Owens, Lane & Dyer, Hamilton, best threshing machine...... do Baldwin, Dewitt & Co., Cleveland, best corn husker.. A. Eckert, Trenton, brake for stone cutter...... S. P. Castle, Urbana, stump extractor, 1st prem. Blackford & Obitt, Lorain county, fanning mill, 1st prem... Wm. Wimmer, Union county, Ind., hedge trimmer. Dip. & $10 'do do Silv. Med. do do Com. do Your committee on Machinery, Engines, &c., have endeavored to perform the task assigned them, to the best of their ability, though they desire to state that the burthen was an onerous one, for the reason that the class embraced too large a variety of articles, also, the number of entries was very large. We have awarded premiums as your regulations specify. We commend the following entries: No. 8, as a new invention, and worthy of adoption by millers generally, worthy a silver medal. No. 48, an improvement on balance valves for steam engines, by Robt. D. Gray, is one of the greatest inventions that has come under our notice, and is worthy of the highest commendation your society can give, either by premium of silver medal and diploma, or otherwise; entry No. 56, a machine by American Hoop Machine Co., for splitting and finishing round hoops for coopers. These are new and novel machines, and attract universal attention. They consist of two parts, a splitter and a shaver. The splitter is peculiarly adapted to the splitting of the pole just as it comes from the woods, with all of its knots, crooks, and irregularities, and will split poles of all sizes, from one-half inch up to five inches in diameter, splitting each pole into as many hoops as may be desired, and precisely with the grain of the wood. The shaver is adapted to shaving hoops for all of the different purposes for which the round hoop is used, from the lightest to the heaviest cooperage in use; also crimps the hoop ready for the cooper's use, at the same time that it shaves it. Their work is most complete in point of finish and celerity, three men being able to do the work with the machines that twelve men can do in the ordinary way. The machines are simple in construction; not liable to get out of repair; appear to take but little power to operate them, and seem to be of much promise in economizing and facilitating that branch of the coopers' business. On entries 69 and 70, being apparatus for the manufacture of sugar from the Chinese sugar cane, your committee would direct especial attention to this apparatus, also for boiling sugar and syrup from the juice of the cane. The mill was composed of three rollers, eleven by twenty-four inches, and extracted with two horses some two and one-half gallons per minute. It was then placed in the defecators or clarifiers and lime water applied until it ceased to color the blue of litmus paper to pink. Fire was then directed to it, which, together with the lime, caused the fecula to coagulate and rise to the top in a thick green scum. As soon as the juice has been brought to a boiling point, or nearly so, the scum ceases to separate further and the clear liquid below is drawn off carefully by means of a pipe at the bottom of the clarifier into the first pan or evaporator. There are two clarifiers made of sheet iron, one of which in rapid operations can be constantly in operation. The series of evaporators consists of three. The first the sugar pan directly over the fire, the second larger, and the third still larger than the second. The process of skimming is from the sugar pan into the second, and from this into the third, and from the latter to the stop tub. A large amount of fecula is disengaged and rises to the top in the process of evaporation, which is exceedingly rapid, more so perhaps than in that of the Southern or Louisiana cane. It is a source of regret that no cane entirely matured was offered for experiment on the grounds, as had such been procurable, results more satisfactory would have doubtless followed. That made use of show no more than 5 to 8 deg. of Beaume's saccharometer, whereas, it should have averaged at least 12, and even up to 15 when grown on rich uplands. Our small sample exhibited 10 deg. of Beaume's saccharometer. It may be well to remark here that too strong, rich land, composed of vegetable remains and alluvions, are not as favorable to the development of the saccharine qualities as rich uplands and knolls or ridges. In the former situations the growth is more rank but has a greater preponderance of water and less sweetness. Experiment proves that the defication is most perfect when the lime is applied to the cold juice and the heating of the latter succeeds that operation, and persons should be careful to neutralize all the acidity of the liquid. In the setting of the pans the brick jambs around and above the top of these latter are expected to serve as space for the foam of the boiling syrup to rise in during the rapid ebullition and evaporation. These were first cemented with a composition of brick dust and molasses, which failed of the desired effect. They were next covered with a thin coating of cement made with clean river sand, lime, plaster of Paris and hydraulic cement, which proved to answer the required purpose. In conclusion your committee would express their satisfaction at the result of these experiments by which some thirty gallons of syrup of an excellent quality were produced on the ground, and at same time congrat ulate the country that a new and valuable staple has been added to our domestic productions in this Chinese sugar cane. There were a number of entries, as follows: On steam gauages, entry No. 1 and 52, the latter being on three different kinds; steam pumps, entries Nos. 44 and 111; and on pumps, elevators, &c., entries Nos. 59, 80, and 81, which we consider noticable by the society and the public, but our time would not admit of an examination that would warrant us in a decision as to the best. We have passed quite a number of articles that came under our class, after a due examination and consideration, as unworthy of notice; understanding the objects of the Society to be for the promotion of producers of articles of superior merits. Entry No. 71, being an agricultural boiler, it would perhaps be well to award a silver medal on the three entries, viz: 69, 70, and 71. Your committee also report that they feel that the Society are under obligations to Hedges & Free, of Cincinnati, for the experiments they made on the ground, on the production of sugar from the Chinese sugar cane. JOHN L. GILL, JR., CINCINNATI, Oct. 7, 1857. To the Ex. Com. of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture: GENTLEMEN: The undersigned being appointed a special committee at the late State Fair, to examine and report as to the qualities and perform |