524 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



Pell, Hart., Mr. Payne, Hon. A. Leslie IMelville, and 

 Mr. Lawrence. The usual preliminaries having been 

 gone through, 



The Secretary (Mr. Hudson) read the Report 

 of the Council, which was as follows: — 



REPORT. 



The Society cousiats at the present time of — 

 81 Life Governors, 

 133 Annual Governors, , 



904 Life Members, 

 4010 Annual Members, and 

 18 Honorary Meciber^, 

 Making a total of 5146 names on the list. 



Tiie Council have elected Mr. Thompaou, of Kirby Hall, a 

 Tru3te3 of the Society, i:i the place of the late Earl Spencer; 

 and Hi3 Grace the Duke of Rutland a Vice-President, in 

 that of the late Lord ^Braybrooks. They have also elected 

 the Hon. Colonel Hood, Mr. Huniberatou (J^Iayor of Chester), 

 Mr. Hr.ik'ujson, and Mr. Hutton, General Members of the 

 Council, to supply the vacancies created respectively by the 

 transfer of Viscount Eversley to the ckas of Vice-Presidents, 

 and Mr. Tliompson to the class of Trustees, and by the deceasa 

 of Mr. Simpson and Mr. Stephen Mills. 



The funded capital of the Society stands at £9,264 8s. lid. 

 stock in the New Three per Cents. 



The Chairman and Vice-Chairmenof the Journal Committee 

 have announced to the Council that their respective personal 

 engagements will not allow them to devote as large a share of 

 attention as they have hitherto done to the editing of the 

 Journal; but they have subsequsntly acceded to the request of 

 the Council that they should continue their services until some 

 permanent arrangement shall have been made. The Council, 

 in order to diminish the amount of the mechanical detaih con- 

 nected with their labours, have placed at their disposal a grant 

 not to exceed £300 annually, for the purpose of engaging such 

 literary aid as they msy And requisite for the more convenient 

 editorship of the Journal. 



The excellent paper on horsa-shoeing, by Mr. Miles, of Dix- 

 field, near Exater, published in the last part of the Journal, 

 has been reprinted in a cheap form for extensive distribution, 

 and already upwards of a tbouiand copies have been sold. 



The Governors of the Royal Veterinary College have pre- 

 sented their annual report of the progress made at that in- 

 stitution in the application of the veterinary art, and the 

 diseases of cattle, sheep, and pigs. They state that the number 

 of pupils qualified to act ai practitioners in carrying out the 

 objects of the Society in this point of view, continues to 

 increase ; but they regret that the members of the Society do 

 not avail themselves more extensively of their privilege offend- 

 ing diseased animals in a live or dead state to the college, and 

 thus furnish means for a larger amount of practical experience 

 to the Professor of Cattle Pathology and bis pupib. 



The Council have appointeJ Professor Voelcker, of the Royal 

 Agricultural College at Cirencester, as the consulting-chemist 

 to the Society ; and he has already delivered before the mem- 

 bers his inaugural lecture on Agricultural Chemistry in its 

 Relation to the Cidtivation of Root-crops. They have also 

 made arrjngeraents with Professor Heafrey, of King's College, 

 for the delivery of a lecture on Vegetable Physiology, on 

 Wednesday n.'xt, the 26th of May. This lecture, as in the case 

 of Professor Voelcker's, will be taken down ia its full extent by 

 a short-hand writer, and immediately ma3e public. The 

 Council hope thit this early publication of the lectures, by at 

 once placing before the agricultural community any facts of an 

 important practical character, will be found to meet the wishes 

 of the members. 



Tlio Chester Meeting promises, from its variety and ex- 

 tent, to be of an interesting character. The Council have 

 made special arrangements for the trial of steam-culti- 

 vator?, by which their relative merits will be tested during 

 the whole of the week previous to that of the meeting ; and 

 they have decided that machinery in motion shall be exhi- 

 bited on the same plan as last j'oar. The Council have 

 adopted the recommendation of the Local Committee, that 

 a dinner should take place in the Music Hall at Chester, 

 capable of accommodating 500 guests. They have decided 

 that, for the future, when a dinner is proposed at the Country 

 Meeting of the Society, the whole arrangements shall be 

 made and expenses borne by the Local Committee, the 

 Council reserving to themselves the right of appointing the 

 Chairman, and of preparing the list of toasts ; and that, 

 after the present year, the show of poultry as a portion of 

 the Society's exhibition sliall be discontinued. 



The Council have appointed a committee to report upon 

 the propriety of renewing or discontinuing, after the current 

 year, the triennial arrangement for the trial of implements, 

 adopted for the Chelmsford, Salisbury, and Chester meetings. 



The Council have selected Warwick as the place of the 

 Country Meeting for the year 1859; and have decided 

 that after the j'ear 1860 they will be prepared to hold a 

 Metropolitan Meeting, should circumstances be found 

 favourable in the meantime for the adoption of such an 

 arrangement. By order of the Council, 



James Hudson, 



Secretary! 



On themotionof Mr. Davby, M.P., seconded by Mr. 

 Drucb, the Report was unanimously adopted. 



Mr. R. Barker rose to nominate the President for 

 the year ensuing the meeting at Chester. He had, he 

 said, the honour to propose for the office of President? 

 at the termination of the current year, his Grace the 

 Dake of Marlborough — a nobleman who had only very 

 recently become a member of the Society, but who had 

 already manifested great interest in its proceedings. 

 His Grace had only presented himself once in that room ; 

 and he then appeared as the leader of a deputation 

 from the county of Oxford, which came there to re- 

 quest that that county might be selected as the one 

 in which the Society's show should be held in the 

 year 1859. All who were present on the occasion 

 were struck with the amenity of manner, the zeal in 

 the cause of agriculture, and the aptitude for 

 business evinced by his Grace in addressing the large audi- 

 tory which was assembled ; and if the deputation did not 

 succeed in their object, their disappointment was at all 

 events attended with this advantage, that it tended to 

 convince the agricultural community and the public at 

 large that no amount of influence could deter the mem- 

 bers of the Council from exercising their judgment im- 

 partially and deliberately in the decisions which they 

 came to, on matters of deep interest to the Society 

 (Hear, hear). For his own part, he must say he thought 

 the Council had made the best selection ; and if they had 

 given the preference to a county which was better enti- 

 tled to it than Oxford, he trusted no unpleasant feelings 

 had been created by that circumstance. Nothing could 

 be more courteous or gratifying than the manner in 

 which his Grace had received the request that he would 



