REPORT OF MR. HILL.
65
English and by Germans and Austrians, respecting our mechanical exhibitions at Vienna. In respect to our display of agricultural implements, it was very strong in mowers and reapers and very weak in other directions. But in both these important machines Americans had every reason to be satisfied. The contrast between them and those of other countries was very marked. The lightness and strength, the convenience in operating, the superior workmanship, were all acknowledged, and have resulted, as we are informed, in giving to the American manufacturers nearly all the business of supplying the agricultural regions of Eastern Europe.
The qualities which give these implements their superiority have given the American-made sewing-machines the same, and they are sold in Europe at much higher prices than the same styles of European manufacture. It is said that even where American companies have carried to Europe American machinery and an American foreman to oversee the work, that they are unable to produce the same quality of machines as are made in America. This can only be due to the superior character of our workmen, a superiority arising from their higher intelligence, and this again from their better education. In the opinion of the writer, the superior character of these machines to those of European manufacture is borne out by that of many other classes, which were not displayed in the Exposition. Ill many departments it is not unreasonable to believe we should have a good foreign market were our machines better known.
In the great departments of Group I., mining, quarrying and ^ metallurgy, and Group II., agriculture and forestry, it was made evident to us that the leading nations of Europe have given far ftmre attention to the matter of scientific education than we havo ^one, and the exhibition of the various schools of mines, of agriculture, etc., were among the most striking and interest- mg portions of the Exposition. The pursuit of agriculture is *° us in Massachusetts, of course, of more general practical mterest than that of mining, and more attention was given to the subject, and as a result of our observations our confidence the advantages of a scientific education as a foundation for hs successful pursuit "was generally strengthened. A special re Port on this subject has been prepared, and is particularly