The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-08-06 00:00:00

TRIAL OF HARVEST MACHINES AT

ST. CLOUD.

The following account of this exhibition, in which
the Enghsh e*hibitors carried 0# the chief honoars,
has been sent to us by oar Paris correspondent, and will
be interesting to our agricultural readers and machine
makers :

PARIS, August 4.

The competitive trial of the reaping machines, which
took place under the auspicies of the Committee of the
General Exhibition of the National Agricultural Society,
wad the Imperial Farm of Fouilleuse, closely
adjoining §t. Cloud. It listed tlirqs 4”1, and
prizes are to be distributed in public to-morrow (4unday).
On Tuesday there was a private trial for the he4efit of

. .
the Emperor, the Minister of Agriculture, and other
notables. His Majesty arrived on the ground at three
o'clock, and the machines having been started he followed
them on foot, one after the other, and remained on the
ground for several hours, manifesting the deepest inte-
rest in their performance, and carefully examining anti
poined to him the different nature of the
propelling poley 9f ptfo, fle enthusiastically
receiyed going and coining. Wednesday was deyoted
to the serious business of the exhibition; and the jury,
after a ambit 04 IMPUrtial examination of the merits
of the various machines which competed, concluded
their labours in the course of the afternoon, The
exhibitors were divided into two classes—one consisting
of foreign, and the other of French, agriculturists.
There were three prizes in each class—and the exhibitor
of the tria4hine vir44-.117 besides being the best in his own
class, was also supertor to any in the othgr, beanie also
entitled to a gold medal. The first prize (1,60 Q francs)
in the foreign class was adjudged to Messrs. Burgess
and Key, who exhibited one of Cormack's machines,
driven by two horses : its performance, considering the
nature of the ground and the position of the grain—
a good deal of which was laid by the recent rains--was
most o,4o4p:tory. These gentlemen were also declared
entitled to the geld medal. The second prize (800 f.)
and a silver medal, were g iued 'by a M. Cuthbert, who
brought forward a machine, which was lunch commended
both for its good qualities and for its moderate price.
The third prize, 500 francs and a bronze medal, fell to
the lot of Mr. Cranstoun, of London, for a machine
invented by Mr. Wood, and which was also considered
satisfactory. In the French class M. Meyer, of Lagle,
received the first grip trot a Inae4irie rise 4 kith one
horse, and which, besides doing its work well, was much
less cumbrous than any of the others. There was no
second prise, but the third was awarded to M.
Legendre, who carried otli the second prize at the
recent exhibition of Vincennes.

On Thursday the public were admitted, and the
grounds rapidly became crowded with agriculturists and
others from all parts of France ; a number of English
were also present. On their arrival they found the
machines ranged, as it were, in or.#r of battle, ready
to
start at a given signal, and the greatest possible finteiest
immediately manifested itself on the part of the French
portion of the spectators, who, as is usual with them, at
once abandoned themselves tc every species of demon-
strativeness. Bach machine bad its noisy p
art4a4s, who
hailed the performances of their favourite With the
loudest plaudits, just as if they had been race-horses
but the general result, even in the judgment of the
calmest critics present, was deemed highly satisfactory.
The conviction was very generally felt that it would be
thg, 4,44 cf phg agriculturists themselves if they did Rot,
by procuring one or other of the machines exhibited, make
themselves entirely independent, both of manual labour
and of any ordinary inclemency of the seasons ;
at the same time, the peasantry would be delivered from
the severest portion of their toil, their services becoming
available for other departments of farm work. I
observe, from several letters which have appeared in the
papers, that the decision of the jury has not, in every
instance, been considered satisfactory, and regret is
expressed, and is 5e.;4.4 to be shared by the jury them-
selves, that they were not present a 5 ,judges en. the day
the public were admitted, as the circumstances were on
that occasion much more favourable than on the pre-
vious day for the ascertainment of the merits of the
various machines. The machine made by Wood, of
London, was a very general favourite with the outsiders,
but that exhibited by Burgess and Bey is the one which
is most likely to be generally adopted throughout
France. The makers may count on getting heaps of
orders for it forthwith. The machine invented years
ago by the jley. Patrick Bell, a
.Forfarshire minister,
and which has been exteusiyely
curiosity and of interest.
It differs from its rivals in being not drawn, but pushed,
by the horses. This machine was exhibited by Mr.
George Bell, of Perth, a brother of the inventer.
Several local exhibitions, under the auspices of the
prefects of departments, have been announced to follow
immediately on that at Fouilleuse, in order that those
agriculturists in the remoter parts of France, who could
not attend on this occasion, may have an opportunity
of witnessing the performance of these invaluable
auxiliaries of harvest labour in their own neighbour-
hoods. The whole proceedings at Fouilleuse were
exceedingly well arranged, and were under the direction
of the secretary, M. Fortier, a gentleman who, like
Mr. Hall Maxwell, of the Highland Agricultural
Society of Scotland, is always most indefatigable in the
discharge of his duties. The nett receipts Irons the Thurs-
day's exhibition, which amounted to 2,339 f• were
handed over to the orphanage of the Prince Imperial.

A peddler named Simon Lord is wanted to answer
the charge of bigamy in Michigan. He is supposed to
be in this State somewhere. He has some seven wives
living—the last one a young and yery interesting
daughter of a wealthy farmer.—New York paper. '
A DISINTERESTED OPPONENT.-Mr. Horsman has
lately taken to make long speeches calculated only to
embarrass the Government and impede public business.
The hon. gentleman may feel justly aggrieved at having
been excluded from the Cabinet ; but then he must
admit that his observations are very much out of place.
A letter from Warsaw, of the 25th ultimo, says :
"The troops in this city and its environs are increasing,
and yesterday a regiment of infantry and three squad-
rons of cavalry, belonging to the 2nd corps d'arrn4,
arrived. The regiment of riflemen of Esthonia, which
was at tialisch, has left for Lida, ill Lithuania. It
appears certain that the Emperor is to come here at the
beginning of September, to attend the military manoeu-
vres which are to take place on a grand scale. Several
foreign princes are also expected."
The P/wee de Loire says that a convention has been
signed between France and England for the emigration
of 6,000 coolies to the isle of Rennion. The manage-
ment of the recruiting will be entrusted to a French
house at Calcutta. This arrangement has been brought
about by the exertions of M. Imhaus, the Reunion
delegate.