28 PKOCEEDINGS AT GENEKAL MEETINGS. 



competed for at the Dairy Produce Show at Kilmarnock ; £3 each to the Rousay, 

 Orkney, and Egilshay Societies ; also 145 medium silver medals to 51 districts in aid of 

 premiums given by local societies, and 218 minor silver medals to be given at ploughing 

 competitions — making the total amount offered nearly £1000. 



Cottage Competitions. — Mr Mylne, in the absence of Mr Harry Maxwell Inglis of 

 Loganbank, also reported that the money premiums and medals awarded in 19 dis- 

 tricts during the past year amounted to £51, 10s., and that the premiums to be offered 

 in 1879 amount to £63 in 24 districts, besides the offer of two gold medals to proprietors 

 in Scotland who shall report the improvement or erection of the greatest number 

 of approved cottages during the years 1875-76-77-78. 



Chemical Department.— Dr Aitken reported as follows : — When I had the honour 

 of addressing you six months ago, I anticipated that my next report would contain a 

 short statistical summary of the lirst season's cropping upon our experimental stations. 

 The manures had been applied to the soil with great accuracy, and under very favour- 

 able conditions ; and although rain interrupted the sowing at Harelaw for nearly a 

 fortnight, and a drought of several weeks' duration succeeded the sowing at Pumpher- 

 ston, yet a good braird was got at both stations, and eventually a fail- average crop. 

 The different manurial treatment which the various plots had received showed itself 

 markedly both in the amount and character of the crops, and this was particularl}' the 

 case at Pumpherston station, the poorness of whose soil rendered it very amenable to 

 improvement by manures. A careful record has been kept of the appearance and 

 progress of the various plots during the growing season, and this of itself forms a very 

 satisfactory and instructive instalment towards the solution of the problems for which 

 the experiments were undertaken. When the time for lifting the turnips at Pumpher- 

 ston had arrived, a week of continuous rain occurred, which rendei ed that operation 

 impracticable. As soon as the land was sufficiently dry lifting began, and was prose- 

 cuted with great vigour ; the plot of each crop being kept carel'ully separate and 

 weighed as it was taken off the ground. The work was scarcely half completed when, 

 on 4th December, the;;severe irost set in which has only now given way. For about a 

 month the crops were lying deep in snow, then a slight thaw occurred, which was 

 sufficient to lay them bare to the alternate action of frost and sun. This has had an 

 injurious effect at Pumpherston station, and we may have in some measure to rely upon 

 the data which we already possess in determining the effects of the various manures on 

 the plots still unlifted. Fortunately, two days before the frost set in, the crop at 

 Pumplierston had been carefully sampled. I selected forty turnips from each plot, re- 

 presenting as nearly as possible the average growth. These were weighed, securely 

 pitted, and numbered, and are now being analysed and investigated in various ways. 

 The results of the analyses, and all the details regarding the growth of the various plots, 

 will be recorded in the forthcoming volume of the Society's ' Transactions ' It is un- 

 necessary that I should occupy your time with any of these details, as they are as yet 

 very far from complete. The crop on Haielaw has not yet been touched, but I hope, 

 if the thaw continues, to have it sampled and secured this week in a condition 

 sufficiently good for the purposes of our experiments. To attempt to draw general 

 conclusions from what has been observed in the growth of a first year's crop would, of 

 course, be very injudicious. There are so many incidental circumstances which are 

 able to affect the growth of plants, that it is only during a succession of seasons that 

 errors derived from such causes are able to be determined and eliminated. Neverthe- 

 less as each season forms an item in determining the ultimate result, it is well that 

 its effects should be noted and considered as it occurs. In a few words I would indicate 

 the leading observations that have been made during the past season in the growth at 

 our stations. Regarding the various applications of phosphates, it was noticed that 

 the dissolved phosphates took the lead Ironi the first, and maintained it all through the 

 season ; but the difference was not great, averaging perhaps between one and two tons 

 per acre. These plots were all very much alike, no matter what was the source of the 

 phosphate. The same is true of the plots with undissolved phosphates, except the 

 bone dust plot, which was very backward. Of the nitrogenous manures, the nitrate of 

 soda and sulphate of ammonia plots were exactly on a par. The one manured with 

 shoddy was very backward, and that manured with dried blood, although very 

 slow to begin, improved latterly with great rapidity, and was in the end equal 

 to the best. The plots containing no nitrogen did badly, especially at Pumpher- 

 ston. The potassic manures tried were only two — sulphate and chloride ; and the 

 plot manured with sulphate of potash was decidedly better than the other on both 

 stations. The want of potash did not seem much to affect the growth ; but those 

 plots manxired with potash ash alone were vei-y poor, especially at Pumpherston, 

 where it was the worst plot on the station. On both stations the plot with sulphate 

 containing 20 per cent, soluble phosphate of lime gave a better crop than that contain- 

 ing 10 per cent, soluble and that containing 30 per cent, soluble. Regarding the ex- 

 periments with various quantities of manure, it was uniformly found that those plots 

 most abundantly manured gave the best crops. This was also noticed in many other 



