( 246 ) [April, 



CHRONICLES OF SCIENCE, 



Jndubing tljc flrorfcbings oi '^rmxtii Societies at Jomc anb ^koair ; 

 aiib ^otitfs of Jctcnt Sticntifit iCiUratuw. 



1. AGEICULTUEE. 



The past quarter has been full of agricultural interest. Thanks to 

 the Chambers of Agriculture throughout the country, and their 

 central representative in London, farmers are gradually acquiring 

 that share in the conduct of public affairs which properly belongs 

 to their wealth, their numbers, and their importance. As every 

 addition to power and self-respect quickly shows itself in material 

 results, it is proper that a social development of this kind be 

 noticed here. And though for the present the movement bears 

 rather a political than a practical aspect, yet we shall, no doubt, 

 soon find technical and professional advancement marching in equal 

 step with political and social progress. 



Turning now to the details of agricultural experience, we have 

 to report that the severe drought of 1868, which resulted in the 

 utter failure of the turnip crop, the complete stoppage for several 

 months of all grass growth, and the provision of but a scanty crop 

 of hay for winter use, has been followed by so mild and wet a 

 winter that autumn-sown green crops (stubble turnips, rye, rape, 

 mustard, and Italian rye-grass) have done much to meet the diffi- 

 culties which the stock-owner had anticipated. And the smaller 

 consumption of succulent food, and the larger use of straw cut into 

 chaff, and mixed with meal or cake for cattle and sheep (whether 

 in a fatting or ordinary "store," or a breeding condition), have at 

 once kept the live-stock of the country in a more than usually 

 healthy condition, and proved a useful lesson of economy for 

 future seasons. An inquiry into the agricultural lessons of so un- 

 usual a season has shown that land-cbainage is serviceable even in a 

 drought — both directly by deepening and enlarging the storehouse 

 of vegetable resource on which plants can draw, and indirectly by 

 enabling a deeper, earlier, and more thorough tillage, which hinders 

 the cracking of the surface, and thus the searching influence of dry 

 weather. 



It has also shown the advantage in ffirm practice of retain- 

 ing for use seed-beds of plants, such as cabbages, capable of trans- 

 planting as soon as rain comes, and thus of furnishing the earliest 

 possible provision against a scarcity consequent on the failure of 

 ordinary crops. It has shown, too, the great injury done to farmers, 



