THE VICTORIAN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2400, 25 November 1880, Page 4

THE VICTORIAN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

(From our Melbourne Correspondent.) AG KIC ULTURE —MACH INKK V. Beyond a doubt one of the great results expected from exhibits is the introduction of improved agricultural appliances. The Melbourne Exhibition is no exception, and a variety of exhibits are shown from all countries, some of them new, all of them of a most superior kind. We have now come to the useful part of the show. In these days competition is only possible by the usc of every kind of labor-saving appliance, and the stern truth has been brought home to every branch of industry in these colonies. Tnere was a time, not so long ago, when the rudest implements were used. I remember seeing in New South Wales in 1860, all the wheat fields in a large wheat district reaped with sickles, and after them in 1862 came American cradles. All these, however, have been supplanted, and except in districts where the crops are are small, the sickle, cradle, flail, and scythe have disappeared, and been supplanted by various reaping and mowing machines, culminating in the stripper. New machinery has also been introduced into every other pursuit, and consequently there is a probability that that we can hold our own.

Notwithstanding the heavy duties that exist in Victoria, there is a fine show of machinery of all kinds, and the neighboring colonies, particularly South Australia, have made good displays. In the material, in iron and steel, the exhibits are splendid, especially in the cold-twisted iron. Belgium especially shows iron twisted cold in every shape, just as if it were a mere bit of twine, and Herr Krupp, of (Jermany, exhibits steel similarly dealt with, while England is not behind. New South Wales is the premier colony for the exhibition of iron, and she shows well. In machinery, however, Victoria leads, a result brought about b} r the expensiveness of transit and the Customs, but in agricultural implements she followed by South Australia. Both these colonies appear to have paid great attention to agricultural machinery, and the results is really astonishing, seeing the youth of the communities. It should be mentioned that the machinery part of the Exhibition is considerably shorn of its attraction and usefulness by the loss of the “ Eric the Bed,” in which were shipped the American machinery exhibits. The machinery is exhibited in two annexes on the western and eastern side of the building. The latter is occupied by the British and Victorian exhibits, which comprise the larger number; the former by the sister colonies,Belgium, France, and Germany, which latter country comes out very strong. To give in a letter like this any description of the exhibits in detail would be impossible through want of space, and wearisome and uninstructive. The plan which I think will acheive the end desired, to give an idea of what is new and useful, will be to take each particular form of farming, and to describe the implements and machinery designed for it which are worthy of notice.

Wool stands at the head of Australian industries ; indeed the Australian fleece is the best in the world.

This lias been achieved through the excellent pasture and dry climate, and also the enterprise of the graziers who have carefully improved their flocks until our.sheep are exported to improvethe flocks of the old world. Heaviness of fleece, as well as increase of number, have increased our exports until in 1871) [ Australia, including New Zealand, exported 313,274,33(5 pounds of wool, - valued at £15,901,789, and there were at the close of of 1879 nearly 70,000,000 sheep in the colonies which must have . been worth £20,000,000 at the lowest calculation. Wool-growing does not - require complex machinery or implements, and therefore we do not find many exhibits. Woolprcsses and and water raising or finding machinery form the principle exhibits. Humble and Nicholson, of Geelong, show a capital lever woolpress. Windmills are to be seen in the grounds on various principles, but I saw nothing new in them, and would only be repeating the reports of Agricultural Shows were I to notice them. We lost in the regard of water raising and boring machines by the loss of “ Eric the lied.” Wright and Edwards’ water auger is the best shown. I should not forget to note that in the New South Wales Court there is a splendid exhibition of wool it self. Next to wool, for we cannot notice cattle, wheat is the great product of the colonics, especially South Australia, Victoria, and New Zealand. In the year previous d0,088,82b bushels were raised, which may fairly be set down as woith £7,500,901), or half the value of the wool. Competent autho,ities estimate the yield likely to be garnered this season as likely to be fully 50,000,000 bushels, which would he worth in England close on £15,000,000. Wheat growing is therefore an important industry, and likely to be more so, as our wheat is,of greater value than that of America and Europe, and is now a necessity to the millers of England to mix with the damper grain of these countries. It may therefore be supposed that great attention has been devoted to machinery which deals with wheat growing. The show of the implements necessary to plant the grain is very large indeed, and ploughs of all descriptions, from the ordinary implement to the steam plough, are shown, Hugh Lennon, of Victoria, running all exhibitors pretty hard, ploughs being his specialty. None of the ploughs shown, however, are new in a great degree. Of harrows, that exhibited by the Cockerill Implement Company is the most worthy of attention. ft is rotatory, and so fixed that it acts on the land something like a circular saw. The Climax and Invincible ploughs, exhibited by Davey, Sleep & Co., of England, are new in various respects, and deserve a trial. 1 pass over the lower instruments, however, as I am anxious in this article to deal with the harvesting of the grain, which is the great subject for the farmer, for if we arc to compete with other countries we must harvest the grain as cheaply as other countries. To South Australia belongs, 1 believe, the invention of that machine which is destined to help the Australian wheat farmer so much, the stripper. Until this machine was invented the farmer had first to reap his crop, then to stack it, and afterwards thrash it. The machine does all these three operations at one working, and therefore its vast importance can be seen even by the nonagricultural reader. True, the stripper has not yet mastered one thing, dealing with wheat in damp districts, for so far strippers are suited only for dry country where the straw is dry. With few ex-

ceptions, therefore, its use is confined to South Australia and the northern areas of Victoria. Where straw is of value to pay for its stacking the stripper is not uset|; yet there is no reason why it should not, for after the stripper has gone over the land and extracted the golden grain the mowing machine may be used. (To be continued.)