74 



THK FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



arlic's of food are becoming m:;re and more known to the 

 English farmer. 



During the past seaion I have analyzed several samples of 

 cotton eee fcake sent by members of the Society, and procured 

 o'.lier aampU's for examination. No description ot c-ke I find 

 d'ffers so mucS in composition as cotton-cake. 



I hope to furnish a paper on the average composition of 

 co'.tou-cake and its feeding value, in the forthcoming volume 

 of the Society 'd Journal. 



There are several other kinds of feeding materials, the 

 composition of which as yet has not been determined by 

 rigorous analysis ; oa the recommendation cf the committee 

 the composition and feedin? value of snch food might be ascer- 

 tained by your cieraical officer. 



I may state in this place tbat I have already ascertained the 

 composition of Dari or Daura grain, a newly-imported farina- 

 ceous seed of the size of a large millet, and extensively lued 

 for fee^ling purpoies in the East ; I have also determined 

 carefully the composition of several kinds of oilcakea that 

 rarely find their way into commerc-". 



The uses of made-up catt'e food have likewise occupied my 

 attention. The conclusion to which 1 a-n led by the analyses 

 of three or four different samples of food of that desrription 

 agree so entirely with the opinions expressed in Mr. Lawes' 

 paper in the last volume of the Sociely'si Journal, that I need 

 not here enter into details to prove luc fact that purchasers of 

 such cattle food as that examined by me may readily procure 

 equally nutritious and fatteniug fond at something like one- 

 fourth the cost at which such made-up cattle food is sold at 

 present. 



Most samples of cattle food which I have hitherto examined 

 contain large proportions of lice-meal (the refuse of rice-dress- 

 ing mills), oat dust, and tlie sweepings of flour mills, mixed 

 with spoiled and inferior flour. The bad taste and fusty smell 

 of the latter are concealed by strong smelling drugs, such as 

 foeungric, or anise or fenne'.secd, and also by bitter substances, 

 such as gentian. In one particulir sample, much recommended 

 as food for pijs, I have found the bulk of the meal to consist 

 of crushed carrots, beans, rice, aud bjrley-meal ; this food also 

 contained some sulphur and nitre, as well as foenugric, and a 

 little aniseed ; it was, in fact, a regular medical powder. 



I have devoted a pact of my leisure in the p-.ist summer to an 

 agricultural tour in North and South Wales, and purpose cash 

 year to set aside a portion of my vacation to similar agricul- 

 tural tcurs in other parts of Enzland ; for I feel strongly im- 

 pressed with the jQutual advantages that will spring from a 

 close and familiar contact of your chemical officer with intelli- 

 gent agriculturists, and am conviuced that much good may be 

 conferred upon the farming community at large by our united 

 efforts to promote agricultural progress. The analytical work 

 performed by me and assistants, on behalf of members of the 

 Bociety, has been very brisk duriug the past season — making 

 analyses of soils, marls, chalks, freestones, oilcakes, artificial 

 manures. Among them, I am sorry to say, many adulterated 

 guanos, and all but worthless, or very inferior, fertilisers, &c., 

 &c.,have been analyzed in the laboratory; and it affords me 

 much pleasure in informing the chemical committee that I have 

 received several letters, stating that my reports were the 

 means of saving intending purchasers considerable sums of 

 money. In order to return analyses referred to me without 

 delay' and to carry ou at the same time the field experiments 

 find more scientific laboratory researches entrusted to my care, 

 I have found it necessary to engage a staff of four competent 

 assistants. My first assistant has taken an active part in 

 several researches cirried out in my laboratory, and has ju't 

 issued a treatise ou Agricultural Chemistry, which I have reason 

 to believe will be appreciated by the agricultural public. My 

 second assistant has been educated at King's College, Lnndou, 

 where he has pained se/eral prizes in various departments o: 

 knowledge. Jly third assistant is a thoro!ighly trained and 

 careful analyst. The salaries for assistants aud other necessary 

 laboratory expenses amount to a considerable sum of money, 

 which, indeed, L would not be justified in incurring to the same 

 extent, if the college authorities did not liberally assist me in 

 meeting these expenses. 



Agricultural Implements. — Colonel Challoner, 

 Chairman of the Implement Committee, read the fol- 

 lowing report, which was unanimously adopted : 



The committee having taken into their consideration the 



memorial of a meetiug of inpleraeut-makers at the Chester 

 meeting, it appears to the committee that, in consequence of 

 the large increase of the number of implements during the 

 two past years, a further extension of the period for the trials 

 will in future be required. Ou due consideration, the com- 

 mittee feel that it will be advisable to have the system of trial 

 extended over four years, instead of threr, agreeably with the 

 following schedule, in which it will be perceived that the 

 trials in'the field and in the yard will take place in alternate 

 years : 



1859. 

 Ploughs Rollers 



Harrows Tile and Brick Machines 



Cultivators Draining Machines 



Clod-Crushers 



1860. 

 Combined and other Thrashing Mills 



Machines Oilcake Breakers 



Chaff Cutt-rs 



Drills 



Manure Distributors 



Horse Hoes 



Hay Machines 



Mowing Machines 



Reaping Machines 

 Horse Rakes 

 Carts 

 Waggons 



1862. 



Fixed and Portable Steam Hand Dressing Machines 



Engines Barley Hnmmellers 



Fixed and Portable Finishing 



Machines 



Iq each year, such special prizes as the council may deter- 

 mine, and medals for miscellaneous improvements, shall as 

 formerly be offered. 



The committee recommend that, when practicable, a tabular 

 statement of the results of the trials of machinery shall be 

 issued previously to the opening of the implement showyard. 



The committee do not recommend any alteration of the long- 

 established rule by which every implement exhibited is liable 

 for trial in the prize-classes of the year. 



Mr. Smith's protest against the award of the judges of 

 steam cultivation, at the Chester meeting, in favour of Mr. 

 Fowler's apparatus for steam ploughing, on the ground that 

 the judges were misled by Mr. Fowler's statement of the 

 " lowest selling price" having been taken, by the special 

 Implement Committee, into their due consideration, they 

 beg to report to the council the following points of the 

 case : — 



1. Mr. Fowler, in his ppecification of entry, includes no 

 reference whatever to those ex'.ra portions of his apparatus, 

 which in the private catalogue, stated by Mr. Smith to have 

 been distributed by Mr. Fowler at Chester, raised the price 

 of tho complete apparatus for working purposes to £153 

 bej'ond the price stated by hira in the specification of entry 

 with the society. 



2. As the judges of the Society were guided in their pro- 

 ceeding only by the Society's official catalogue, and based 

 their calculations entirely on the lowest selling price therein 

 stated, the economy of the work performed by Fowler's Steam 

 Ploughing Apparatus was overstated to a certain extent, in 

 consequence of the incompleteness of the date of price fur- 

 nished to them. The judges, however, have reported as fol- 

 lows on that point: — " Had Mr. Fowler's revised prices been 

 made known to us officially, and not merely comiiuuicated by 

 him to one or more of us individually, they wo\ild have 

 caused a slight modification in our estimates, but certainly 

 would not have affected our decision." The committtee can- 

 not, however, exonerate Mr. Fo. Tier from the imputation of 

 much blame in not having taken liie earliest and most effec- 

 tual steps to place the judges in full possessioa of a know- 

 ledge of the alteration he had made in so important an item as 

 the cost price of his working apparatus. 



3. No evidence has been adduced before the committee that 

 Mr. Fowler has evaded the rule of the Society,- which obliges 

 every exhibitor, on pain of exclusion from future exhibition, 

 " to execute all orders given to him in the sJiotv-i/ard at the 

 price stated in his specification." 



4. The committee recommend to the council that a rule 

 should be introduced into future certificates and specifications 

 of entry, requiring that the prices entered on them shall be the 

 prices of the respective articles of machinery entered for com- 



