The late Mr. Price, who died while the book was
in the press, has added to the ever-increasing number of business histories a modest record (Dursley : F. Bailey, is.) of the firm of Blackstone and Co. Ltd. of Stamford, which was founded in 1837 and with which the author was connected for half a century. The founder was a young engineer, Henry Smith, who invented new types of farm machinery. A Blackstone joined the firm in 1877 and developed portable grinding mills and engines. Twenty years later the firm began to make oil engines and more recently has become known for its Diesel engines. The record reminds us of the extremely rapid changes both in farm practice and in engineering that have come about since 1837, and this firm has evidently had directors who were quick to take up new ideas and carry them out. The author's reminiscences of sixty-seven years at Royal Agricultural Shows supply some comic relief to the technical narrative.
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