The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-22 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR. OF THE SUN.

Si;—The remarkable man who now rules in France
follows the good example of his illustrious uncle in the con-
ferring of decorations upon persons who have done good
service to the State, whether their acts be military, social,
or of an artistic character. But in Britain the martialists
certainly have an advantage with respect to pecuniary and
social benefits. A peerage was once talked of for the late
Sir B. Brodie, but I believe that the idea was not favour-
ably received ; at any rate, he did not receive peerage; nor
am I aware of any medical man, however eminent he may
have been, who has been raised to the peerage, although
soldiers, sailors, and lawyers, as well as divines, have been
received favourably in the Upper Chamber. There, also,
we may look in vain for the elevation of our eminent
authors and artists. I observed, recently, in The Sun, a
printed statement respecting large sums of public money
still paid out of the Exchequer to sineourists, to the extent
of many thousands a year, while eminent literati and artists
can obtain with difficulty a small pension from Government
—the amount of money for this purpose being about £1,200
per annum I A fair sum of money was awarded during
the last session by the House of Commons to some eminent
painter, which act, I hope, augurs well for the future, for
certainly an improvement is desirable. In my opinion, so
far as concerns secular honour, the appointment of a new
decoration for civilians only—the ALBERT Cross—as sug
Bested in The Sun a few months since, would be attended
with public advantage, and this new decoration would place
civilians upon a par with military men with respect to pub-
lic position.

I am, Sir, yours obediently,
CHRISER. COOK,

Aug. 20.

Reaping Machines.

On Saturday an extensive trial of reaping ma-
chines took place under the auspices of the United
Agricultural Society of East Lothian. The com-
petition took place on the farm of Athelstaneford,
near Drem, where Douglas, the famed breeder of
farm stock, had provided a field of 65 acres of bar-
ley, divided off into lots of about I, acres, and
a field of oats of 40 acres, divided into lots of
nearly an acre each. The weather was extremely
favourable for the competition, and the crop wes
cut in capital condition. The barley was on a nearly
level field, and was a full averega crop; the oats,
which were in a field with a gentle slope, were light
in the straw, but fully up to the average oat crop
of the season. Upwards of 30 machines were en.
tered for the competition, but several were with-
drawn; Several more were not brought forward,
some of them, owing to the machines having been
missent or delayed by the railway company. There
were complaints on the ground as to the con-
duct of the railway in the mattes, and the com-
petition was delayed fully an hour later than
the time announced for its beginning. Eighteen
machines in all took part in the competition, dis-
playing fully the different principles of construc-
tion and working of those now in the market. Four
were on the self-delivering principle—namely,
Samuelson and Co.'s two-horse machine, Brigham
and Bickerton's two-horse and one-horse reapers;
and IVl`Cormick's sheaf-delivering machine, the
latter exhibited by Mr Todd, of Cestlemain. The
manual delivery reapers were—two by Mr Halli-
day, of Haddington ; two by Mr Wallace, Alexan-
dria, Dumbartonshire ; two by Pixley, Sims, and
Co. ; one Pixley machine exhibited by Mr Hume.
Coldstream; a two-horse band-delivery reaper, by
Mr Gray, of Brownrigg; a two-horse reaper, by
Brigham and Bickerton ; a " 13uekeye" combined
reaper and mower, by the same firm ; a Gardner
and Ainslie machine, shown by Mr Reid ; and a
new two-horse reaper, by Messrs. G. and W. Per.
teous, of Haddington. There were also one of the
" Eclipse" one-horse machines of Samuelson, and a
one-horse "Excelsior" of Brigham and Bickerton,
The extent of the competition brought together a
large number of the leading agriculturists of Scot-
land, and the beauty of the weather brought out a
considerable number of ladies and gentlemen to
witness the interesting sight. Among those on the
ground were the Marquis of Tweeddale, the Earl
of Wemyss, the Earl of Haddington, Lord Chelms-
ford, Lord Elcho, M.P. for the county, Lord
Walden, Sir Hew Dalrymple, Sir George
Grant Suttie, &c. The judges were the
Marquis of Tweeddale, Mr Henderson, Byres ;
Mr Smith, Stevenston Mains; Mr Wyllie, Bolton;
and Mr Russell, Coaistonemains. The reaping be-
gan on the firing of a gun shortly aften eleven, and
concluded about five in the afternoon, an interval
raking place between the cutting of the barley and
the oats, during which time a large party of gentle-
men dined in the tent, when the chair was taken by
the Marquis of Tweeddale. After the allotted spaces
iu the two fields had been cut the judges went mi-
nutely over the work, and also inspected the
mechanism of most of the machines. They then
selected a few for a further trial under their own
immediate view, and after consideration gave the
following awards—For manual delivery machines
—Fret prize, Halliday, Haddington ; second ditto,
Brigham and Bickerston's " Buckeye ;" third ditto,
Halliday,Haddington ; fourth ditto, Wallace, Dum-
bartonshire; fifth ditto, Humes, Pixley; sixth ditto,
Wallace, Dumbartonshire. For self-delivering ma-
chines--first prize, Samuelson and Co. ; second ditto
Brigham and Bickerston's two horse. For the
best reaper in the field, Mr Halliday, Had-
dington. The machine placed first is the same as
that with which Mr Halliday took the first pain at
Yester in the same district in 1861, but with con-
siderable improvement. It differs from the machine
placed third in having a compound acting guiding
wheel, by which the machine is easily turned, and
which has the merit of considerable importance on
a grass bottom—of not cutting up the soil however
sharply it may be turned. Bath Halliday's ma-
chines are provided with a very simple arrangement
by which one lever throws the machine out of gear
and at the same time lifts the knives out of the
ground. This is by many deemed an advantage,
though it has been objected that, as the knives can
not be lifted without stopping the cutting, there is
not the same facility for clearing obstructions, such
as atones, as is given in reapers where the actions
are not conjoined. The beautiful balance arrange-
ment for lifting the knives in Samuelson
and Co.'s one-horse machine was very much
admired. There were, however, no prizes given for
one-horse reapers. Brigham and Bickerton's ma-
chines, of which 5 were in the ground, took both
the second prizes. The "Buckeye" is a strong and
rapid working machine, and gave great satisfac-
tion. Mr Wallace's reapers, which stood fourth and
sixth, differed from each other in the arrangement
of the wheels-0116 of them having two large wheels,
while the other was constructed with only one. The
Pixley machine, shown by Mr Hume, started very
late, curing to its detention on the railway, but suc-
ceeded in taking its place in the prize list. The
easy draught and excellent working of Samuelson's
self-delivery machine won it the first place in that
class. Its light draught is materially assisted by
'he action of the teeth, which pass through two
fingers at each revolution, thus lessening the num-
ber of revolutions necessary to give speed to the
cutters. The same arrangement is used in the
Eclipse machine. The hand delivery machine of
elr Gray excited considerable attention by its
novelty. In it a girl follows the machine, placing
a " whippie," or binding stray on the tilt board
after each sheaf is delivered. The band is thts
round lying beneath each sheaf on the ground. In
every respect the competition went off well, and the
work done was throughout good. So much was
this the case that the opinion was freely expressed
that with any of the machines on the ground a far-
mer would be well served,