70 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



agricultural steam machinery generally, and by the peculiar 

 advantages of its position in reference to railway communication. 

 The local prizes may be represented by the following 

 classificatiou : — 



Cheshire Cheeae (made iu the district) , . £420 



Dairy Maids and Cheese Makers 21 



Dairy Cattle 170 



Horses 215 



Welsh Cattle 195 



Established Breeds (not including Short- 

 horns, Herefords, or Devons) 30 



Sheep (Welsh, Shropshire-Downs, and 



Cheviots) ' 230 



£1281 

 The prizes of the Society for the Chester Meeting are in- 

 cluded in the following schedules : — 



I. — Live Stock. 



Short-horned Cattle £170 



Herefords , . . 170 



Devons 170 



Cattle of other Breeds 45 



Agricultural Horses 130 



Dray Horses ,.... 75 



Other Horses 105 



Leicester Sheep 90 



Southdoxu Sheep 90 



Long Woolled Sheep 90 



Short Woolled Sheep 90 



Pigs 80 



Poultry 119 



£1,424 

 II. — Implements and Maciiineky. 



Portable Steam Engines £60 



Fixed Steam Engines 30 



Boiler for a Fixed Steam Engine 10 



Portable Thrashins; Machines 55 



Fixed Thrashing Machines 30 



Cora Dressini? Machines 10 



Screen for Corn 3 



Screen for Seed , . 3 



Chaff Cutters 13 



Griuding Mills , 15 



Linseed or Corn Crusher 5 



Oilcake Breakers 8 



Bone Mill .".'.'.'.'.' 10 



Boue-duat Mill ..i.*. '.! 5 



Turnip Cutters 6 



Root Pulper 3 



Churn 3 



Cheese-making Apparatus 3 



Cheese Press 3 



Steam-Cultivator , 500 



£775 



Miscellaneous awards 21 Silver Medals. 



The Prize Sheets, containing the special terms iu which 

 these various prizes are offered, the conditions under which 

 the competition for them will take place, and the general 

 regulations for exhibition and trial, are now in the press, and, 

 when finally corrected, will be ready for distribution. The 

 Implement Prize Sheet will include the recorameudatious of 

 the Implement Committee, in reference to the suggestions 

 obtained by a circular issued, by order of the Council, to each 

 exhibitor in that depaitment, and to each of the Implement 

 Judges, during the last three years. 



By Order of the Council, 



James Hudson, Secretary. 

 London^ Becemher, 1857. 



The Rev. J. Linton moved the adoption of the report. 



Mr. Moore seconded the motion. 



Mr. Sidney said it would be in the recollection of some of 

 the gentlemen present, that the last occasion on which they 

 had aa opportunity of expressing an opinion upon the manner 

 lu which the Society's affairs were conducted, was at Salis- 

 bury, m the month of July. On that occasion he made some 

 observations m reference to that subject, and aU who knew 



him, he was sure, would believe that in any observations he 

 might make he was actuated solely by the warmest wishes for 

 the Society. Now, he felt that he was perfectly justified in call- 

 ing the attention of the Council and members to this subject, 

 because, although they had prepared a very flourishing report 

 of the Society's proceedings, they could not help being aware, 

 from the little information which oozed out from time to 

 lime, tliat the finances of the Society were not in ao satisfactory 

 a state as could be desireJ. That fact was proved by 

 the circumstance that a committee, over which Lord Portman 

 presided, had several times investigated the condition of the 

 finances, and that in order to improve them it had been found 

 necessary to recommend the reduction of expenses of a 

 necessary and important character. For instance, just before 

 the Salisbury Meeting, in the summer, the Finance Conamittee 

 recotnmeuded that the services of a number of the jndfies 

 should be dispensed with, and that the payments made to the 

 yardmen should be discontinued. — [Colonel Ciialloner: It 

 was not the Finance Committee who did that ; it was the 

 Expense Committee.] — But in this instance they considered it 

 so closely, that it appeared a mistake was made; for, when the 

 report of the committee came before other parties move expe- 

 rienced than themselves, the recommendation as to the judges 

 was disregarded. The judges, whom it was proposed to dis- 

 pense with, were re-appointed ; and even then it was found 

 that the gentlemen at Salisbury, who had that business in 

 their hands — notwithstanding all their zeal and industrj* — were 

 greatly ovcr-worked. If, then, the Society was in such a condi- 

 tion that reduction of expenditure, recommended by a commit- 

 tee, could not be effected with advantage to the Society, it must 

 be evident that something was wanted to be done. They 

 were now iu the 20th year of the history of the society. 

 During that period it had doubtless effected great thinjs, and 

 it had held a magnificent exhibition every year; but what 

 was the reason they had not an income sufficient to do largely 

 and liberally all that was required ? True, after a falling off 

 in the number of members tor a series of years, the tide had 

 turned, and their ranks were beginning to increase. Still 

 there was something that ought to be done which bad not 

 been done, for the number of members was much less than it 

 was ten years ago, although agriculture was never in a more 

 flourishing condition than at the present moment ; and, instead 

 of a few gentlemen here and there feeling an interest in experi- 

 mental farming, there was scarcely a parish in England in which 

 some tenant farmer or other had not been carrying out culti- 

 vation in a high and improved style (Hear, hear). Now, he 

 believed that, inasmuch as there were 10,000 parishes in the 

 kingdom, there was no reason whatever why, v the society 

 were properly conducted, it should not have 10,000 members. 

 But they had 5,000 members, from whom a large income was 

 derived. Nevertheless, they had only one great event in the 

 year, and that was their annual country show. On those occa- 

 sions they certainly did bring the worl i together, and accom- 

 plished great things. But, in his opinion, it was not enough 

 to do great things once a-year ; and if they glanced at other 

 scientific societies it would be seen that those institutions 

 created many opportunicies for bringing their associates 

 together. True, the society had its Wednesday meetings ; 

 but all who were in the least acquainted with them knew that, 

 as at present conducted, they were very little better thau a 

 farce ; for this reason, that no announcement was made 

 of the business to be transacted on those days — a course 

 of proceeding which was condemned by the practice of the 

 other societies of England. It had happened again and again 

 that interesting discussions had taken place at these weekly 

 meetings, aud that those discussions were not reported in the 

 journals which circulated among the tenant farmers, simply 

 because it was the absurd and mistaken rule to exclude re- 

 porters ; while the official report, was so meagre, that 

 little information was to be gleaned from it, and very often 

 even that did not find its way into the hands of the public 

 until months after. As an instance of thi,->, let him 

 remind them of what took place last year, when the 

 whole agricultural world being alarmed by the progress of 

 the fatal cattle disease on the Continent, the society 

 commissioned Professor Simonds to go abroad and make a 

 report upon the subject. The learned professor returned 

 home, and read a most interesting paper to us ; 

 but it never appeared, thousrh he heard now that it was 

 about to be published. There was no doubt they might 



