CG 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. 



A \foNTHLY Council was held on Wednesday, the 

 2nd of December : present, the Right Hon. Lord 

 PoRTMAN, Trustee, in the Chair, Lord Walsingham, 

 Lord Southampton, Lord Feversham, Right Hon. the 

 Speaker, Sir Watkin William-s Wynn, Bart., M.P., 

 Sir John V. B. Johnstone, Bart., MP., Mr. Dyke 

 Acland, Mr. Raymond Barker, Mr. Barnett, Mr. Bar- 

 thropp, Mr, Brandreth, Mr. Caldwell, Mr. Cavendish, 

 Colonel Challoner, Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, PIr, Fisher 

 Hobbs, Mr. Wren lloskyns, Mr. James Howard, Mr. 

 Jonas, Mr. Lawes, Mr. Milwood, Mr. Slaney, M.P., 

 Mr. Banks Stanhope, M.P.^Mr. Thompson, Mr, Terr, 

 and Mr. Burch Western. 



The following new Members were elected : — 



Beat, the Hon. and Rev. Samuel, Abbott's Ann, Andover 



Boweu, Pryse, Shrawardioe Castle, Shrewsbury 



Brown, Edward, Oaklands, St. Alban's 



Butler, John Field, Childerdi'ch Hall, Brentwood 



Fry, Thomas, Baglake Farm, Longbredy, Dorsetshire 



Gardaor, Captain Thomas, Sea View, Ryde, Isle of Wight 



Gibbs, Thomas, Dowc-street, Piccadilly, London 



Graham, Thomas, jun., Abingdon, Berkshire 



Hardacre, Richard, Hellifield, Leeds 



Knox, Octavius Newry, South-Collingham, Newark, Notting- 

 hamshire. 



Locock. Edmund, South Elkington, Louth 



MadgwicV, William, jun., Alciston, Lewes 



Minton, Alfred, Clewer Court, Windsor 



Moorsom, C. R., Gotham, Redoar, Yorkshire 



Ostler, John Lely, Grantham, Lincolnshire. 



Purtoii, William, The Woodhouae, Cleobury-Mortimer 



Sadler, Benjamin Grearae, Linen Hall, Belfast 



Simpson, Piuder, Hendon, Middlesex 



Smith, Henry, Brierley Hill, Dudley 



Turner, Edward Rush, St. Peter's Iron Works, Ipswich 



Turner, Frederick, St. Peter's Iron Works, Ipswich 



Veitch, James, jun.. Exotic Nursery, Chelsea 



Warner, Henry, jun., Hawkley, Petersfield 



Woodford, William, Bidford Grange, Alcester 



Yooge, Rev. William, Rochbourne, Fordingbridge. 



Finances. — Mr. Raymond Barker, Chairman of the 

 Finance Committee, presented to the Council the 

 monthly report on the accounts of the society, from 

 which it appeared that the current cash balance in the 

 hand of the bankers at the end of the previous month 

 was £'153. 



ExPENCES. — Lord Portman, as Chairman of the Ex- 

 penses Committee, made a further report on the pro- 

 gress of the committee in their consideration of the 

 various topics referred to them. He informed the 

 Council, that the excess of payments over receipts on ac- 

 count of the Salisbury Meeting had been considerably 

 reduced by the adoption, to a certain extent, of the recom- 

 mendations of the committee, aud he trusted that a much 

 further reduction would be effected, not only by a steady 

 adherence to economical arrangement on the one hand, 

 but to an increase in the receipts on the other. His 

 lordship concluded his communication by reading to the 

 Council the several details, under each head of recom- 

 mendation, which the report containad. 



Prize Essay.— Mr. Thompson, Chairman of the 

 Journal Committee, reported the following adjudication 

 in the class of Essays and Reports : 



To the Rev. William Beevor, of Cowbridge, Glamorganshire, 

 the prize of £20, for the best essay on the comparative advan- 

 tages of entering upon farms in spring and autumn, with 

 instructions to the young farmer on his entering at either 



Agricultural Chemistry. — Mr. Wren Hoskyns, 

 Chairman of the Chemical Committee, read to the Coun- 

 cil a letter addressed to him by Professor Way, the con- 

 sulting chemist of the Society, dated Milan, the 20th of 

 November last, and tendering his resignation of that 

 office, which the Council accepted, and passed a vote of 

 thanks to Professor Way for his past services to the 

 Society in that capacity. A special committee was then 

 appointed, consisting of the members of the chemical 

 and finance committees, with the addition of Lord Fever- 

 sham, Mr. Slaney, M.P., and Mr. Fisher Hobbs, to 

 consider of an improved arrangement for the chemical 

 business of the Society. 



Agricultural Implements and Machinery. — 

 Colonel Challoner, Chairman of the Implement Com- 

 mittee, read the following; : 



REPORT. 



Tlie Implement Committee have, agreeably with the in- 

 structions of the council, afforded an opportunity to the ex- 

 hibitors and judges of implements and machinery at the 

 Society's country meetings, during the last three years, of 

 offering any suggestions relative to the construction and 

 trial of steam-engines and other agricultural machinery at 

 the Chester Meeting, and the committee received fourteen 

 communications on the subject. 



The committee having taken these suggestions, and the 

 report made upon them by the Society's consultina: engi- 

 neer, into their consideration, bog to make the follov.'iiig 

 recommendations to the Council: — 



1. That in steam-boilers the tubes should not be placed 



neaier to each other than one inch. 



2. That the evaporative power of the boiler may, if thought 



necessary, be ascertained. 

 Remark hy Mr. Amos. — "This course appears to me 

 to be good only indirect!}'' : for if the combination 

 work well as a whole, and in its marketable form, the 

 Society need hardly look too minutely' into details, 

 unless they see fit to do so." 



3. That the parts of the steam-engines should admit of 



being taken to pieces, and their parts, as well as those 

 of other machines, be examhied as to mechanical de- 

 tail. 



4. That the coal used in the getting-up of steam be se'ected 



and weighed, as usual, under the direction of the 

 judges ; aud although tlie Llangennych variety has been 

 hitherto used as a constant standard for marking pro- 

 gressive improvement in the steam-engine, on account 

 of its uniformity of character and absence of smoke in 

 combustion, that the common bituminous coal of the 

 country may be employed in its place, should the judges 

 think proper to adopt it. 



5. That the trials of steam-machinery might, in future, he 



conducted under .sheds, should the advantages proposed 

 to be gained by their adoption be considered equiva- 

 lent to the expense incurred in their erection. 



6. That well-tested self-acting breaks be employed in the 



trials of steam-engines. 



7. That the judges be at liberty to employ, as heretofore, 



.any scheme of data or points that may, in their 

 opinion, best lead them to a clear decision on the prac- 

 tical value of any engine or machine. 



8. That higher prizes might be given for steam-engines, on 



condition that the prize-engine in each class shall be 

 lodged in some public exhibition during the period while 

 it holds the prize ; and that the maker will supply, in 

 each case, an equal machine at the price stated in his 

 original certificate of entry. 



