THE OTAGO AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL SOCIETY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 31, 10 December 1897, Page 29

THE OTAGO AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL SOCIETY.

ANNUAL SUMMER SHOW. MORROW, BASSETT, AND CO. An extensive display of machinery and farming 1 implements is made by Messrs. Morrow, Bassett, and Co. The mechanical construction of the M'Cormack reapers and binders, for which the firm are agents, has been so often referred to and is now so well known that it is needless here to refer to it beyond saying 1 that each season some little improvement is effected and the machine rendered as near perfection in every detail as it is possible to get a harvester. This year a new fluted roller tension has been added ; the machines can be fitted with Bassett and Mawson's improved patent rotary divider for working more easily in tangled graiu ; the position of the finger-bar has been altered to suit light and short crops, and there is a new pole, made of Virginia long-leaf yellow pine, which will stand a strain of 13181 b. Among those exhibited was noticed the latest improved right-hand open elevator machine, for which special advantages are claimed in certain kinds of crops. A very varied and useful collection of exhibits included the M'Cormack Daisy reaper, the celebrated Big 4 mower with reaping attachment, the Little 4 mower, the Colonial combined grain, turnip, and manure drill, with spoon feed and with force feed, the Monarch Triumph grain drill, Tiger hay rakes, improved Dutton knife grinders, handy garden cultivators, cider mills, Hosier seed sower, Lister's pulpers and slicers, Beaufort Hunt corncrushers, samples of binder twines, Cylindrum oils, Daisy road carts, Quebec road cart (with hood), Quebec phaston cart, Montreal road cart, colonial gig, samples of American light harness, Rainsforth's self-lifting harrows, Jones's patent lock wire fences and gates, field gates, chaffcutters, Mawson's patent lifting- jack, New Haven and Stirling ladies' and gents' bicycles, etc., the whole making up a most interesting and useful collection of special lines of both imported and colonial goods. The Colonial combined grain, turnip, and manure drill, an Invercargill manufacture, is another exhibit worthy of special attention. The firm are now exhibiting- at the various agricultural shows the Sterling and New Haven bicycles. They have deservedly attracted a large amount of favourable comment, and are already commandinga good sale. They have stood every test a wheel could be put to, and they run wonderfully smooth and easy. Every part is made of the very best material, great ingenuity has been shown in construction, and the makers have succeeded in producing a bicycle elegant in design, durable as it is possible to make them, nothing having been sacrificed to strengthen just where the strength is needed. while they are as light as any machine on the market. The Newhaven is another high grade machine, built on the most modern lines, and like the Stirling, it is elegant in design, light and durable, and 'built to last. BARKING HAM AND CO. This firm show a large number of their improved new patent " Zealandia " cooking ranges (for burning all kinds of coal, wood, or lignite), some with high-pressure boilers for supplying hot water to baths, sculleries etc. Thoe they have now fitted to their smallest-sized ranges, as all modern dwcllingh now require these great conveniences, especially in the towns. They have aKo ranges fitted with low-pressure boilers, boilers made of copper, tinned inside. These are largely used in the country. They aKo show the " Miner " and '■ Excelsior " ranges. These ;ire a cheap and economical class of cooking stove, innde suitable tor burning wood or coal. They also exhibit one or two of the.r langes in working order, heated from local lignite. HOWDEN AND JIONCRIEIT. This firm exhibit a useful and very necessary lot of implements for farmers and orchardists. The " Iron Age " cultivator and noise hoe is shown with furrower attached, aho one with "weedeiV attached, and by the lever adjustment the. workman can, with the simplest movement, adjust the machine to hoc hill or scarify any drilled crop. The " Hunter " hoes alongside are similar implements, and have many changes, and are made by Mr. T. Hunter. Maybole, Scotland. Both implements are. it is stated, comintr more into general use. They also show the new '"Modil" seed drill (hand) for sowing any sized seed from turnip to mangel and beans, either on hill or flat. An oscillating linger keeps the discharge regular through a drop at the bottom of the hopp r which had been previously adjusted. A furrower, also adjustable, strikes a drill, the seed is deposited, then follows the coverer and roller, completing the sowing. The pcs's with which fruitgrowers have to contend now necessitate a class of machine like the orchard s-pr.iy-putnp. The "Bucket brass spray-pump" comes within the range of anyone who has trees to spray. It can be attached securely to any bucket or drum, has a chamber for compressed air on the same principle as the larger pumps, and as the down stroke gives the pressure it is steady and e.isily worked. Some specimens of tanned netting for protecting fruit trees, strawberries, etc.. complete the exhibit. H. E. SHACK LOCK has again an interesting stand, exhibiting his celebrated " Orion " ranges, and be has made the most of the limited space at his disposal. He shows eleven kitchen ranges, some with one oven and others with two. Several minor improvements have been added since last year's show. All these ranges will burn any kind of fuel, whether it be lignite, true coal, peat, or wood. By meaiiS of a special back casting, which can be removed in an instant, the fireplace can be made to take in a long piece of wood, and this without extra cost. Ranges are shown with iron boilers and with specially tin-lined copper boilers, and there are two ranges suitable for huts or small cottages without any boiler at all, which, for their size, have ovens of a very large area. Another range on view

is Mr. Shacklock's "patent auxiliary woodburner," which, when attached, will allow some of the ranges to take in wood nearly 2ft. long. On this range is ako to be seen his " patent take-all ventilator," which, coupled to a chimney specially built for it, takes away all smell of cooking operations and superfluous heat. DONALD REID AND CO. The exhibits of this firm comprise a number of the leading lines used in connection with the farming industry. The chief feature, and one which seemed to attract a considerable amount of attention, is the exhibit of Reid's patent Titan and Triplex wirestrainers and Bain's patent dropper fencing. Reid's patent strainers are in use everywhere and have during the past 10 years secured first awards at all the leading exhibitions throughout the world. Besides straining wire better than any machine yet invented, it has the double advantage (and one which practical farmers know is of the greatest importance) of working- old wire which has been in use a considerable time as Well as new. Baiu't, droppers are used extensively throughout Otago and Southland, and have the advantage of being cheap, light, strong, and practically indestructible. This firm also exhibit Brooks's '• Perfect " sheep dip. samples of artificial manure, binding twine, Clarke's wheat protector, rabbit and sheep netting, samples of grass and clover seeds, and grain. The exhibit as a v hole is one of the best of its sort on the ground. Messrs. Fletcher, Humphrey, and Co., of Christchurch, for whom Messrs. Mackerras and Hazlett are agents, exhibit the Golden Apple cider in bulk and in bottle, and many bear testimony to its goodly qualities.

The success of the show is in a great measure owing to the indefatigable labours of the energetic Secretary Mr. E. F. Duthie and to the general committee for the great interest they have always taken to make the show a credit to the province.