Affronted Author Mentions Ferrabee Mower

This article in the Agricultural Gazette section of The Gardeners' Chronicle takes a rather scathing view of the judging of the agricultural exhibits at that year's International Exhibition in London. The main protest would appear to be that there were too many "judges" and many did not attend enough, or at least at the right time, to form reasonable conclusions when drawing up the list of exhibits to be awarded a medal.

The Ferrabee lawnmower is mentioned only in passing. The author thinks it unfair that this, and several other products named, was not awarded a medal when in (presumably) his own view some machines with relatively old and superseded designs were. There is perhaps a certain irony in this given that the Ferrabee mower was itself rather antiquated at the time when compared with newer designs from Greens (which was awarded a medal at the exhibition), Samuelsons, Ransome & May, Shanks, and others.

More generally, the article mentions a number of manufacturers that were at the time (or would be later) associated with the production of lawnmowers. Several other companies that will be familiar to many are listed in relation to production of agricultural equipment. Many of these were at a relatively early stage in their development but would go on to play a major part in the growth of the agricultural implement industry in the years leading up to the Second World War and beyond. This is perhaps an indication of the level of innovation and entrepreneurship that was present in this mid-Victorian period.