Messrs. W. Arnold & Sons' plant, No. 434, consisted of an ordinary 8 h.p. portable engine and boiler, upon which in front of the smoke-box were mounted two direct-acting simplex pumps.

One of these pumps takes its suction from a pond or other source of water supply and delivers it into the tank in which the insecticide solution is prepared. The other pump takes its suction from this tank and delivers through iron main pipes to the hop garden, where the solution is distributed by means of hose to the several sprayers. The pumps delivered at the rate of about 1,250 gallons per hour, and were capable of working ten jets with a pressure of about 50 lb. at the

sprayer.

The special feature of this plant is that the engine and pumps are placed close to the source of water supply, forming, as it were, a central pumping station, where one man can attend to the working of the engine and mixing of the insecticide, and all expense in the way of cartage of water, which is frequently a very serious matter, is done away with.

For large orchards or hop gardens no doubt the plant would pay for itself, but for the smaller grower the expenditure is too heavy.

The remaining five machines competing were very similar in general design. A wrought-iron tank of approximately eighty gallons capacity is mounted on wheels, and inside the tank are a set of pumps actuated by gearing from the travelling wheel axle, which pumps deliver through a series of pipes and jets, the arrangement of which to suit the various methods of training hops and give the most efficient spraying constituted the main differences in the machines.

As it is necessary to vary the amount of insecticide used for different washings, provision for this is made in two of the machines-viz., Messrs. Drake & Fletcher's and Messrs. Lambert & Son's-with the usual change gearing for working the pumps either at a fast or slow speed. In the others regulation was effected by the jets or valves.

Messrs. Drake & Fletcher's machine, No. 1262, is fitted with the usual change gearing for working the pumps at a fast or slow speed, the one being about one-half of the other; in addition to this the nozzles may be reduced in area by simply screwing them down, and a relief valve on the delivery returns any excess fluid pumped back to the tank.

The second machine by Messrs. Drake & Fletcher, No. 1263, was similar to the above, but with 2-throw instead of 3-throw pumps. This machine was withdrawn from trial

by the exhibitors, who preferred competing with the larger machine.

Messrs. W. Weeks & Son's machine, No. 1191, has only one speed for the pumps; but different forms of jets are used, and the relief valve is adjusted to a greater or less pressure.

Messrs. Lambert & Son, No. 1254, use fast and slow gear, giving a difference of about two-thirds in the rate of delivery; the jets are each controlled by a valve, and there is the relief valve as in the other cases.

Messrs. Henry S. & F. Tett's machine, No. 1296, had pumps also of the 3-throw type; in working, however, the arrangement of the jets was not found to be satisfactory.

The Judges, having made the trials described in their report, selected three machines, viz. :

for further trial to test their comparative draught and their pump capacity. Table I. gives the particulars of these

machines:

TABLE I.

Name of Competitor Drake & Fletcher W. Weeks & Son W. Lambert

Catalogue No.

Weight of machine

empty

of tank

1191

[& Son 1254

Size of pumps, 3

throw

Diam. of travelling

wheel

To test the draught, each machine was attached to a traction dynamometer and drawn over a distance of 200 yards, instructions being given to maintain as nearly as possible the same speed as when working in the hop garden. This, no doubt, was somewhat exceeded, as it was found impossible to work the dynamometer in the rough and narrow alleys between the hops, and the easier going on the grass conduced to rather faster travelling.

The draught recorded on the smoother grass surface is less than the working draught in a hop garden would be, but is comparative for each machine.

Table II. gives the results of these trials.

TABLE II.

Name of Competitor Drake & Fletcher W. Weeks & Son W. Lambert

Catalogue No. Distance travelled Approximate speed.

wheel per min..

1191

200 yards
3 miles per hour

[& Son 1254 200 yards 3 m. per hour

Revs. of pumps, fast

speed

81.2

70.8

Theoretical delivery 246 gall. per min. 24.6 gall. per min.

86:4 22:18 per min.

Actual weighed

delivery 15.7

Gallons per acre at

same delivery

column,

as preceding

and

It will be noticed that in each case the actual delivery from the jets was very materially less than the capacity of the pumps at the speed at which they were working. This was due to over anxiety on the part of the competitors to obtain widely diffused jets, and as a consequence the balance of the water was returned to the tank through the relief valve, and represents so much loss of power.

By putting a pressure-gauge on one of the jets the pressure indicated was found to vary from 80 to 120 lb. Taking the mean at 100 lb., and assuming the pumps to deliver at the rate of twenty gallons per minute, this represents considerably more than the work of one horse, and accounts for the heavy draught of the machines, more especially as noticed when at work among the hops, and suggests the question whether a self-propelled machine with fast and slow speed could not be contrived at a moderate cost and weight to supersede horse power.

Broad Sanctuary Chambers, Westminster, S.W.

F. S. COURTNEY.

552

MISCELLANEOUS IMPLEMENTS
EXHIBITED AT MAIDSTONE.

THE County of Kent is peculiar in several of its agricultural features, and notably in the large acreage which it devotes to the cultivation of hops. The circumstance that at the Maidstone Meeting special prizes were offered for hop-washing machines no doubt caused the attention of local manufacturers to be concentrated on these appliances. Moreover, the flourishing condition of the engineering trade throughout the country, which was brought to our notice again and again through the declared inability of exhibitors to deliver any special article within a reasonable time, demonstrated that makers were too busily employed in the carrying out of orders on hand to enable them to devote their attention to experimenting on new departures.

These considerations probably account also for the lack of anything very remarkable in the way of novelties, although certain improvements and developments were noticeable which are mentioned later on. A little disappointment was felt that motor vehicles were so poorly represented-there being but three exhibits, and only one entered as a new implement. It might have been hoped that as a result of last year's trials, and in view of the special importance of labour-saving machinery to-day, it would have been possible to record important improvements in this direction. A somewhat remarkable feature of many of the stands was the number of articles of foreign manufacturechiefly American-which gave the impression that some of our leading firms were becoming Implement Agents rather than Implement Makers. It is to be hoped that the latter will endeavour to retain the old name, instead of allowing themselves to be supplanted with the manufactures of our Transatlantic cousins, though it cannot be denied that these possess very great merit.

SILVER MEDAL AWARDS.

There were 49 entries for Silver Medals offered by the Society for "new implements" for agricultural or estate purposes. After a careful inspection of them we recommended the award of the medals to the four following exhibits, which are here noticed in the order of the Catalogue.

Article 2894.-The Melotte Separator Sales Company,

Counterslip, Bristol. "Melotte" Cream Separator, No. 5 (capacity, 85 gallons per hour). Price 291. 10s.-This is a novel form of separator, the principal feature being the suspension of the separating bowl from the lower end of a vertical spindle. The bearing of this spindle takes the form of a ball socket, and the power is transmitted to it through a spiral spring. On starting, the bowl appears to run "out of true," but on attaining speed it quickly steadies itself and rotates with perfect evenness, after the manner of a gyroscope. The gearing takes the form of a horizontal clockwork train, and is entirely enclosed. Our award of the Society's Silver Medal was "for the arrangement of driving the bowl by means of a suspended spindle running on balls."

Article 3924A.-The Dairy Supply Company, Ltd., Museum Street, London, W.C. Cream Separator "Farmer's Surprise," No. 2 (capacity, 100 gallons per hour). Price 26l. 10s.-This machine is an improvement of the well-known " Alpha Laval." The model is practically the same; the improvement is involved in the introduction of the new milk down the whole length of the bowl, and at the point where the specific gravity of the new milk is equal to that of the milk already in the bowl, thereby reducing the disturbance caused by the entry of the milk and increasing the rapidity of separation through evading the necessity for the inflowing milk to pass through the wall of cream found near the centre of the bowl and re-mixing part of the separated milk. This is what takes place in the old type, where the milk passes into the bowl near the centre. Our award of the Society's Silver Medal was for "the arrangement of a centre tube in the bowl of a separator fitted with the Alpha Patent discs in such a manner that the incoming milk is delivered along the whole depth of the bowl."

Article 4164.-The Barton-Gillette Horse Clipping and Sheep Shearing Company, Ltd., 103 New Oxford Street, London, W.C. Pedal-power Sheep Shearing Machine combined with Knife Grinder. Price 141.-Sheep shearing machines have been before the public for some considerable time, and owing to the labour difficulty of the present day a satisfactory machine would be particularly acceptable to flock owners. The improvement for which the Society's Silver Medal was awarded consisted of the introduction of a ball race between the upper and lower plates of the clipper head, which minimises the severe friction due to the great speed it is necessary to drive the plates to cut through wool (3,000 strokes per minute). The difficulty experienced with the old form of clipper was over-heating, which necessitated either changing knives or frequent cooling in water.