AGRICULTURAL PREMIUMS. 



315 



On thk Nutritive Properties of Tur- 

 nips RAISED with different MANURES. — 



With the view of testing the comparative feed- 

 ing properties of Turnips grown with guano 

 and with farm yard manure, a premium of 

 twenty sovereigns will be given for the most 

 approved Report on the progressive improve- 

 ment and increase in weight, (during a period 

 of at least four months) of three lots of cattle, of 

 not fewer than four in each lot, fed on turnips 

 and straw, or turnips and hay, iu the following 

 manner : 



1. Four fed on turnips grown with guano 

 alone. 



•2. Four fed on turnips grown with farmyard 

 manure alone. 



3. Four fed on turnips grown with one-half 

 guano and one-half farm j-ard manure. 



The animals selected to be as nearly as possi- 

 sible of the same age, vi'eight, condition, and 

 breed, and to be treated in a similar manner in 

 every respect. 



The live weights of the animals to be ascer- 

 tained before they are put up to feed as well as 

 at the close of the experiment, and if the ani- 

 mals are slaughtered, the dead weight and quan- 

 tity of tallow which they yield respectively. 



The turnips grown with the different ma- 

 nures to be on land of equal quality and in 

 equal condition, and the quantity supplied to 

 each lot to be weighed. 



TussAC Grass. — The medium ^Id medal 

 Mill be given for the most approved report, 

 founded upon actual experience, on the culti- 

 vation in this country, of the Tussac Grass, Dac- 

 tylis caapitosa — seeds of this valuable grass 

 having been lately introduced into Scotland 

 from tl'.e Falkland I.slands, where it is said to 

 be found growing in great luxuriance, chiefly 

 on peaty .soils, within the influence of the sea. 

 It is also said to grow on sandy soils under the 

 same influence, and where the climate is simi- 

 lar to that of Great Britain. 



This premium is ofibred in order that the result of 

 experiments made may be publicly known, and to 

 ascertain if its extended cultivation in this countiy 

 would be beneficial. 



Parties who have received portions of the parcels 

 of seed transmitted by the Colonial Secretary are 

 expected to report on the results of their experi- 

 ments, incKiding all the particulars regarding them, 

 whether successful or not. 



On the Advantages of Dibbling in Sow- 

 ing. — For a Report, founded on actual experi- 

 ment or obsen-ation, to ascertain and point out 

 the advantages of sowing grain hj the process 

 of Dibbling — the gold medal, or ten sovereigns. 



Wool. — For the best Essay on the Structure, 

 Conformation, and Physical Properties of Wool, 

 and on the Nature and Uses of the Sebaceous 

 Secretion of the Skin of Sheep — the Yolk — the 

 gold medal, or ten sovereigns. 



Note. — Under the fonner head must be included a 

 detailed description of the ditferent kinds of Wool 

 which are at jiresent cultivated in the United Kini;- 

 dom, with deductions from their structure as to their 

 comparative value and utility for manufaclurins pur- 

 poses; and, under the latter, the special intiuenccs 

 which the yolk exerts upon the Wool, the necessity 

 or inutility of artificial salving, and in those circum- 

 stances where such has been used, the safest and 

 most efficacious methods of removing it from the 

 fleece, and the bleaching and purifying of the Wool 

 fiom the " gilting" that may have resulted fiom its 

 application. 



Analyses of the Ashes of Plants. — For 

 ' the best Series of Quantitative Analyses of the 



Ashes of the Cultivated Plants, or of the more 

 common weeds growing on the difFerent soila 

 in Scotland — fifty sovereigns. 



Note. — As the Society has already offered premi- 

 ums for the analyses of oats and potatoes, competi- 

 tors who make choice of cultivated plants will select 

 any of the others in common cultivation, as wheat, 

 barley, tuniips, or beans. 



The more abundant weeds should also be select- 

 ed for analysis, full-gi'own, healthy plants being in 

 every case taken. 



Separate analyses should be made of the stalk of 

 the plant and of the seeds, and in the turnip, or other 

 plants with large roots, also of the bulb. Intending 

 competitors are referred to the latest edition of Lie- 

 big's Agricultural Chemistiy ; and, for an account of 

 the best method of ash analysis, to a paper by Drs. 

 Will and Fresenius on the inorganic constituents of 

 plants, in the Memoirs of the Chemical Society of 

 London, part 9. 



E.XPERIMENTS IN Deep PLOWING. — In Order 

 to obtain information on the results of subsoil 

 plowing, trench-plowing, or any other mode of 

 deep plowing on thorough-drained land, or on 

 land that does not require draining, with the 

 comparative merits of the difl'erent modes on 

 the same soil, the Society offers an annual pre- 

 mium of the gold medal for the best and most 

 satisfactory account of experiments made on not 

 less than four acres of land of as nearly as pos- 

 sible the same quality and description — stating 

 the description of soil, and the .subsoil upon 

 which it rests — in each of the methods of plow- 

 ing, one-half of which shall have been deep 

 plowed, and the other half cultivated in the or- 

 dinary waj^ The whole extent of ground to 

 be under the same description of crop, and in 

 other respects both portions to be cultivated and 

 managed alike. The quantity and quality of 

 the produce of each portion to be stated the 

 depth reached by the plow to be noticed, with 

 such other observations as the experimenters 

 may deem dcserWng of attention. 



Besides the principal premium for the year, 

 the Society proposes to give honorary premi- 

 ums for such reports as shall be deserving of 

 distinction. 



Vegetable Productions of India, China 

 AND America. — The gold medal will be given 

 for the best, and the medium gold medal for the 

 next best and approved Report on the Hardy 

 or supposed Hardy Trees, and useful Herba- 

 ceous Plants, including grains and grasses, of 

 China, the Himalaya country-, the Falkland and 

 South Sea Islands, California, and the high 

 north-western districts of America, where such 

 climate exists as to induce the belief that the 

 plants may be beneficially introduced into the 

 cultivation of Scotland. 



There being reason to believe, that in addition to 

 the useful vegetable productions which have of late 

 years been introduced from Upper India, Ciilifoniia, 

 &c. many others may exist in the same regions, and 

 in China, equally well suited to this climate, the So- 

 ciety has been induced to ot^er the above premiums 

 with a view towards obtaining the fullest informa- 

 tion relative both to the introduced sorts and those 

 already knovin in this countrj-. for the purpose of 

 encouraging the introduction of the former, as well 

 as the more extended culture of the latter. Report- 

 ers are, therefore, required to give the generic and 

 specific names, with the authority for the same — to- 

 gether with the native names, in so far as known ; 

 also to state the elevation of the locality and nature 

 of the soil in which they are cultivated, or which 

 they naturally inhabit, with their qualities or uses ; 

 and it is farther requested, that the descriptions be ) 

 accompanied, in so far as possible, with specimens " 

 of the plants and their fruit, seed, timber, or other 

 product-s. 



