Agricultural Education. 217 



as possible ; and for this purpose sent circular letters to all the 

 Secretaries of the Local Agricultural Societies in England and 

 Wales, drawing their attention to the scheme, and soliciting their 

 assistance. The Committee also sent circular letters to all the 

 schoolmasters whose names were published in the last class-lists 

 of the Oxford and Cambridge Local Examinations ; notices were 

 also sent to the principal agricultural newspapers and educa- 

 tional periodicals, and to the local newspapers. 



The local Secretaries of the Cambridge Local Examinations 

 w^ere also apprised of the scheme, from whom, as well as from 

 the authorities of the Cambridge University itself, the Com- 

 mittee have received the utmost courtesy and attention. It may 

 be further stated that the Cambridge authorities have consented 

 to take a fee of 10*-. instead of 11. from such of the candidates as 

 compete for the Society's extra prizes (List IIL) only. 



The total number of candidates who entered for the prizes of 

 the Society was 120, drawn from 18 counties of England ; of 

 these 83 were under the age of IG, of whom 75 entered for 

 the general Junior Examination ; 60 for prizes in pure mathe- 

 matics ; 15 in elementary mechanics; -1 in chemistry; and 1 in 

 botany. There were 27 under the age of 18 who entered for 

 the general Senior Examination, and of these 21 entered for 

 prizes in pure mathematics ; 12 in applied mathematics ; 2 in 

 chemistry; 2 in zoology; 1 in botany; and 1 in geology. Those 

 only who passed the Preliminary Examination were eligible 

 to obtain a prize in a special subject. In List III., open to 

 candidates not exceeding 25 years of age, 13 entered to compete 

 for one or both of the extra subjects ; 6 to compete in 

 mechanics ; and 12 in chemistry applied to agriculture. In all 

 these prize-lists many candidates entered in more than one sub- 

 ject. Of the 120 candidates, 104 described themselves as 

 sons of farmers, and others in some way dependent on the cul- 

 tivation of the land for their support, and the remaining 16 

 expressed their intention of following agricultural pursuits in 

 after life. 



As regards the examination of the candidates for the Society's 

 extra prizes (List III.), the Committee obtained the assistance of 

 Mr. Besant, of St. John's College, Cambridge (Senior Wrangler, 

 1850), to examine in mechanics applied to agriculture, in con- 

 junction with Mr. Amos, the Society's Consulting Engineer. 

 Mr. Liveing, Professor of Chemistrv in the University of Cam- 

 bridge, and the Society's Consulting Chemist, Professor Yoelcker, 

 conducted the examination in chemistry applied to agriculture. 



In the following Table the candidates are classed according to 

 their counties, or, rather, according to the counties in which 



