machine?, and, as fitting companions to thrao, a series pf neat and light, but strong horse-powers, for one, two, three, and four horsce, A tipdray and an ordinary farm dray, with frames, shown by the tame firm, were oxcollent specimens of tho wheelwright's art. They were strongly made, and mounted on good wheels, and must bo cheap enough at the price attached to them— £24 and £25 respectively. Thero was a Tory small thow of reapers and mowers, Messrß Beid »nd Gray exhibiting a specimen m each class. Tho excellence of their machines, however, to some extent counterbalanced any disappointmont at tho paucity of the entries. A unique and very clever arrangement' of tho machinery hnß been introduced m the construction of their mowers. Tbo two driving wheels are fixed to the axle, which drives the speed multiplying gear, all the cog- wheels being, enclosed m an iron box, but of sight, and out of danger. The reapers and binders did not appear m anch force this year as last, only two, a McCormick- nnd a Harvester King, being shown. These machines did not attract much attention, their novelty having worn off and their mode of working having become familiar. During thelast fewyear', the operations of turnip BowiDg and laying down to grass have been rapidly increasing m extent and importance, and machinery specially designed to assist m those operations has, tbcrcforo, been m correspondingly increasing demand. There were four exhibits of broadcast towing machines for small or large seeds, each of a different make from, and each claimed m one or more respects to be superior to, the rest. The grata sower for which thn first prize waa given, is m form like the ordinary box broadcast sowers, but is placed very low so that tho wind shall hare a minimum effect on the seed while falling from it. Besides the specially constructed sowing lnaphincs, <here vroro two pf three examples of an ingenious attachment pf a smalt-seed Jeower to Iho back of a Cambridge roller, a combination wliich would m a great many caeca be very usoful, Among the extra exhibits one of tho Ailhouso windmills ahowa by Messrs JViedlandcr Brop,, was conipiouous. It wat arranged on a low framing 60 that the automatic mechanism could bo 'easily studied, Tho mill shown yesterday is of i-h.p., and is tbereforo able to do a useful ■ amount of pumping and other work. With a ■nitable pump, kept m good ordor, such a mill would lift 400 gallons per hour from a depth of 150 ft, or 1200 gallons from a depth of 50ft. A gran-seed stripper, similar m principle to, but much lighter than, tho Australian corn slrippor, was exhibited by

Duncan Brothers. Wo nro afraid Ifiht'tho objoction to the. uso .of, corn, el rippers m Ouiir trrbury may bb'u'rgo'd'ncnii'ist. Iho uso of grnsi rfripprtTi^thot il would' not be snfo to leave a crop standing till ripo enough to lhra*h out T^ojtlicrwiso wo 'linvo no "duiibt tbo Btri ppo"r would find plenty of Work to do.' A coil of barbi-d wire, pliown by Messrs • Miles, Archer aud Co., soi-mod likely to mnlso, as.suggcated by the A»'6rican manufacturer, a rerjr good substitute) for a thorn bedgo ob a fonco. From' ibo oxlra' labor involved iv its manufacture, however, we >hould think it ran scarcoly bo supplied at a sufficiently olirap rate to cOropcto with [tho; ordinary- fonoing wires. The National ' Mortgage and Agency Co.mptiny ' Exhibited' n' well .finished 9-h.p; onginc, and sft combine,- by; Bobey ! and Co. The eoinbino is built With nni;lo-fron frump., which gives it a wonderfully light appeararico. It "is "fitted with a sei f -f ceding apparatus, driven by cxccntrics.acd rocking nrms on thft outside of tho framing. Tho wheels of both 1 engine. and combine ar.> ef a- very pecfilinr kind, wrought iron spokes radia'ing frominn, iron .hub' tp a strong • iron rim placed within wooden felloes, tired m the ordinary way. A: useful addition to iho apparatus of a farmori using 4-hbrs6 plough teams would boa'sctor sets of Eeid arid Gr»y!s swinglotrccs and blooks.-whiolTbave only td"bo teen and theiroperation understood to bo admired.- One of Hornsby's gorse-cutters . stood, near tho main entrance, out did riot rocoivo a great amount pf-attention- from tho public yesterday. Tho sarrio may bo said of Mr B. K. Parkoraon's wire etraincr, for wliioh tho usual protection precedent to the granting of letters patent has been obtained. 'This strainer, wo, flunk, only needs to bo known to bo appreciated. Six inches , of liin. gaspipo and 18 inches of Jin. rod will mnko one. Ono is rvquircd for enoh wire, and tho five or six required for a length of fencing will savo a straining pojt, beeaiieo this simple little implement strains on both sides. . Anoihor. great advantage this system of s'Jraining has over- tho ordinary way is thnt a wire may bo tightened at anytimo with no moro trouble than is necessary t) put a handlo on the winding barrel and-give it a few turns. It is a pity that' Mr Pairkerson did notappoint some orio to explain tho modus operands of his invention yesterday. •