PREMIUMS AND COMPETITIONS — 182I-1829. 189 



A sum of about ;^I500 has been awarded by the 

 Society in premiums for dairy produce. 



On pages iii and 112, reference is made to premiums 

 awarded for florin grass from 181 5 to 1820. In 1820 and 



1 82 1, the Society offered a piece of plate, of the vahie of 

 twenty guineas, to the person in the counties of Argyll, 

 Inverness, Ross, and Cromarty, who should raise the 

 greatest quantity of florin grass, or not less than two Scots 

 acres of ground ; and ten guineas for the next greatest 

 quantity, or not less than one acre. The first premium 

 was awarded in 1821 to Donald M'Coll, Lettershuna, 

 Appin, whose report was published in the Transactions. 

 In 1822, the premiums were offered in the counties of 

 Sutherland and Caithness, but no awards were made. In 

 1824, a piece of plate, of the value of twenty guineas, was 

 awarded to Lachlan M'Kinnon of Corry, Isle of Skye. 



Sea grass having been imported from the Continent, 

 and used successfully for purposes to which horse hair is in 

 general applied, and as the same or a similar plant is found 

 in different parts of the shores of Scotland, more especially 

 in the West Highlands, where it is commonly called sea 

 grass, mill grass, or milk grass, the Society was induced, in 



1822, to offer a premium of ten guineas to the person who 

 should prepare and sell the greatest quantity, of the best 

 quality, not less than one ton, from ist February 1822 to 

 1st November 1823 ; and five guineas for the second 

 greatest quantity. In 1823, the flrst premium was awarded 

 to John Traill Urquhart of Ellsness, Orkney, and the second 

 to James Baikie of Tankerness, Orkney. In 1824, a first 

 prize was awarded to the said John Traill Urquhart. Mr 

 Urquhart's report on the preparation of this grass was 

 published in the sixth volume of the First Series of the 

 Society's Transactions. 



Besides awarding premiums for the numerous reports 

 on the manufacture of kelp published in the Transactions 

 and referred to under that branch, the Society in 1821 



