experience in East Lothian and the sixth rotation, but he, they could of the land they farmed. For his own part, he found great difficulty in getting clovers to succeed under the sixth rotation. He found that the longer he wrought that rotation, his clover crops were becoming less and less, and it was a most important element in agriculture the securing of a good clover crop. He thought they made their land too fine before they sowed their clover; for they would often find along the end rigs, and along the rough portions of the field, far more and better clover than in the seemingly best portions of the field. In regard to the lower portions of the county, he thought it would be better if they were allowed to try two white crops in succession before they sowed their grass seeds -that was oats, barley, with dung, and then grass. By such a method they might secure a clover plant far more healthy and luxuriant. Under any circumstances, clover was a very delicate plant, and very difficult to cultivate. The CHAIRMAN said it seemed to be the opinion of the Club that now, from most of the land being drained and with the assistance of guanoes and other manures, modern agriculture should not be hampered by the restrictions as to cropping, which were perhaps necessary fifty or one hundred years ago, and that it was for their advantage that crops, whose culture admitted of and required an efficient tillage of the ground, should alternate with those which admitted of but a limited tillage. He thought the Club were unanimous that they should not be bound to make these crops alternate in the same unbroken succession of white crop with green crop or grass as at present, but that they should have liberty to make the most thoroughly agreed with those gentlemen who had advocated do one acre. At the last monthly meeting, a paper was read by Mr. | is desirable for cultivation. The next system is that known W. H. Mold, of Bethersden, near Ashford, on "Steam Culti- as the roundabout, from a wire rope going round the vation in connection with the growth of Wheat and Hops;" enclosure. I believe Menerlaus and all the Royal Judges the president, Mr. A. Chittenden, in the chair. at the great trial at Wolverhampton came to the conclu Mr. MOLD said: Mechi said "he was a good farmer because hission that three horse power was lost in every ten, but why father was not one," meaning that he had no prejudices to entangle his free business view. I have this one advantage, having for the best twenty years of my life been an ironmaster. I suppose everyone here will admit steam power is cheaper than horses. The elaborate reports of the Royal Agricultural Society show that 161 lbs. of coal will cultivate an acre with 115 gallons of water, i.e., that it takes 161 lbs. of coal to evaporate 115 gallons of water, and this finds power to One lb. of coal in a fan engine will evaporate 7 lbs. of water, and move 9.3 tons of earth; thus 1 cwt. of coal will move more than 1,000 tons of earth. In fine weather an engine will work extra hours, and in winter stop in a barn without corn or attention. All again, I hope, will admit that better crops can be obtained by steam. I have seen the square that we take (for on the Fisken plan of working we always take a square or oblong, or piece enclosed by four straight sides) carry wheat eight inches higher on the straw than the rest of the field, and when from it I see the snow go several hours before the rest, or outsides, I know that deeper cultivated and subsoiled ground is warmer. Now, what do implement makers offer to us? If you take the useful life of man at 40 years and a horse at eight, you may say a fixed horizontal or a Cornish pumping engine will last 30 years, and a portable engine 20 years. Messrs. Clayton and Shuttleworth have taken all the prizes since 1849 from the Royal Agricultural Society, and have themselves made over 11,600. A railway locomotive, although I believe its mechanism to be as perfect as that of a watch, I will not mention, except to say I knew the first maker, George Stephenson intimately, and followed his son Robert's funeral into Westminster Abbey. The life of a road traction engine I dare not put at more than ten years, and when you consider the cost of them, and the skilled labour they require, I think you will agree that few farmers can buy them for their own use, especially as they can do nothing else. How rarely do you see one thrashing, or doing any other work, and you know the damage these heavy engines do. When last week at Croydon I saw Messrs. Fowler exhibiting two six-horse engines for smaller occupations, I thought this showed they felt they had been wrong before, although I do not believe any engine less than ten horses has this been overlooked ? Because, as a rule, those engines could thrash, and, even with this loss of power, it was far cheaper than horses. A third system is the Fisken. What I recommend is a Clayton portable engine, and I may tell you I bought one at Wolverhampton three days before it received the Royal prize, and that it has not since cost me £10 in repairs, and done all my 18 inch subsoiling, and lots of thrashing. This Fisken tackle requires no skilled labour, and if a man leaves from any cause, I have plenty of applica tions for his place. The breadth of headland is less than with any other set, and all heavy snatch blocks are done away with. You set the engine by water, and the only drawback is the moving from place to place. Again, the power to use your own men, and to bring out of a barn a power equal to 20 horses, to work your land at the right season, and, when in a fit state, is everything for our district. Look at the oak trees, they cannot get their top root down, so they grow short and stunted. So it is with wheat, clover, and all such rooting plants. Until you have subsoiled and broken the old pan made by horses for years, your drains do not work. In wet times your corn is perished, and in dry times the top surfaces crack, and all dries up. The Fisken tackle requires three men, besides the engine driver, and the portable engine will do all the rest of the farm work, grinding, chopping, thrashing, sawing, and steaming chop and chaff. Your neighbours, Messrs. Aveling, make the best traction engines, I believe. I saw the great trials at Stafford and Wolverhampton, but I have not yet seen one that I think suitable for a farmer. I believe Messrs. Howard's cultivator is the only one suitable for going between the rows of hops, and the best for all purposes; it forms two distinct implements, costs about £25, and is all I have or require, and I generally work the ground three or four times over, to get it fine and ten inches deep. I then subsoil it eight inches more, but the ploughing does not bring any up-only bursts it and lets water down. For thirteen years I have grown Hallett's pedigree wheat, and every year have had extra-sized heads and yield, and so long as this continues I shall buy fresh seed each year, at £5 5s. a quarter. You see here before you my best head (11 rows on a side) in the year 1870. You see a photo of 1871's best head (12 rows on a side), also 1873, 14 rows on a side, also two heads of 1874 with 15 rows on a side, and I have even reached 16 rows. The bunches of heads displayed are 1874 Hallett's red, Hunter's white, and Hallett's pedigree golden drop, and on my poor clay they produced 6 quarters and 7 quarters per acre. You also see a sample which has been kept in a bag since last August, and you see 105 heads growing on one root, on which more than 8,000 grains were growing at once. Now, if I had not bought new seed since 1870, I should have only 11 rows on a side instead f 15 and 16 now growing. I must here call attention to the maxim "Sow half the usual quantities one month earlier, and expect two quarters per acre extra. From its great tillering power it is able to occupy double the space of ground, but it requires more time to do it, and the right time to sow wheat is when it would shed. Most of you will buy a good bull or ram, but a pedigree in corn pays better. Professor Buckman said, in a lecture to the Dorchester Farmers' Club, "He was convinced the best seeds were as essential in securing excellence in plants as were the best stock for producing good animals." Virgil, 40 years before Christ, wrote (1 Georgics) about wheat, "Yet have I seen them degenerate, unless human industry with the hand culled out the largest every year." A wonderful record of 1,900 years ago! They knew something, but it was not the largest grain they ought to have wanted, for every head contains one grain far better than all others, and this not the largest. This principle is the foundation of Hallett's success, but you have been to see him, and know his method, and I will only point out that I have bought wheat from him for 13 years, and for years sold all the wheat I grow for seed. I generally sell out in July and August, and by the aid of my Fisken steam tackle I sow again in September. You have lately had a paper read on roots, but no mention was made of Sutton's yellow tankard mangold (produced) equal to a swede for cattle, and better than a swede for manure. Professor Voelcker gives it 32 parts of nutritive matter. This you may give bulls or rams, and ewes in lamb, and at all times, and if you throw two kinds down they will pick this out first. Bear in mind I cannot grow swedes because of fly and dry climate. But I have grown this three years, and last year I received Sutton's Kent prize. In speaking of hops, the lecturer said: Hops, like apples, must be divided into cooking and dessert fruit. Prolifics, Jones, Grape, Colegates, and nearly all foreign hops are cooking," for they must be boiled in a copper. Goldings, Hilton, Brambling, Golding, and Mold's late Golding can be pat in the barrel raw. Although we had a fearful blight in our district last year, so that our parish and many other kinds did not average one cwt. per acre, yet these produced five cwt. at 14, or a total of £70 an acre; in 1873, 20 cwt. at £9 10s. or £190 an acre; and in 1872, 20 cwt. at £5, or £100 an acre. For ten years they have produced double the quantity of any other, and after great care, from 1868 to 1873, I got 10 acres of them true, and sold last year 49,000, and I have now many orders, but have 100,000 to meet this season's demand. Mr. HAYES said that some three or four years ago the Staplehurst Company had some of the steam tackle Mr. Mold had been speaking about. The engine was one of 8-horse power, and it was set to work in a field of his which had already been iron-ploughed three or four inches deep. There were four shares to the plough, and it was drawn by a windlass, and everything looked very pretty, so that he thought he had got just the thing he wanted. He must say, however, that he was much less successful than the lecturer appeared to have been. The ploughing strained the engine, and they were forced to take off one of the shares, and work with three. It appeared to him that one ploughshare was all that this 8-horse power engine was capable of drawing. He did not wish it to be thought that he was altogether against steam-power in ploughing. It would be all very well if he could get it just at the time he wanted it, and find it answer; but if horses were always at hand he thought they would serve as well. Mr. Mold had told them that he got better results after ploughing with steam. He could only say they had one of Fowler's engines at work in a field at Staplehurst a year ago, and he did not see any difference in the crop. Mr. B. S. WILMOT held that this question of steam cultivation was a most important one, because there could be no question that, as civilisation and education advanced, they would have to adopt some different mode of farming, more in accordance with the times. He had no personal acquaintance with steam ploughing beyond what he had observed over his neighbours' hedges, but he had come to the conclusion that in this part of the country steam ploughing was almost before its time. Their fields were small, and their gateways had been made for carts instead of steam engines. Many people had discontinued the use of steam, therefore, because of the damage done to small holdings. The question of cost was one that must be kept in mind, and it would be conceded upon this point that steam was very much cheaper than horse power. In support of this he might mention the case of Mr. Giles, of Ivychurch, who had ploughed his land at a cost of 9s. per acre only. Considering the high price of horses, the present cost of labour, and the indisposition of men under the influence of the spread of education to attend upon horses, this was really a very great saving. It was also a great benefit to the men employed, for it was intellectual labour, and they felt that they were something more than drudges attending upon a horse and following the plough. Mr. Mold had exhibited some fine specimens of Major Hallett's corn, but he had not clearly associated that corn with steam cultivation. When he (Mr. Wilmot) accompanied the Maidstone Farmers' Club to Major Hallett's farm near Brighton, they would remember that there was a quantity of rope lying about, and when they asked Major Hallett what it was, he said, "It formerly belonged to my steam plough, but now I have discontinued it, as there is so much difficulty in carrying the water about." He should like Mr. Mold to tell them whether the specimens he had shown them were the result of steam cultivation for the short time Major Hallett used it; and he would also ask the lecturer his opinion on the subject of drains-whether he preferred to have them deep or shallow. He could not agree with Mr. Hayes that horse power, if regularly obtainable, was as good as steam ploughing. One great objection to horses was that they stamped down their work as they did it, and prevented the water from getting to the drains. Mr. HAYES repeated his opinion that horses were as good as steam if they could be obtained just when required, and added that the ploughing was more even. Mr. T. BRIDGLAND, jun., reminded Mr. Wilmot that the secret of Major Hallett's success was his principle of selection. He took care every year of the very best seeds, and sowed none besides. Major Hallett's was a thin, chalky farm, and could be easily worked by two horses. Mr. Mold had been speaking of a stiff, clayey soil, so that they were arguing upon two distinct principles of farming. The Mr. R. WATERMAN expressed the interest which he had felt in the remarks of Mr. Mold, coming as he did from the country where he (Mr. Waterman) was brought up, but he had hoped that his lecture would have taken a rather different turn. It had dealt principally with pedigree wheat and thick and thin sowing. He thought it would have been more upon steam cultivation versus horse power, with an analysis of the cost of each process. In referring to hops, too, Mr. Mold had hardly been clear enough in describing the tackle he would use, for at present it seemed a very difficult matter how they were to work between the poles. 9s. per acre that Mr. Wilmot had mentioned seemed an extraordinary thing, and he thought there must be some mistake about it. He knew Romney Marsh, and was aware that they had very wide fields, and only needed to dip a bucket into the ditch to be provided with water, but that ploughing could be done for 9s. an acre seemed almost impossible. After 15 or 16 years' experience at Bethersden he had expected Mr. Mold would have told them something about the rotation of his crops. This was the real test, for it was easy to get a large number of straws to one root if they gave it plenty of room. Mr. Mold had estimated the working years of a horse to be 8, and of a man 40. He (Mr. Waterman) thought the horse should have been put at 12 or 16, beginning at four, and going on till it was 16 or 20-and the man at 20 or 25. Perhaps Mr. Mold had a very strong constitution, and had a better opinion of men's physical endurance. Mr. T. COURT was of opinion that one secret of farming was to plough the land early and let it settle, so that they might have more uniformity in the length of their holes when drilling for seed: He should like to ask Mr. Hayes what depth the steam plough was set to work that failed at Staple hurst. Mr. HAYES replied that three or four inches were already turned up, and it was unable to plough as many more. Mr. SIONHAM was reminded of a time when the inaugurator of steam ploughing in Kent paid a visit to Maidstone, and stated at a public meeting that by his system three acres, could be ploughed for one guinea. This seemed such a strange thing that he (Mr. Stonham) offered the gentleman, by public advertisement, fifty acres upon his farm to plough at one guinea per acre. There was no response, and he concluded that the small area of fifty acres was too contemptible to be noticed. He, therefore, arranged with the chairman (Mr. Chittenden), to make the number of acres 100, but there was no reply to the second challenge, and nothing had since been heard of it. He liked to hear a spade called a spade, and he could assure them that, instead of his land costing him 8s. or 9s. an acre in ploughing, it cost him more nearly 40s. In speaking of the damage done to headlands by steam ploughing, Mr. Stonham alluded favourably to a field which he had seen, which was surrounded by a belt of grass, instead of being taken completely up to the hedge. Mr. Mold's advice to each farmer to become possessed of a steam engine he could not endorse, for unless they farmed largely, and could keep on purpose to superintend the machinery, it would be far better to hire than to be at the bother and expense of keeping the engine in order. He did not believe in the great ears of corn that had been produced, and affirmed that in some localities, such as his own, thin sowing would be an absurdity. The amount grown would depend more than anything upon the stamina of the land, and the quantity of fertilising agents employed. a man Mr. CHITTENDEN said there were two or three distinct issues before the club. The first was as to the desirability of steam ploughing. It was not for him now to express his opinion upon any one particular system, although he had already pronounced such an opinion in a manner that left no doubt as to its sincerity. It was for farmers generally to say whether they thought steam ploughing desirable, and he believed that their verdict was most decidedly in the affirmative. Although some might prefer horses, and say they were the cheaper, he had never had this satisfactorily proved to him by figures. They had to consider whether by the use of one system their labour and expense were not reduced and double the quantity of earth turned over, and decide accordingly. Auother question was that as to the alleged improvement in the growth of corn. Their lecturer had brought some beautiful specimens, but he had not satisfactorily connected them with steam ploughing, and Mr. Bridgland had shown that Major Hallett's success arose more from his careful selection of seed than from improved cultivation. And on this point again he was reminded that the seed which he purchased some years ago of Major Hallett, did not yield such results as to induce him to buy it again, so that all these points must be fairly considered. Thin sowing was a process dependent for its success upon certain localities, and an arbitrary rule could not be adhered to. Mr. MOLD, in reply, referred to the failure of the engine employed at Staplehurst, which he thought was not of sufficient power. On Major Hallett's chalky farm horse-power would answer every purpose; and he must here admit that the ears of corn which he had exhibited were not the result of steam cultivation. The cost of steam, to which allusion had been made, would be found detailed on the circulars of the different makers. They should remember that he had not only advised thin sowing but " early" sowing, and he had never known land, which ought to grow wheat, upon which these two principles had not been successfully combined. Mr. Waterman had asked a question with reference to the rotation of his crops, to which he could reply that last year he grew six quar ters per acre of Hunter's White and seven quarters of Golden Drop. During the last thirteen years he had averaged two quarters to the acre, but he did not begin steam cultivation until 1871. He gave £250 for his engine, and £250 for the tackle, and it had never once got out of order. Another question from Mr. Waterman bore upon the subject of ploughing in hop grounds, and this was accomplished, he might explain, by a horse being used to carry the slack rope to and fro, after the space between each row of poles had been completed. Although an advocate of skilled labour he found that the sinall portable engine he had been speaking of could be worked after a few days' experience by any of his men, and they were anxious for the employment, because promised sixpence per day extra, in addition to their usual half-crown. Mr. STONHAM, when he had employed men at such work, had had to pay them 5s. per day. A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Mold. THE HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND. THE SELECTION OF JUDGES.-The directors' report declining to take the opinion of the exhibitors as to the gentlemen best qualified to act as judges in the different classes of stock, suggested by Mr. Barclay, M.P., was read and approved. The directors' recommendation, that the judges be appointed before the entries close, was approved of. AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.-The results of the recent examinations were read and approved. June, the directors at their first meeting thereafter—namely, on 3rd February, referred the subject to a special committee to make suggestions. That committee, after several meetings, made a report to the Board. On the 7th of April the directors ordered the report to be printed and circulated among them previous to its being brought up for consideration at their meeting on the 5th of May. On that day the directors resumed consideration of the remit from the general meeting with the suggestions from the special committee. They now beg to recommend as follows: That, considering the advantages which have already been derived from chemistry in its applicaProfessor WILSON read the following extract from a letter tion to agriculture, it is expedient to reorganise a cliemical from a young farmer: "I am very desirous to see the questions department under the cognisance of the Society, for the purput to agricultural students as a test of their knowledge in any pose of conducting investigations on all subjects relating to examinations, so as to have an idea of the salient points of agriculture. That, in connection therewith, a series of carethe subject. Much interest is attached here to the university fully-conducted experiments in the open ground be instituted. scholarships expected to be open for competition in November That for these purposes a chemist, who shall reside in in connection with the Highland and Agricultural Society. I Edinburgh, and an agricultural inspector, be appointed at presume all will be eligible, and awards made to those who fixed salaries. That the chemical department be under the show the greatest proficiency in the subjects of examination-control of the directors and the chemist. That the duties of no matter whether school or self-taught. Kindly say if I am correct in that view, or if there be anything to bar a farmer's son who may have no instruction but his own exertions, without help from tutor or school, from entering for competition." Mr. MILNE HOME remarked that the Dollar Institution had appointed a committee to confer with the Society in regard to the scholarships. THE CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT.-Sir THOMAS BUCHAN HEPBURN read the following report of the directors, and moved its adoption: The report by the directors on the Chemical Department made to the general meeting on the 20th of January last, having been remitted back to the Board for farther consideration, with instructions to bring up a report in the chemist shall be: To conduct investigations, researches, and experiments on such subjects connected with agricultural chemistry which may be necessary, and prepare an annual report of the same for the "Society's Transactions." To institute a series of carefully conducted field experiments. To make all the necessary analyses required for such experiments. To examine the records of reports of the field experiments kept by the agricultural inspector, draw conclusions from them, taking into consideration the meteorological condition of the station, and prepare them for publication in the "Society's Transactions." To report the work done in the laboratory to the half-yearly general meetings of the Society, and, in analysing for members of the Society, to report any cases of gross adulterations of manures and feeding-stuffs that may have come under his notice. That the field experiments, or open ground practical work, be under the inspection of the agricultural inspector, whose duties shall be-To superintend and conduct all field experiments undertaken by the Society. To be responsible for the proper cultivation of the land, and see that, when experiments are alike, uniformity, as far as possible, be observed at all the stations. To keep complete records of the experiments during their progress and to their completion, noting the peculiarities of soil, climate, altitude, and rainfall, and the mode in which the land has been worked. To furnish the chemist from time to time with copies of these records. The directors find that the Society has at its disposal for the purposes of the Chemical Department and field experiments a sum of £700, which they recommend should be set aside for a period of seven years. In carrying out this recommendation they suggest that the £700 should be expended as follows: £700 0 0 After appointing a qualified chemist and an agricultural inspector competent to institute and carry on such experimental stations, it will be the first duty of the directors to make the necessary arrangements with proprietors or tenants for the use of suitable land in different districts of Scotland for a term of years, and for the services of the workpeople and horses on the farms for the proper cultivation of the land, providing all manures, seeds, &c., required for experiments. It will afterwards be the duty of the chemist and the agricultural inspector to frame and complete a detailed scheme on the methods of conducting stations fitted to the different localities where they are to be placed, and on the objects which should first be made subjects of research, and submit the same to the directors. The memorial adopted at the general meeting in January last to the President of the Board of Trade, urging on the Government the expediency of establishing agricultural experimental stations in different districts of Scotland, was duly forwarded, but the directors at their meeting in February resolved to ask the Board of Trade to delay submitting it for the consideration of Her Majesty's Government, as they were then preparing the scheme now suggested, and which they thought should accompany the memorial. To this request the Board of Trade readily complied. The directors now consider that it would be advisable that a deputation from the Society should wait on Government to subunit this scheme and explain their views in greater detail than was done in the memorial. They trust, from the great value and importance of the subject, that Government will be disposed to provide for the scheme the same sum as the Society, or a larger amount, in which case the Society would be enabled to have a greater number of experimental stations, and on a more extended scale. The SECRETARY read the following communication from Mr. R. Macdonald, Cluny Castle, Aberdeen: "Askernish House, South Uist, Lochmaddy, June 9, 1875.-Dear Sir, When I left Cluny Castle, I intended to be back in time to be present at your general meeting in Edinburgh, to be held on the 16th inst., so as to make an application for a money grant towards the establishment and maintenance for three years of three agricultural experimental stations, representing-(1). Light, sharp soil, such as Deeside, Aberdeenshire; (2) loamy soil, such as the vales of the Don or Deveron; and (3) stiff clay solls. I may state that proprietors and tenants in the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, and Kincardine, have already subscribed upwards of £600 to be distributed over 3 years, and the most of the committee appointed are members of the Highland and Agricultural Society. As your Society have repeatedly, by resolutions at their meetings, and by memorials to the Board of Trade, urged the necessity of advancing the science and practice of agriculture by means of experimental stations, the committee hope that a grant-in-aid of at least one-third of the sums subscribed, and to be subscribed, by local parties, will readily be given by your Society for three years, for the maintenance of the stations about to be established for the north-eastern districts of Scotland. The committee are fully impressed with the conviction that the management of the stations should be continuously conducted with scientific care and systematic precision; and they are glad to have reason to believe that thoroughly qualified parties can be got in Aberdeen and the neighbourhood to superintend and conduct the experiments quite satisfactorily. It is not considered necessary to make provision in the meantime for continuing the experimental stations longer than three years, as it is to be hoped that the representations by the Highland and Agricultural Society, and by others, to the Government, will soon be favourably considered, and the expediency of establishing such stations admitted by the Legislature. Please submit this application to the meeting on the 16th inst., after the report by the directors on the Chemical Department is read, and favour me with a reply, addressed to Cluny Castle, Aberdeen.-RANALD MACDONALD, Convener of Committee." Colonel INNES (Learney) who seconded the motion, had received a lettter from Mr. Macdonald that morning requesting him to support this letter, and he could do so very cordially, so far as it was consistent with the decision already arrived at by the directors; but he thought he could not do so more effectually and satisfactorily than by bringing before the meeting a resolution which he had independently proposed to lay before the directors-viz., "Considering that the funds at command of the Society may be insufficient, after paying the salaries of the chemist and scientific manager, to meet the expenses of working experimental stations on an adequate scale, and also considering that larger and more reliable results of experiments may be attained by combining in association for that object the means and efforts of several districts, it is desirable that the Highland and Agricultural Society should undertake to establish such an association, by means of which the experimental stations maintained by local societies and by individuals may be managed on a uniform plan and under common rules, and so that the same experiments may be conducted simultaneously under varied conditious of soil and climate: That the organisation and management of such an association would furnish adequate employment for the agricultural inspector of the Highland and Agricultural Society, his duties being to organise the system of associated experimental stations, to aid in drawing up the rules under which they are to be worked, to periodically visit and inspect the progress of the experiments, to superintend and check the weighing and measuring of substances, to tabulate results and prepare report: That the Highland and Agricultural Society might also provide for the chemical analyses required for the experiments of the association, by the employment of a salaried chemist or otherwise as may be found most expedient, and that any funds available after providing for these objects might be offered as grants in aid of the working expenses of the several associated experimental stations, under the condition that they are conducted strictly in accordance with the rules of the association: That the formation of such an association would multiply the usefulness of any experimental stations which the Highland and Agricultural Society may find the means of working under the plan proposed by the directors, and disseminate more widely the practical knowledge which may be acquired as the result of the experiments; and that without loss of time an invitation should be given to district societies and to individuals who may be disposed to co-operate in the formation of such an association to communicate with the secretary." He was under the pleasing anticipation that the resolution might not, when the opinion of the directors was expressed upon it, be altogether unacceptable. It was not inconsistent with the scheme of the directors, would extend its operations, and be a source of considerable support to it. Mr. WILSON (Eddington Mains), when he last had the opportunity of expressing his views in reference to this matter, was disposed to approve of a much larger sum being given, so that a chemist of the highest qualifications should be engaged whose services would be wholly at the disposal of the Society. Now that the whole sum allotted by the Society for the purposes referred to in the report was £700, and they were to expend £300 out of that on a chemist, he did not think it wise that they should agree to that before knowing what the chemist was to do. He thought that the experimental stations, which he had desired to see in operation long ago, and were meeting with approval throughout the country should be first put in operation. Any chemical advice that was needed could then be applied for from the best chemists of the country, who would be paid ffor it. The Society had a salaried chemist for a considerable number of years, and they knew that Dr. Anderson was highly qualified for the work devolving upon him; but if they were to take a sheet of paper with two columns, and put on one side the money paid to Dr. Anderson by the Society, and on the other the practical result, he thought that these two columns would present a strange contrast. That should make them cautious about spending their money in that way again. He moved as follows: "The meeting having had submitted to it by the directors a report on the chemical department, approves of the arrangements, in so far as explained in the report, for organising and carrying on experimental stations of the kind described in the Society's memorial to the Board of Trade, and for a period of seven years, if the directors and Society see fit, but disapproves of the proposal contained in the report to appoint a chemist for the Society, it being understood that whenever chemical analyses are required, or chemical advice wished for in connection with the experimental stations or otherwise, the directors are empowered to employ or consult qualified agricultural chemists practising in any part of the country." Mr. MILNE HOME (Wedderburn) seconded Mr. Wilson's amendment. He was sorry to differ from the directors on this point. He had all his life felt the immense benefit of the application of chemistry to agriculture, and he was one of those who assisted in establishing the Agricultural Chemistry Association, which brought Professor Johnstone to this country; but he, like his friend Mr. Wilson, deprecated being tied hand and foot to one individual whom they were to appoint and keep as long as he held office for a particular salary, without any guarantee being obtained as to the amount of work he was to perform for the Society. They knew well what happened during the past four years. Unfortunately Dr. Anderson, for whom he had the greatest possible respect, got into bad health, and for two years drew his salary without doing anything for the Society; and his assistant, Mr. Dewar, to whom he had listened in the Royal Society with much admiration, had told them in a letter which he recently published that he was not so much an agricultural as a scientific chemist. Accordingly, his papers before that Society had not been on agriculture. He had not devoted his attention to that part of the subject. They had, therefore, been paying for two years £1,000 to these two gentlemen, and they had not had a bit of work done for the special benefit of the Society. That was a system they should avoid in future. There were chemists who devoted themselves to organic and others to inorganic chemistry. The Society required sometimes the one and sometimes the other; and if they tied themselves up to one man, they deprived themselves of having the best means of advice they could acquire. The two reasons assigned in the report for the permanent appointment scarcely met his view. The first was that the directors were desirous of carrying on researches on all subjects connected with agriculture. He would be glad to know what guarantee there would be for such researches further than by the terms of the engagement, under which they appointed the chemist at a salary of £300, and left him to carry on such investigations and researches as he could find time for? Then as to the chemical analyses of the soil and products at the experimental stations, the directors could get all that information in the way which he and Mr. Wilson had pointed out. He had consulted on this point the highest agricultural authority in Britain, Mr. Lawes of Rothampstead a gentleman who had for twenty or thirty years had more experience in carrying on experiments in the field than any other gentleman in Britain, and who had made discoveries that were likely to revolutionise the whole agriculture in Scotland and in England. He said they should wait until they saw the result of their experimental stations, and that if they found it necessary they should employ a chemist-an outsider, and not an officer-and request him to make such analyses as they required. He was most highly delighted with the fact that these experimental stations were about to be established in different parts of the country. His proposal would be, that the £300 should be disposed of in this way-£100 should be reserved for the purpose of carrying on any chemical anyalyses that might be required in connection with these stations; another £100 should be set apart to assist such stations as they had heard of in Mr. Macdonald's letter, and from Colonel Innes, of Learney; and £100 for rewarding any chemist who came forward and made any important researches or discoveries in the previous year. Mr. MELVIN, Bonnington, said that it occurred to him that | this matter was not yet ripe for settlement, and that it should still be continued. When Mr. Dundas proposed in January that this matter be deferred until the present meeting, Mr. Maclagan, of Pumpherston, who seconded the motion, stated that it would be his object to apply to the Foreign Office, through Lord Derby, and obtain information from those countries on the Continent where experimental stations had been formed. Lord Derby, he believed, favourably received the application, and had, through the consular agents, obtained reports from those countries. He understood that Mr. Maclagan had received a large bundle of them, and he thought they should be in the hands of the directors, and examined, before any conclusion was come to. The proposal of having no chemist was somewhat new. They had been speaking of the results of going to a teaching, and perhaps a scientifie chemist, and not to a man who devoted his attention entirely to agricultural chemistry: Dr. Anderson might have known barley from oats, but he did not know that he would know them until they were shot; and, there were many things he did not know in practical agriculture at all. He thought they should not deprive themselves of the right entirely of appointing a practical chemical agriculturist, if they could get such a man. He moved that the consideration of the report be delayed, and that the directors consider the reports received by the Foreign Office to which he had referred. The CHAIRMAN: These reports have not been received. Mr. MILNE HOME said that Mr. Maclagan had done him the honour of sending him the reports referred to by Mr. Melvin for perusal; but he had received them only yesterday. They gave an account of the stations in Austria, Belgium, and France, and also returns from Russia and Holland, in which there were no stations at present. But it appeared from these reports that the Governments both of Russia and Holland were at this moment considering the subject. A reporter had been sent to Germany by the Russian Government with the view of reporting on these stations and introducing them into Russia. He thought it important that the deputation ap. pointed to go to London should do so immediately, as they would go at the very time when Earl Derby saw from these reports what was about to be done by foreign Governments. He would be sorry if the proposal were hung up for six months. That would be scarcely to the credit of the Society, after having intimated to her Majesty's Government in February that a deputation was to be sent forthwith to support the memorial. The CHAIRMAN said he understood the reports had been laid before Mr. Milne Home individually, and that they were not before the society as a Society. Mr. MELVIN said they might not have been received by Mr. Milne Home, simply because Mr. Maclagan thought he would present them to the Society. Mr. SCOT-SKIRVING pointed out that Mr. Wilson and Mr. Milne Home had argued the matter entirely on one-half of its premises. To his mind the greatest reason for appointing a chemist had nothing to do with experimental stations at all. It gave them a man in whom the farmers of Scotland had confidence in sending their artificial manures and foods for analysis. There was much reason in what was said about their departed friend Dr. Anderson. He always thought, for one, that Dr. Anderson was a great deal too timid in not tabling the names of those from whom the adulterated stuffs were obtained. The chemist should be prepared to give the names in such cases, and if they dared to prosecute, the Society should stand or fall by him. Referring to the question of salary, he stated that he quite conceived that they could obtain the services of a good chemist at a smaller salary than even was proposed for the stamp it would give himhis appointment showing that the Society had confidence in him. Sir THOMAS HEPBURN hoped the meeting would not consent to Mr. Melvin's proposal, so as to delay the matter. If it were delayed, he thought the Highland Society would become the laughing-stock of the whole country. It ap peared to him that if they were to have experimental stations without the aid of a chemist, they would be unable to proceed in a scientific manner. The chemist could consider what were the constituents of the soil and of the manures applied, and, after the crop had reached perfection, tell how much of the manure remained in the soil, and afford other information which would be available in future years. Mr. Milne Home stated that Mr. Lawes had given him his advice to the effect |