12 PKOCEEDI^s'GS AT GEXEEAL MEETI^'GS. 



held on the 25th May to consider the answers to the circular, and report thereon. In 

 resjiouse to the circular, the Society received replies from 98 breeders or exhibitors. Of 

 these 8 were neutral, 31 were of opinion that the ages should be calculated from l^t 

 December, and 59 were iu favour of adhering to the present mode of countmg the ages 

 from 1st January. The answer from Mr. Jenkins, the Secretary of the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society, was to the effect that for some years there had been a growing feeling in 

 favour of altering their previous date of 1st July to the 1st January, or (as the Council 

 preferred to put it) not to mention any date from which the age of animals was to be 

 •calculated ; but this practically amounts to the first day of the year. The Committee 

 were of opinion that Mr. Mollison jiroduced several strong reasons in favour of the ages 

 of shorthorn and polled being calculated from the same date ; but as the subject was 

 not included in the remit, the Committee felt that it could not be taken up. It was 

 ultimately resolved, that in consequence of the majority of the answers being in favour 

 of the 1st of Januarj', to recommend the Directors to adhere to that date. Colonel 

 Crillon concluded by stating that the Directors unanimously approved of the report, 

 and directed it to be brought up at this meeting. 



The report was approved of. 



Agricultural Edlt cation. — Mr. Irvine of Drum reported that the examination of 

 candidates for the diploma and certificate in agi-iculture took place on the 2Sth, 29th, 

 and 30th March, when twenty gentlemen enrolled their names as candidates, and the 

 following passed : — For Bij^'linna — Lawford D. Cover, Findon, Worthing ; William 

 Henderson, East Elrington, Haydon Bridge ; Marcus Sandison, Hempriggs, Wick ; 

 Frederick Herman Weber, 44 Green Street, Grosvenor Square, London. For First 

 ijlass Certificate — A. S. Alexander, 4 Belhaven Terrace, Glasgow ; Daniel Bain, Wick ; 

 Thomas A. Buttar, Corston, Coupar-Angus ; Alfred Hardie, Oxford House, Stockport. 

 For Second Class Certificate — Benjamin Hepburn, Preston Mains, Prestonkirk ; John 

 Martin Little, jun., Bonnington House, Blackheath, London ; Samuel Naismith, 2 Tar- 

 vit Street, Edinburgh ; James Rodger, Inchock, Arbroath ; John S. Peter, 5 Ravelston 

 Place, Edinburgh. The two prizes of £6 and £4, given by the Society to the class of 

 ■agriculture in the University of Edinburgh, were this year awarded by special examina- 

 tion to — 1, William Henderson. Northumberland ; 2, Daniel Bain, Caithness, and 

 James Craig, Fifeshire (equal). 



Technical Schools of Agriculture.— The report by the Standing Acting Com- 

 mittee on Agricultural Education, to whom it Avas referred to consider and report on 

 •Colonel Innes's motion at the general meeting in January last, viz. :— " That there is 

 urgent need of the establishment of central technical schools of agriculture, and that it 

 is the duty of the Society to encourage the establishment of such schools," was then 

 "by Mr. Irvine of Drum, as follows : — " The Committee having given the matter re- 

 mitted to them their best consideration, may observe that the Society has on various 

 t)ccasions beneficially employed its influence for encouraging the youth of the country 

 •connected with agriculture to devote greater attention than had hitherto been done to 

 the study of the different branches of science which have a relation more or less direct 

 to agriculture. In 1856 the Society established a special agricultural education depart- 

 ment, when it received from Government a supplementary charter authorising the 

 Society to take steps for directing and promoting the education of young agriculturists, 

 by laying down a defined curriculum of study, and by granting diplomas to those who, 

 tDn examination, should be found qualified in the science and practice of agriculture. 

 Examinations are held annually in Edinburgh, at which diplomas and certificates are 

 conferred on qualified candidates without reference to places or modes of education. 

 There are now fifty-two holders of the Society's diploma located iu various parts of the 

 country fully qualified to give sound elementary instruction iu agriculture. These 

 •diplomas are accepted by the Science and Art Department as qualifying the holders ' to 

 •earn payments by results' in the same way as the department teachers. There are also 

 twent}' holders of first-class and sixteen of second-class certificates. While the Society 

 pays the fees and travelling expenses of the examiners, it exacts no fees from the candi- 

 dates coming up for examination. Successful candidates for the diploma are, by a bye- 

 law enacted in 1873, eligible to be elected free life members of the Society. In 1868, 

 the Society supplemented the endowment of the Chair of Agriculture in the Edinburgh 

 University by an annual grant of £150 ; and since 1865 it has annually voted £10 

 (given in two sums of £6 and £4) to the students who pass the best and second best 

 examination in the agricultural class. In 1874, with the view of encouraging instruction 

 in the elements of agriculture so as to qualfy for the diploma or certificate, the Society 

 established ten bursaries of £20 each and five of £10 each, to be competed for by pupils 

 of schools, to be approved of by the Directors, which include, or are willing to intro- 

 duce, the teaching of chemistry, physical geography, botany, and geology into their 

 curriculum. The £20 bursaries are tenable for one year at the University of Edin- 

 burgh, for the purpose of enabling the holders to take the classes necessaiy to qualify 

 for the Society's certificate or diploma ; and the £10 bursaries are tenable for the same 

 |ieriod, to enable the holders to receive another year's preparation at the schools. Ad- 



