1861-07-20 Gardeners Chronicle - Ransomes Editorial
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GARDENERS' CHRONICLE AND AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE AND AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE.
AMONG the many thousands of Visitors to the Show Yard of the ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY at LEEDS this week, probably some asked the question, "Why do not RANSOMES AND SIMS exhibit at this great gathering?" We beg to place before the Public a brief statement, which will prevent any misconception as to our reasons for declining to exhibit.
Up to the year 1848 we were regular Exhibitors at the Royal Agricultural Society's Meetings, at which time we had received from the Society a First Prize in every class in which we competed, and also Two Honorary Gold Medals, an honour awarded to no other Maker since the origin of the Society. We re-commenced exhibiting in 1852, and since that time have received from the Society the following Prizes and Medals:-
For Ploughs, Eight First Prizes, Two Silver Medals, and Three Second Prizes.
For Scarifiers, Two First Prizes. For Field Rollers, One First Prize.
For Horse Rakes, One First Prize.
For Horse Threshing Machines, Two First Prizes. For Steam Threshing Machines, One First Prize.
For Steam Engines, Two First Prizes, and Two Second Prizes.
For Steam Boilers, One First Prize.
For Grinding and Crushing Mills, One First Prize, and Two Silver Medals.
For Bruising Mills, One First Prize.
For Patent Root Cutters, One First Prize.
For Chaff Cutters, One First Prize.
Making a Total of
Twenty-two First Prizes
Four Silver Medals Six Second Prizes.. And also
Eight High Commendations Eleven Commendations
Three Third Prizes One Fourth Prize Which is certainly no mean amount of success, and indicates a position more difficult to attain than that of a prize-holder in any one class or section of machinery.
It will be evident that such a position cannot be attained by any firm without the exercise of considerable enterprise and expense, and without great personal exertion on the part of its heads and chief officers, to whom the question therefore arises, "Is this exertion and outlay adequately remunerated?" The remuneration which a manufacturer receives from exhibiting at the Annual Shows arises in the following manner :-
1. By direct Sales in the Show Yards.
2. By subsequent Sales in the district of which the Show is the centre, and arising from the inhabitants of the district becoming acquainted with his Machines, of which they were previously uninformed.
3. By Sales of Implements in Great Britain and Foreign Countries, in consequence of their having received the Society's Prizes.
4. By the value which the public place on the Prizes awarded by the Society, as an evidence of character on the part of the Manufacturer, or guarantee of the excellence of his productions.
On the first three heads the trade books of any one who has been an exhibitor for a number of years afford him full evidence, and we are of opinion that the advantages obtained under them do not outweigh the disadvantages attending the present imperfect manner of conducting the Trials to which all Exhibitors at the Annual Meetings of the R.A.S.E. are nevertheless compelled to submit, under penalty of exclusion from the Show Yard.
It is to the fourth head that we have hitherto been accustomed to look for a return of our expenses and exertions, and it is our present belief, founded on consideration of the Society's Reports in its own Journal,-on articles in the English Press, in Foreign Agricultural Journals,-and acquaintance with the views of a large circle of practical Agriculturists, that the Awards of the Society are no longer looked upon as a solid guarantee of excellence to the extent which they formerly were; and that the Agricultural public consider the interest which an established Manufacturer has in the maintenance of his reputation, effectually forbids his sending out any articles which will not properly perform their work, and offers a far better guarantee to the purchaser, that he will obtain money's worth, than any honorary distinction founded on the present system of trials.
It will also be evident, that exactly in proportion to the high position which any Manufacturer has attained, will the stringency of this prohibition against making inferior articles extend; and also, that in the same proportion is it a matter of the greatest importance to him, that any public competition to which he may submit his manufactures should be conducted on a basis clearly defined at the outset,-at a suitable season, with proper mechanical and personal staff to carry out the trial, and well-informed men to act as judges.
No one who has regularly attended the Meetings of the Royal Agricultural Society of England during the last seven years can have failed to observe, that the difficulties of thoroughly conducting the Trials have annually increased, and that, as these difficulties have not been met by an equivalent exertion on the part of the Executive of the Society to over- come them, the results have annually become less satisfactory to the public and to the Exhibitors. Under this feeling, we saw that it was necessary for us, as Manufacturers, either to seek for a more severe and thorough system of Trial, the results of which should inspire confidence at home and abroad, or to abstain from taking part in a com- petition which was costly, and attended with great derangement to our general trade, and which, whatever was the issue, did not affect our standing with the public, in a degree proportionate to the expense and labour which it necessitated.
We therefore sought, by letter to the Council, by personal interviews with the Implement Committee, and by converations with various Members of the Council, to arrive at a satisfactory interpretation of the Prize Sheet for the Canter- bury Meeting, and the basis on which the Trials there would 1 be conducted; but failing to obtain this, we resigned whatever advantage might have arisen from exhibiting at that Meeting. Subsequently to that Meeting, the Council placed three of its members engaged as Agricultural Engineers on the Implement Committee; and at the request of these gentlemen, we sent them a paper of suggestions for rendering the Trials more severe and satisfactory.
By the time that it was necessary to make the entry for Leeds, we could not learn that the arrangements made for that Meeting materially differed from those of previous years, and we felt that we must either again abstain from exhibiting, or appear to the world to have factiously, and without just reason, stayed away from Canterbury.
Now in order to effect this it appears to us esentia!--
1. That the Trials of each class of Implements should be of much longer duration, and conducted at that season of the year when the Implements under trial would be used in the practical operations of the Farm.
2. That Implements intended for use on various soils or crops should be tried thoroughly on each soil or crop for which they are intended, and under conditions approach- ing as nearly as practicable to those of every-day use. 3. That the Prize Sheet should be expressed in terms which will definitely express the object which the Society wishes to encourage, and should be accompanied by a Statement of the Instructions which will be given to the judges, as to the standard which the Society considers perfect work, and the basis which is to govern their decisions.
4. That there should never be less than three judges to every class of Implements, two of whom should be chosen for Agricultural, and one for Mechanical knowledge; and that two of the three at least should not have served as judges of the class for which they are then acting within the previous three years.
5. That a more ample Mechanical Staff should be provided by the Society, and that only properly qualified Mechanics, responsible to the Society, should be allowed. to attend on the judges, register the dynamometric results, or take any official part in the Trials.
6. That the Awards of Prizes should be accompanied by a report, explanatory of the trials and of the reasons which have governed the decision of the judges; and that this should be given to the Exhibitor simultaneously with the prize card-thus enabling the public who visit. the show yard to form their own judgment of the Awards.
We know that trials on such a basis as this would be costly in time and money to the Society and to the Exhibitors; bus the results would be really valuable, and by taking only one class of Implements annually, (e. g. Ploughs one year, Scarifiers and Cultivators another year, and so on,) Trials of well-established Implements would not become of so frequent recurrence; more time would be given for real improvement; and the incessant rage for novelty, damaging alike to the farmer and to the manufacturer, would at any rate not be stimulated by the Society.
We do not think it our proper function as competitors to draw up or suggest the details by which the results are to be arrived at. This would be more thoroughly arrived at if the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society of England would appoint an extraordinary Commission-not of necessity from its own members exclusively-and entrust to them the duty of drawing up a statement of the results which ought to be required by an Agriculturist from any class of Implements at present invented.-a statement of the requirements at present unsupplied by the Agricultural engineer, and to which his invention should be directed; and a plan for thoroughly carrying out the Trials which should be necessary to test the merits or demerits of Inventions submitted to compete for the Prizes offered.
Such a Commission might be formed without much difficulty and if it thoroughly examined the subject, could put the question of Implement Trials, for some years to come, on a focting satisfactory to all, whether Agriculturists or Manufacturers which would, in our opinion, tend to restore that confidence in the Society's decisions which they have at present lost.
In the prospect of the Great Exhibition of 1862-in the management of the Agricultural Department of which the Royal Agricultural Society will probably take a leading part- that Society stands as it were on trial, as a national body professing to represent the Agriculturists of Great Britain-- who will expect from the members of the Society such a performance of their representative duties as will raise the Society to its proper position in the eyes of Great Britain and the world; the present is therefore a peculiarly fitting time for the appointment of such a Commission, in a broad and liberal spirit, worthy of the position which British Agriculture has attained.
Until these matters are settled, and arrangements made for carrying them into practice, the Society would obviate the causes which prevent us from exhibiting under the present imperfect system of Trial, by rescinding the rule which makes competition for their Prizes compulsory on all exhibitors; in lieu thereof providing that those who declined to compete could exhibit in actual work, and which they should be bound should restrict their Exhibition to Implements which they to keep ready to put to work for the inspection of any one who wished, during the whole time that the Show Yard was. open to the public.
Such a course would entail no trouble on the Society; it would provide for the extension of the most interesting part of the Annual Shows, viz., the Mowing Machinery, and gives the buyer every opportunity of forming his judgment soundly: whilst it would protect the Manufacturer from being compelled to submit his productions to a system of Trial, which, by common consent, is imperfect and unsound.
We have a hearty interest in the prosperity of the Royal Agricultural Society, and we trust that the foregoing explanation of our position will vindicate us from the imputation of any hostility to the Society, or any unworthy motives in the course we have taken.
We can but be proud of the position of our country amongst the Agriculturists of the world; the bigger that position rises, the greater will become need
the and we are firmly convinced that the more thoroughly great National Society scrutinizes the objects contemplated in its Charter, and uncompromisingly works for their development, the greater will be the respect with which it is looked upon by all nations; that the more thoroughly business-like it renders the Mechanical Department of the Annual Meetings, the higher will Great Britain stand as the Implement Market of the world; and we doubt not that a continuance of the enterprise and energy which have placed our Firm in the position it now occupies, will secure for us a fair share of success in the future, however severe any trials may be in which we are competitors. Yours respectfully,
In such a position, there was, of course, no choice, and we were therefore unrepresented at the LEEDS MEETING. Here, probably, if any one has read so far, he would ask the questions: "What do you want?" "What will satisfy you?" To these inquiries we say, That no arrangements will satisfy us unless they succeed in convincing the Agricultural public at home and abroad, that they may rely upon the decisions of the Society as practically correct.
Ipswich, July 20
RANSOMES AND SIMS.