9

H.—s

2—H. 5.

The Leicesters comprised the pick of the sheep shown at Oamaru, supplemented with some good ones from the New Zealand and Agricultural Land Company and Mr. J. Allan's flocks, making up a very strong class of grand sheep. The Hon. M. Holmes, Mr. J. Reid, and the Land Company divided the prizes in the Lincoln class with sheep that they exhibited at Oamaru. The Roinney Marsh sheep were also shown at Oamaru by Mr. J. Reid. The entries in the Southdown class were forty-seven this year, while two years ago there was not a single entry, showing how general the demand for this breed has become. The most successful exhibitors were Messrs. Deans and Garforth with sheep that were shown at Christchurch. Some very nice sheep were exhibited by Mr. G. G. Russell, but they were lacking a little in condition. The shorthorns were a capital lot of first-class cattle. Those of Messrs. Menlove and Reid were exhibited at Oamaru, where the prizes were awarded differently in several cases from what they were at Dunedin. Mr. Deans showed three handsome heifers, and Mr. Clarke some very good stud cows and heifers as extra exhibits. The Polled Angus were represented by the same handsome cattle that the Land Company showed at Oamaru, and met with no opposition. The Ayrshire cattle were a good class, though not half as numerous as was the case at Oamaru; the quality was very good indeed, and Messrs. McFarlane were again the most successful exhibitors. The fat cattle were all that could be wished for in weight and quality. The draught horses made a show themselves that was well worth seeing, as there was not a single bad horse on the ground. The best stallion, Lord Salisbury, is a magnificent stamp of a draught horse, showing enormous strength, but without heaviness or want of activity, on short legs, with plenty of good bone, very strong in the loin, and with every appearance of health, of soundness of constitution so necessary in a sire. The mares and youngsters were very good, the Hon. M. Holmes's grand two-year-old filly again taking first prize; and the collection of working horses was as good as is to be seen at any show in the colonies. A pair of grand geldings shown by Mollison and Co. would be worth a large sum as brewers' horses in England. A large number of implements were shown, Messrs. Reid and Gray alone sending more than a hundred, including specimens of all the machines and implements manufactured at their works. Among these was an interesting exhibit of a lot of small malleable iron castings made by the firm and used in their reapers-and-binders. The castings appeared to be equally as good as any of th imported ones, and Messrs. Reid and Gray are to be congratulated on carrying to a successful issue an industry in the colony which resulted at first in great losses to iron founders at Home. A Buckeye low-level reaper-and-binder, shown by the local agent—Messrs. T. Robinson and Co.—■ created a great deal of interest, as a machine that is not liable to tip over is badly wanted for use on down-land. This machine is less than 10ft. wide, and would go through an lift, gate easily, a very great advantage. All the binding machinery and gear are placed inside the main wheel, and the elevators are done away with. The straw falls from the knives on to the ordinary travelling canvas, and is caught by six packing-forks, which have an action very like that of a man's arm and hand when engaged collecting straw preparatory to binding it into a sheaf. These forks gather the straw on to a sloping platform against the sheaf packers above the binding machinery, and when a sufficient quantity of straw to make a sheaf is collected the weight depresses a trip-lever, which sets the binding gear in motion. As the needle returns after binding the sheaf an arm under the sheaf is released, which throws the sheaf gently over the wheel and clear of the machine. A roller is placed between the canvas and the binding-table, which prevents any straw falling through, and gives the straw a slight lift within reach of the packing forks. The knife is driven by a counterbalanced connecting rod from the main- wheel, and both wheels can be raised or lowered at the same time by the lifting gear in front of the driver's seat; the usual levers to alter the rakes and the height are within easy reach of the driver. A patent bolt arrangement is a great improvement on the straps to regulate the butter canvas. An ingenious little labour-saving tool came out with the machine, about 9in. long, and shaped like a small letter h, with a hook on the bottom of the upright arm. It is used to tighten the straps of the canvas ; the hook fits into a hole of the strap, and the tail of the h acts as the leverage point. An underground drain-plough, patented and exhibited by R. Cockerell, is said to have done good work in draining land at a very much cheaper rate than could be done by any other means. It is a huge single plough with a steel coulter 2ft. long, 18in. wide, and lin. thick. The bottom of this coulter is pointed in front, and has a moveable plug of solid steel about Ift. long, and of any diameter from 2in. to 4in., as may be required, behind, which makes the drain. The plough requires eight horses or sixteen bullocks to pull it; and the inventor claims it will cut through most land that is free from stones at the rate of one chain per minute, and leave a drain which will remain open, although the surface soil is cultivated, and do its work for some years. A set of cross-cut harrows for turnip-thinning, patented by the same maker, have the end of each alternate tine set in and out like the teeth of a saw. They can be used to thin turnips sown in drills or broadcast, and should prove very useful as ordinary harrows. W. de G. Reeves, Wellington, 13th December, 1885. Officer in charge, Agricultural Department.