Mr. WILLIAM ADAMS, Great Barton: Improved Dibbling-Wheel, vol. On Peat Charcoal, as a Manure for Turnips and other Crops (Prize Essay), vol. vii. p. 539. viii. p. 261. On the Farming of Suffolk (Prize Report), vol. Mr. G. E. RAYNBIRD, Hengrave: On the Cultivation of Field Beet (Prize Essay), vol. viii. p. 209. The following summary will give the names of those Suffolk individuals who were successful competitors at the Cattle-Shows of the Royal Agricultural Meetings: Oxford Meeting, July, 1839. To Mr. THOMAS FREEMAN, Henham, near Wangford: the first prize of 20 sovereigns for the best cart stallion. To Mr. THOMAS CRISP, of Gedgrave Hall, Orford: 30 sovereigns for his 2-year-old Southdown ram. His Grace the DUKE of NORFOLK: the sum of 37. for his Grace's three 2-shear wethers. Cambridge Meeting, July, 1840. His Grace the DUKE of NORFOLK, Fornham, near Bury: 15 sovereigns for his 1-year-and-5-months-old Devon bull; bred by himself. His Grace the DUKE of NORFOLK: the sum of 51. for his Grace's fat Devon heifer; bred by himself. Lieut.-General Sir E. KERRISON, Oakley Park, near Eye: the premium of 15 sovereigns for his 1-year-and-4-months-old Suffolk bull; bred by Mr. Charles Etheridge, Starston, Norfolk. Mr. THOMAS N. CATLIN, Chillesford Lodge, Orford: the prize of 15 sovereigns for his cart mare and foal; bred by Mr. Cooper, of Troston, Suffolk. A horse, 8 years old, bred by Mr. T. O. Taylor, of Flixton, Suffolk, but shown by Mr. John Reynolds, of Wisbeach, gained the prize of 30 sovereigns. Mr. THOMAS CRISP, Gedgrave Hall, Orford: the premium of 10 sovereigns for his 16-months-old Southdown shearling ram; bred by himself. Mr. THOMAS CRISP: 30 sovereigns for his 3-year-old Southdown ram; bred by himself. Mr. HENRY CROSSE, Boyton Hall, Stowmarket: 51. for his Suffolk mare, 5 years old; bred by Mr. Wilden, of Stowupland. Liverpool Meeting, July, 1841. Mr. THOMAS CRISP, Gedgrave: the premium of 30 sovereigns for his 6year-old cart stallion; bred by F. Keer, of Raydon, Suffolk. Mr. THOMAS CRISP: the premium of 20 sovereigns for his 3-year-old cart stallion; bred by himself. Bristol Meeting, July, 1842. No Suffolk stock shown. Derby Meeting, July, 1843. No Suffolk stock shown. Southampton Meeting, July, 1844. Mr. THOMAS CATLIN, of Butley, near Woodbridge: the prize of 301. for his 4-year-old cart stallion; bred by himself, as executor of the late T. N. Catlin. Shrewsbury Meeting, July, 1845. Mr. HENRY CROSSE, of Boyton Hall, Stowmarket: the prize of 30%. for his 9-year-old cart stallion; bred by the late William Crosse, of Little Finborough. Newcastle-upon-Tyne Meeting, July, 1846. Mr. NATHANIEL BARTHROPP, of Cretingham Rookery, near Woodbridge: the prize of 40l. for his 6-year-old cart stallion; bred by the late H. Bennington, of Framlingham. At the Northampton meeting, July, 1847, and at the York meeting, July, 1848, no stock was exhibited from Suffolk. Although no Suffolk breeders showed anything either at Northampton or York, yet the Suffolk horses, shown by persons not connected with the county, kept their old pre-eminence at both shows. Thus, at Northampton: His Grace the DUKE of MANCHESTER, of Kimbolton Castle, Hunts: the prize of 15 sovereigns for his 6-year-old cart stallion, of the Suffolk breed; bred by Mr. Thomas Catlin, of Butley Abbey, near Woodbridge. VISCOUNT HILL, of Hawkstone, near Shrewsbury: the prize of 15 sovereigns for his 2-year-old cart stallion, of the Suffolk breed; bred by himself. At York was the finest show of horses ever seen, there being not less than 120 entered for competition, and 33 in the class for agricultural purposes. The first prize in this class was 307. to the Most Honourable the Marquis of Downshire, for his 5-yearold Suffolk cart stallion; bred by Sir Francis Lawley, Bart., of Middleton Hall, Fazely. The second prize of 157. to Mr. John Wood, of East Mersea, Colchester, Essex, for a 7-year-old Suffolk cart stallion; bred by Mr. Samuel Winch, of Great Holland, Essex. The Suffolk stock may continue to win, but year by year the Suffolk horse-breeders will be less and less likely to win prizes. The stock being so noted, the best horses are purchased by gentlemen; and Suffolk farmers cannot contend against the landowning agriculturists of other counties. IV.—A Description of the Agricultural Machines invented or manufactured in the County. "EXTRAORDINARY improvements have been made in the agricultural implements of Suffolk during the last forty years. The annual meetings of the Royal Agricultural Society in various parts of England have induced our larger manufacturers of agricultural implements at Ipswich and Leiston to exhibit specimens of all those most generally used at the present time. The twohorse iron foot-plough, the drills for every kind of corn and seed, the horse-hoes, rolls, harrows, scarifiers, and threshing-machines, which a few years ago obtained the name of Suffolk Plough, Suffolk Drill, &c., may now with almost equal propriety be called after the name of that county in England in which they may be used or manufactured. A Suffolk agricultural labourer who has been accustomed for many years past to take a drill with him to the West of England for the purpose of putting in wheat, was asked, on his return a short time since, of his success. The man replied, 'I never saw anything like it; the farmers in the shires have all got drills now, and their men can work them as well as I can myself. It is very little profit to go; times are very much changed; formerly great numbers of men like myself paid our rents by what we could earn drilling in those parts.' Although, as my esteemed correspondent has truly observed, the Suffolk implements are now quite as much English as Suffolk, still an account of them could not with propriety be left out of a Suffolk Report, of which they form perhaps the most important feature. I shall therefore first give a succinct account of Suffolk inventions, followed by a description of all the agricultural machines, with wood-cuts. For the latter I am indebted to the kindness and liberality of Messrs. Ransome, Garrett, and Hurwood, and for the description principally to Allan Ransome's work, The Implements of Agriculture.' I shall conclude with a list of the numerous prizes gained by Suffolk mechanists at the meetings of the Royal Agricultural Society. 6 The modern improvements in agricultural machinery may be said to consist of the following points:-1. The substitution of steam or horse power for manual. 2. A reduction of the horse or hand power required to work the various machines. 3. The substitution of wrought or cast iron for wood. 4. The introduction of the lever principle. 5. Making a machine serve different purposes at the same time. 6. Making it to serve different purposes at different times. 7. Making it portable and hiring it out as a matter of business. I shall proceed to show what has been done by Suffolk me chanists under these separate heads, and here I remark that I shall only take particular notice of those machines which are not mentioned in the next portion, referring the reader to many implements there described at length, which no doubt might be placed under some of these heads: : 1. The Substitution of Steam or Horse Power for Manual.Almost the only machine to which I can trace a Suffolk origin under this head is the draining-plough of Makyns, invented about 1770, and alluded to in various parts of this Report. I consider this the first plough for cutting drains (the mole-plough was probably the first drain-plough), from Mr. Morton's saying in his Essay on Agricultural Mechanics,' vol. iii. p. 102, Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, that "the first description he has seen of such an implement, which appears however only to have been applied to cutting grips or surface-ditches, is in Mr. Douglas's Report of Roxburgh and Selkirk, 1813, in which he speaks of a kind of instrument or plough which cuts and removes a square foot of earth, and with six horses and five men will drain a greater extent in a day than 100 men." The turnip-cart and cutter may be considered as an example of both this and the fifth point. 2. A Reduction of Horse or Hand Power required in doing a stated Quantity of Work.-This is the main object of all mechanical improvements, and therefore need not be much alluded to. I cannot help referring to Ransome's ploughs as having opened quite a new era in this respect, by which two-horse ploughs were rendered suitable for almost every description of land, and one-horse ploughs were brought into use on very light soils. The light and simple plough-harness of Norfolk and Suffolk is now, like the ploughs, common everywhere; but it appears not very long ago to have been peculiar to these counties, and copied from thence into Scotland. See a former page of this Report. The "reduction of horse power" is said to be much wanted in our waggons and tumbrils, but I think their clumsiness is rather in look than in reality, and arises from village wheelwrights being employed instead of large manufacturers. Both tumbrils and waggons are generally used in farm-work with two horses at length, and as the leader is taken off when the vehicle stops at the place of loading and unloading, there are not two horses employed to each carriage used. I have seen in a hard frost corn got in with these waggons with one horse, which shows they are not very cumbersome, and I have also seen two horses obliged to be used in the modern harvest-carts with heavy loads. It is the occasional sight of corn carried out with a long team of four horses at length, which made them to be thought so very heavy; but teams of three, two shaft-horses abreast with a leader (unicorn team), or one shaft-horse and two leaders abreast, or even of two abreast only, are quite as common. From the prevalence of "two-horse farms" a two-horse system has sprung up, i. e. two horses to a plough, drill, light scarifier, harrows, heavy roller, tumbril, and waggon. 3. The Substitution of Wrought or Cast Iron for Wood.-In my short account of "Brand," a blacksmith formerly living near Ipswich, I have shown that he was the maker of the first wroughtiron plough. Arthur Young, in his Eastern Tour,' drawn up in 1770, mentions that this plough was in high repute at that time; and in the Berkshire Report it is mentioned that the Suffolk plough was then used on King George III.'s farm at Windsor. The first iron plough made in Scotland was shown at the last Highland Society's Show, and is " upwards of fifty years old, and was made by William Allen, Bankslap, Rothwell, Lanarkshire." Brand's is upwards of seventy-eight years old. It will be seen that this plough has but one handle; such are common in Suffolk and Norfolk, and appear to have been derived originally from Holland. The plough-staff serves as a loose handle, and also to clean the mould-board. Sinclair, in his 'Code,' observes, "To oblige the ploughman to walk upright and to carry his own weight, the Norfolk and Suffolk ploughs have but one handle, which soon tires the hand of the man who presses upon it." The introduction of cast-iron into machines was of later date, and required greater skill. All the essential parts of the plough are now made of cast-iron, and all (with the exception of the mould-board, which Small invented) owe their introduction to Messrs. Ransome. The first harrows and scarifiers wholly of wrought-iron that I have heard of were made in Suffolk, and were in extensive use, as |