THE COUNTY COUNCIL 243 



W. T. Laurence was appointed manager and lecturer at the farm 

 when it was first taken over by the counties — a position which he 

 still continues to fill, carrying on series of investigations with crops 

 and manures, and values of feeding stuffs for cattle and sheep — the 

 value of cross-breeding and profitable rearing and fattening of sheep 

 being an outstanding feature of his experiments. 



The County Council, for a nominal fee, undertakes the analysis of 

 fertilisers and feeding stuffs, the number of samples examined in 1897 

 was 54, all of which, with but one exception, were found to be 

 satisfactory. 



