10 PROCEEDINGS AT GENERAL MEETINGS. 



stated that, as he had made arrangements to spend the month of June ou the 

 Continent, he could not be present at this general meeting, and he wished to postpone 

 bringing forward his motion till the Kelso showyard meeting. The Directors acceded 

 to the postponement, which accounts for the motion not being ou the programme of 

 business before the present meeting. It will also be in remembrance that at the last 

 general meeting the directors were empowered to look out for suitable premises for a 

 laboratory to enable the chemist to carry on his analyses in connection with the 

 Societ3^'s exj)erimental stations. After inspecting various premises, it was found that 

 if additional accommodation could be got at the laboratory in Clyde Street, it would 

 be more convenient. Miss Dick was accordingly communicated with, and she most 

 readily agreed to lease to the Society the additional rooms required. 

 The report was approved. 



Report of Chemist regardesg Experimental Stations.— Dr Aitkex said — Since 

 the last general meeting the i^ublication of the "Transactions" enabled me to lay 

 before the Society the details of last season's barley crop much more fully than can 

 conveniently be done here. At that time the analysis of the crop was well advanced, 

 and I expected that a short review of some of the more important results would form 

 the subject of this report. Since then, however, increased accommodation and means 

 of analysis have been placed at my disposal, enablmg me to carry out the investigation 

 on a much larger scale. I have therefore determined to repeat the whole analysis, and 

 have been engaged upon it for about a month ; but it will be some time before it is 

 far enough advanced for publication. The crop at present in the ground is Italian 

 rye grass, which was so"\\ti with the barley last year. On neither of the stations has 

 •any manure been applied to this crop. It was considered inexpedient to apply undis- 

 solved manures as a top-dressing on grass ; and to omit these and apply only soluble 

 manures where these were being used would be a departure from the plan originally 

 established, and which, though it might increase the crop, would not advance the 

 objects of the investigation. On the other hand, the withholding of all manure for a 

 season would enable the residual effects of former manures to be made manifest 

 at Pumpherston, and would still further reduce the fertility of the station 

 at Harelaw, and bring it into ja condition more favourable for future experiments. 

 It is satisfactory to notice that both these objects are being accomplished. An 

 important change has been made on the course of cropping on the l-112th acre 

 plots. Hitherto these have been under the same crop as the larger j)lots at both 

 stations ; but the first year's cropping showed that the piece of ground set apart for 

 the small plots at Pumpherston was not sufficiently uniform to yield reliable results. 

 It was accordingly put out of cultivation last season, in order to have its defects 

 remedied ; and when this had been accomplished in a very thorough manner, by 

 lifting the entire soil, mixing it together, and respreading it on a well-stirred and 

 regularly-drained subsoil, the committee resolved not to sow it in grass in the spring, 

 but to begin again with the turnip crop, as in 1878, and continue the rotation thus 

 begun. It was also resolved to do the same with the small plots at Harelaw, so that 

 the cropping on the small jdots might be the same each year on both stations, and 

 serve as a check upon each other. By this arrangement the four years' rotation will 

 be maintained over the whole stations, Init it will be two years later on the small 

 plots than on the large ones. There will thus be annually two kinds of crop on each 

 station — turnips and grass the one year, barley and oats the next. Two advantages 

 are gained by this means. In the first place we shall not be so dependent, as 

 formerly, on favouraljle weather for the whole of our annual croj)s ; and secondly, 

 what is still more important, we have now the opportunity of repeating the exjDeri- 

 ments with each crop of the rotation every two years, either on the targe or small 

 scale, instead of requiring to wait for four years, as was the case under the original 

 arrangement. The results already obtained with the turnip crop, both in the field 

 and in the laboratory, are of so much interest and promise to be of Buch importance 

 that it was felt to be a misfortune to have to wait four years for their confirmation. 

 I have also to notice that, through the kindness of ]\Ir Smart, Liberton Park, I have 

 oljtained the use of a portion of a field adjoining my house, in which I have set down 

 a series of experiments exactly the same as those on the small plots at the Society's 

 stations. The manures for the l-112th acre plots at all three stations were made from 

 the same materials, and mixed Avitli the greatest care in the laboratory, and their 

 correctness determined by analysis. One or two slight changes have been introduced 

 in the character of the manures, so as to render the investigation more complete, but 

 these will be noticed in detail along with the results of the cropping. I may also 

 mention that I am carrying on a twofold series of experiments with grass in bag-pots 

 similar to those employed for the barley experiments last year. They are mostly dupli- 

 cates of plots at the Society's stations, and are being grown in the open air at Liberton. 

 Agricultural Education. — Mr Mylne, Niddrie "Mains, reported that the annual 

 •examinations held under the Society's educational charter were held on the 29th. 30th, 

 and 31st March, and that the following gentlemen jiassed -.—For Diphnna — William 



