29 



new and suitable objects, so as to render the meeting as attractive as 



Mr. Barnard read some notes on the cultivation of the Sugar Beet, sup- 

 plementary to a former communication on the same same subject, and took 

 the opportunity of presenting a package of the seed for distribution ; also, 

 a small tract on " The Sugar Beet, its importance, cultivation, and man- 

 agement," by Jules Joubert, Secretary to the Agricultural Society of New 

 South Wales. 



Mr. Davies suggested that a portion of the seed should be sent to Dr. 

 Coverdale, who he believed was now giving the growth of Beet a fair 

 trial on the farm of the Queen's Orphan Asylum. As Dr. Coverdale was 

 now making use of seed sent from Europe by Mr. John Walker, he would 

 thus be enabled to institute a comparison between the seeds. 



Mr. Morton Allport called the attention of the Fellows to an interesting 

 scientific fact, connected with the Salmon experiment, viz., that the few 

 pairs of Salmon trout {Saimo trutta) which were retained in a freshwater 

 pond, purposely prepared for them, had deposited spawn in which the 

 embryo fish were now distinctly visible. The parent fish were hatched in 

 May, 1866, and are therefore nearly four years old, their weights varying 

 from three-quarters of a pound to one pound and a half. 



Mr. Stephens, in bringing under the notice of the Fellows an apparatus 

 for applying sulphur to plants, by means of a common pair of bellows, in 

 a thorough and economical manner, observed that the use of sulphur was 

 now largely adopted in Madeira, where it had quite cured the disease in 

 the vine (Oidiuni) which had been so destructive of late years. Sulphur 

 thus applied would in fact destroy all vegetable blight, which was of a 

 fungoid character (as was the case with the OicUum), and would no doubt 

 be efficacious against the fire blight, which for some years had been so 

 prevalent among the apple trees. [The instrument, which is very simple 

 in construction, and could readily be made by any tin-smith, will be ex- 

 hibited for some time in the Museum.] 



Mr. F. Abbott read a paper on Nobert's test lines, Moller's Diatom Type 

 Slide, and recent improvements in the construction of IMicroscopes ; which 

 was listened to with much attention. Mr. Abbott intimated that he in- 

 tended exhibiting some new Micrometers, and other novel objects of in- 

 terest on the evening of the Microscopical meeting. 



Mr. Davies thought the thanks of the Society were specially due to Mr. 

 Barnard, for the manner in which he had, on more than one occasion, 

 brought the subject of Sugar Beet cultivation under notice, and begged to 

 move according]y. 



Mr. Buckland seconded the motion, which was carried, and the usual 

 vote of thanks having been given to Mr. Abbott, for his interesting paper, 

 and to the donors of presentations, the meeting broke up. 



