Board of Agriculture. 208 



bines, but stains the skin of a deep red or black. The 

 oxide in solution with water has no colour, but by combi- 

 ning with alkali or lime becomes yellow. With galls it 

 gives a very vivid blue colour. All the metals, excepting 

 gold and platina, precipitate this metal. If* mercury is agi- 

 tated with the aqueous solution of the oxide, an amalgam 

 is formed, which, by heat, loses the mercury, and leaves 

 the osmium pure as a black powder. 



THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE* 



Has offered the following preiliiurns : 



Culture of Plants. — To the persons who shall make the 

 most satisfactory experiments, tending to the improvement 

 of the culture of each of the following plants respectively, 

 viz. wheat, rye, barley, oats, pease, beans, tares, buck- 

 wheat, turnips, cabbages, rutabaga, potatoes, carrots, par- 

 snips, clover, luccrn, sainfoin, chicory, hemp, flax, hops, — 

 the silver medal. 



Accounts, verified by certificates, to be produced on or 

 before the second Tuesday in May 1805. 



The same premium for 1806. 



The same premium for 1S07. 



Soiling Cattle. — To the person who shall, through the 

 entire summer of 1805, keep the greatest number of cattle 

 in stalls, houses, or confined yards, and fed entirely in the 

 soiling method, with green food, — the gold medal. 



Certificates of the number of cattle, and acres of food, 

 and sorts eaten, the quantity of dung made, with other cir- 

 cumstances of the experiment, to be produced on or before 

 the first Tuesday in December 1805. 



The same premium for 1800. 



The same premium for 1807. 



Comparison of Food to different Animals.— ^To the person 

 who shall, by experiments, ascertain in the most satisfac- 

 tory manner, and report to the board, the comparative ef- 

 fect of certain articles of food when given to various kinds 

 of live stock, — the gold medal. 



Grasses, natural and artificial, mown and weighed ; hay, 

 cut chaff, corn or pulse, oil-cake, turnips, cabbages, car- 

 rots, parsnips, potatoes, 8cc. compared, in the production 

 of mutton, beef, butter, and cheese; artificial grasses, cab- 

 bages, roots, and corn or pulse, in the production of mut- 

 ton, beef, pork, or the flesh of poultry. It is required that 

 the food be weighed and registered, and the animals also, 

 with the increased weight noted from every sort of food. 



* See our 17th volnme, p. 185 and 273. 



P 4 Accounts 



