THE DRAINAGE PLOUGH COMPETITION.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 444, 16 November 1875, Page 3

THE DRAINAGE PLOUGH COMPETITION.

{Brno e Hera Id. ) The drainage plough competition for the prizes of £IOO and £SO, offered by the Provincial Government of Otago, took place recently at Mr M'Laren’s, Springfield farm, Tokoraairiro. In determining the merits of the different machines, the judges had to consider the quality of the work done, the price of the machine, the cost of the drain as completed in each case, and, other things being equal, the preference was to be given to the machine that removed the smallest quantity of earth compatible with the full attainment of the object desired, and which could be supplied at the lowest cost. Mr Blair, C.E,, Dunedin ; Mr M’Queeu, Dunedin ; Mr R. Hamilton, Southland ; and Mr Hewitson, Tokomairiro, were the judges. The paddock chosen for the trial was in every way suitable for the purpose. Upon the original date fixed for the trial, about the cud of September, only two machines had been entered, one by Messrs Reid and Gray, of Dunedin, and the other by Mr Thomas Murray, of Mount Stuart. After the first postponement the number of entries increased, and a few days ago we were informed that there would be five competitors—viz, Messrs Reid and Gray, Mr Thomas Murray, Mr Graham, of Waihola, Mr Chalmers, of Tokomairiro, and Mr Haworth, of Dunedin Mr Chalmers’s machine was tried privately the day previous to the public competition, and did not answer the expectations that had been formed of it. Indeed, a few practical men who saw it wore of opinion that it would never work. It was not brought to the ground, and the reason given for its absence was the difficulty in obtaining a team to work it. The implement entered in Mr Haworili’s name turned out not to be a drainage plough, but an im proved plough for ordinary use, made by Mr Jtffcoat, of Saddle Hill. The Provincial Government had consented to allow Mr Jeffcoat to exhibit his plough with the others, and it did some excellent work, and attracted considerable attention. Thus the only three machines left to compete were those entered by Messrs Reid and Gray, Mr T. Murray, and Mr Graham ; but the last mentioned, though ingenious and very useful, was not one that complied in any way with the conditions. Messrs Reid and Gray’s machine was the first to get to work, and appeared to be easily worked by four horses. At the start the sod was taken off with an ordinary plough, and the drainage machine was set to work in the furrow thus made. The judges estimated that, cutting two inches each time it passed down the drain, this machine would cut forty-two chains of a three-foot drain per Jday, with four horses and one man, and that it would do the work at one-third the cost of digging the drain in the ordinary way. This machine did not cut a drain to the depth required in (he conditions, but it did some good clean work to the depth of about two feet, and the judges were apparently satisfied that it would do all its makers claimed for it Mr Murray’s plough did not work at all satisfactorily, the explanation being that the implement had not been well finished ; but its principle was acknowledged by many practical men to be a good one. An objection raised by many who witnessed the trial was that this machine was very cumbersome and difficult to turn. The drainage plough exhibited by Mr Graham, Waihola, which did not comply with the conditions with respect to the work to be performed, was admitted on all sides to be a very useful implement, and at the same time very simple in its construction. It was easily worked by four horses yesterday, and made a drain about eight inches below the surface of the ground. It is without doubt a valuable implement, rnd its usefulness has been recognised in the old country. It was certainly very much admired, and considered very suitable for the

drainage of grass lands. At about; half-past two o’clock in the afternoon, Mr Henderson, the secretary of the Tokoraairiro Farmers’ Club, announced to the assembled crowd that the judges had arrived at a decision, and that the prize of <£loo had been awarded to Messrs Heid and Gray. He said that no second prize had been awarded, but £'H) had been given to Mr Graham, of Waihola. because the judges considered his plough a very creditable and useful one. The attendance at Springfield was very large during the day, farmers from all parts of the district being present.