PROCEEDINGS AT GENERAL MEETINGS. 15 



opinion that the Directors cannot proceeil to establish experimental stations witliont 

 the assistance of a chemist carrying on tlie arrangements from their beginning to their 

 termination, and this can only be practically carried out by a chemist on whose services 

 the Society could continuously depend. It would he merely wasting the funds placed 

 at their disposal were the Directors to proceed further without such professional aid. 

 It therefore appears to the committee that the Directors should invite the General 

 Meeting to reconsider the resolution disapproving of the appointment of a perma- 

 nent chemist, and request authority to secure the services of a gentleman thoroughly 

 qualified. 



3. — Colonel Tmies' ProjJosals. — Your committee find that the chief points embraced 

 in Colonel Innes' proposals were :—(!.) That an invitation should be given to district 

 societies and to individuals disposed to co-operate in the formation of an association by 

 means of which experimental stations may be conducted on a uniform plan to com- 

 municate with the secretary ; (2.) that the organisation and management of such an 

 association would furnish adequate employment for the Society's agricultural inspector ; 

 (3.) that the Society might provide for the chemical analyses required for such experi- 

 ments by the employment of a salaried chemist or otherwise ; and (4.) that any funds 

 available after providing for these objects might be offered as grants in aid of the v\-ork- 

 ing expenses of the several associated experimental stations. Under this head your 

 committee have to report that the plan suggested has been published in the Society's 

 Premium Book since 1873, when the assistant chemist was appointed, whose chief 

 duty was to be the inspector of agricultural experiments, conducted by a local com- 

 mittee of members who made application for them, and who were to receive assistance 

 from the Society. No application, however, was ever made for assistance under this 

 arrangement. 



4. — Letter from Mr Macdonald, Cluny Castle.— Jn Mr Macdonald's letter it was 

 intimated that upwards of L.600 had been subsci'ibed towards the establishment and 

 maintenance for three years of three agricultural experimental stations in the north- 

 east of Aberdeenshire, and the hoj^e of the committee, on behalf of which Mr Macdonald 

 wrote, was expressed that a grant in aid of at least one-third of the sum subscribed 

 would be given by the Society for three years, it not being considered necessary to 

 make provision in the meantime for continuing the experimental stations longer, as it 

 was hoped the expediency of establishing such stations would be undertaken by Govern- 

 ment. On this communication your committee feel that they cannot offer an opinion 

 until the arrangements in regard to the appointment of a chemist have been settled, as 

 according to the proposed scheme the whole available funds of- the Society would be 

 required for conducting their own ex3ieriments. 



5. —Proceedings of the Aberdeenshire Agricultural Association. — Under this head 

 your committee'need only remark that the association have fixed on five stations, and 

 that before entering on tiieir experiments have appointed a committee to look out for 

 a chemist to take charge of them. 



On the motion of Colonel Innes of Learney, the Board unanimously approved of the 

 report, and resolved to recommend the General Meeting to authorise the Directors to 

 organise such experimental stations as they may find practicable with the funds at 

 their disposal, and to contribute in aid of experimental stations established by local 

 associations on such conditions as the Directors may consider necessarj^ and for these 

 purposes to appoint a properly qualified chemist as an ofticer of the Society. 



Aberdeen Show, 1876.— The report of the meeting of members held at Aberdeen on 

 the 17th December, when the premium list and regulations for the General Show to be 

 held there this year were submitted and approved of, subject to the following suggestions 

 for the consideration of the Board : — (1.) That instead of two premiums of L.6 and L.3 

 and L.5 and L.2, there should be three of L.8, L.4, and L.2, and L.6, L.3, and L.l 

 respectively, for cross oxen and heifers. (2.) That fat stock should be disqualified 

 unless the breeders' names were given. (3. ) That there should be a premium for leaping 

 over hurdles. (4. ) That goats be adnutted to the show-yard. The Board agreed (1. ) To 

 increase the premiums for cross oxen and heifers, and to offer premiums for leaping as 

 recommended. (2.) That every endeavour should be made to obtain accurate informa- 

 tion as to the breeders of all animals. (3.) That it is quite in accordance with the rules 

 to admit goats into the show-yard as extra stock. The Board then took into considera- 

 tion letters from Mr Jenkins, secretary of the Royal Agricultui-al Society of England, 

 as to the date of the Show at Birmingham— which has been fixed to be held from the 

 19th to the 24th July, both inclusive— when, after careful deliberation, the Directors 

 resolved to adhere to the date fixed on for the Aberdeen Show — namely, from the 25th 

 to the 28th of July, both inclusive — believing that any alteration to a later date would 

 not be advisable. 



Proposed Show at Edinburgh, 1877. — The Secretary reported that a meeting of 

 members connected with the district was held in the Society's Hall, 3 George IV. 

 Bridge, on the 15th of December, when the classes of stock as arranged by the Directors 

 •were approved of, subject to a suggestion that there should be two sections for yeld 



