The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-12 00:00:00

ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF
ENGLAND.

The annual meeting Of the Royal Agricultural Society
was held on Wednesday, under the presidency of the
Duke of Richmond. Amongst those present were—Major-
General Hood, Colonel Challoner, Sir Walter Stirling,
Messrs.Bowley, Randell, Holland,M.P., Brandreth Gibbs,
0. Wallis, Baldwin, Read, M.P., Thomas Willson, S.
Sidney, Arkell, Corbet, Morton, and Pell. The attend.
ance of members was unusually limited. The following
were the more important paragraphs contained in the re-
port presented to the meeting :
" Since the last general meeting in May, one governor
and 97 members have died, and 177 new members have
been elected, so that the soc: rtv now congsts of 76 life
governors, S 2 annual governors, .t.,383 life members, 4,001
annual members, 15 honorary mensoers, making a total of
5,557. In consequence of the large expenses attendant.
on the show at Bury St. Edmund; and the protracted
trials of implements, the council has been compelled
to sell out £2,000 of the funded property, which now
stands at £16,027 19s. 7d. in the New Three per Cents.,
and the cash balance in the hands of the bankers on the
Ist instant was £369 Bs. ld. Notwithstanding the unavoid-
able absence of cattle; the show-yard at Bury St. Edmuns.s
was well filled with a fine display of horses, sheep, pigs, and
poultry, and was remarkable for the most extensive collec-
tion of implements and machinery yet brought together..
The council have settled the live stock and implement
prize sheet for the country meeting to be hell next year
at Leicester, and have arranged that the show shall open
on Thursday the 16th and close on Tuesday 21st of July.
Prizes amounting to £225 will be offered for the best ap-
plication of steam power to the cultivation of the soil.
The sum of .€1,595 is offered in prizes for live stock, to
which £227 has been added by the Leicestershire and
Waltham and the Loughborough Agricultural Societies ;
and £lOO has been offered by the Sparkenhoe Farmers' Club
in prizes for cheese. It has been resolved by the council to
apportion England and Wales into eight districts,as follows :
A. Durham, Northumberland, and North and East
Ridings of Yorkshire. B. Cumberland, Lancashire,
Westmoreland, and West Riding of Yorkshire. C. Derby.
shire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire,
Nottinghamshire, Rutlandshire, and Warwickshire. D.
Btalfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire,
Huntingdonshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk. E. Berkshire.
Buckingha.msbire, Hampshire, Kent, Middlesex, Ox
fordshire, Surrey, -and Sussex. F. Cornwall, Devon-i
shire, Dorsetshire, Somersetshire, and Wiltshire'
G. Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Monmouthshire:i
Worcestershire, and Sounth Wales. H. Cheshire,;
Shropshire, Staffordshire, and North Wales. The
council have determined that District B, comprisin,
the counties of Cumberland, Lancashire, Westmoreland,
and the West Riding of Yorkshire, be selected for the;
country meeting of 1869. During the course of this year
alterations have been made in the scheme of education
adopted by the council ; it is no longer connected with the
Cambridge and Oxford middle-class examinations. The
next examination is fixed to take place at the society's,
house in Hanover-square, during the week commencing)
April 20, 1868. On this occasion it is not thought
advisable to place any limit on the ages of candidates.
The adoption of the report was moved by Mr. SIDNEY,
who, after paying a tribute to the memory of Mr. John
Baldwin, a member of the Council who has died duriag
the past year, congratulated the society on having deter-
mined to call in the aid of practical men to pronounce
upon the value of the agricultural implements to be exhi-
bited at the next show, and highly approved the apportion.
went of England and Wales into the eight districts men.
tioned in the report.
Mr. NIELD having seconded the motion, the report was
unanimously ad opted.
Referring to an observation made by Mr. Nield,
The SECRETARY stated that the society numbered thirty:
two more members than it did last year.
A vote of thanks to the auditors, Messrs. Ashbury,
Corbet, and Sherbourne (who were re-elected), was pro-
posed by. Major-General HooD, seconded by Colonel
CIIALLONEE, and unanimously carried.
Mr. ASKELL urged that the council should devise some
means by which farmers could be assisted in the discovery
of the character of, and the remedies fur, the numerous
diseases to which plants are subjected.
Mr. SIDNEY strongly urged the necessity of the society
undertaking an agricultural survey, by means of questions
addressed by a committee to the best-informed persons in
various parts of England.
Colonel CIULLONER. reminded the meeting that tee
prizes the council had offered had brought forth some
most important papers on the agricultural character and
cultivation of important districts.
Mr. READ, M.P., thought the idea of a treatise being
prepared on the subject of plant diseases was a good one,
and bad no doubt it would be considered by the council.
After some observations by Major-General Hood and
Mr. Warry,
The CHAinmAN, referring to Mr. Ashells suggestion as
to the action to be taken by the council in connection
with the discovery and cure of plant diseases, reminded
the meeting that the society's journal c itaiued some
very important papers on the subject. 1;:c idea of an
agricultural survey, mooted by Mr. his
Grace held to be of great value, but it was not
to be forgotten that there was nothing upon which so
much diversity of opinion prevailed as upon agricultural
topics. In the department (the Board of Trade) over
which lie presided, the chairman stated that lie was en-
deavouring to procure statistics from all parts of the
country, Which, although of course only permissive, would
prove, of the utmost use to farniere
A vote of thanks to the cbnirmal was proposed by air.
YELL, seconded by Colonel Cu .v.i.osEß, enthusiastically
carried, and duly acknowledged