( xxxix ) 



SSSagS anlf meportS.— prizes for 1 858.— ah Prizes of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society of England are open to general com- 

 petition. Competitors will be expected to consider and discuss the 

 Iieads enumerated. 



I. MICROSCOPIC INVESTIGATION. 

 Fifty Sovereigns will be given for the best Report on the 

 Results of Microscopic Observation applied to the Vegetable 

 Physiology of Agriculture. 



Tt is not thouf];ht desirable to confine the observer too strictly to any 

 particular line of research, the only necessary limitation beincj, tliat 

 the Y'lauts to be examined and reported upon shall be selected from 

 those commonly cultivated ; such as the cereals, or those usually 

 known under the names of pulse, root, and fodder crops. The 

 structural formation of these plants — their ordinary vital processes 

 — modifications of the above induced by climatic influences or the 

 application of manure — morbid changes of their tissues consequent 

 upon the attacks of insects or disease, — would all prove extensive 

 and interesting fields of inquiry ; and it must be left to the writers 

 themselves to select those particidar branches of the subject on 

 which they are able to supply the greatest amount of original 

 information. 



II. FARMING OF SHROPSHIRE. 



Fifty Sovereigns will be given by the Society for the best Account 



of the Farming of Shropshire. 



Describing the physical features of the County, its Kivers, Geological 

 Sections, and peculiarities of Agricultural Practice on Light and 

 Heavy Soils respectively ; Drainage, Irrigation, Farms of particular 

 note ; principal Markets ; recent Changes of Population ; character 

 of Live Stock ; notice of former Agricultural Pieports of the County ; 

 Improvements since Kennedy and Granger's Survey for the Board of 

 Agriculture ; Changes in progress, or still needed. 



III. THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 

 TwENTV-FivE Sovereigns will be given for the best Report on 

 the Agriculture of the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, 

 and Sark. 



The leading physical features of each should be given : character of the Soil ; 

 its Agricultural Tenures ; size of Farms, as well as various modes of 

 cultivation, describing any peculiarities of local practice ; Imple- 

 ments ; Live Stock; Dairy Management; Imports and Exports of 

 Farming Produce; Population; reference to former Agricultural 

 Surveys, or notices of a like character ; Agricultural changes in pro- 

 gress, or needed. 

 VOL. XVIIL e* 



