lY INTRODUCTION. 



The time named in the notice first issued having been ex- 

 tended to the 15th day of April, twenty-two essays were re- 

 ceived up to that time. The Boards of Agriculture for Upper 

 and Lower Canada named Professor Hincks, of University 

 College, Toronto, and Professor Dawson, of McGill College, 

 Montreal, as a Committee, to decide upon the merits of the 

 several essays. 



According to the decision of these gentlemen, the First 

 Prize has been awarded to H. Y. Hind, Esq., Professor of 

 Chemistry at Trinity College, Toronto, author of the Essay 

 with the motto — 



" The progress of agriculture ought to be one of the objects of your constant 

 care, for upon its improvement or decline depends tlie prosperity or decline of 

 empires."— Empeeoe Napoleon III. 



The Second Prize to the Rev. George Hill, Rector of 

 Markham, author of the Essay with the motto — 



" Mox et frumcntis labor additus." 



And the Third Prize to Emilien Dupont, Esq., of St. 

 Joachim, in the county of Montmorency, author of the Essay 

 with the motto — 



" Spinas et tribulos germinabit tibi (terra) et comedes herbam terrse." 



