348 THE 
AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
[Max 23, 
adapted to a Mountain District, the Newcastle Local 
Committee have offered special prizes under the 27th 
rule of the Prize-sheet, for Sheep of the Black-faced 
Breed; and the North-Tyne and Redesdale Cheviot 
Sheep Show, also special prizes for Sheep of the Cheviot 
Breed, under the same Rule. 
« By a distinct regulation, the Council have made ita 
condition with the exhibitors, that they shall execute 
all orders for Implements given to them in the Show- 
yard, at the price stated in their certificates. 
* The Newcastle Local Committee have undertaken to 
place the land for the trial of Implements under the 
cultivation desired by the Stewards; and are actively 
hope that the Northampton Meeting will prove in every 
respect a most successful and important one. In order to 
ascertain more fully the local feeling on the subject of 
the prizes offered for any particular year, the Couneil 
d thi 
seconded by the Hon. H. W. Wilson, the Report was 
then unanimously adopted by the meeting. 
Colonel Austen, M.P., Chairman of the Finance 
Committee, having read to the Meeting the Auditers’ 
Bal heet and dati and the Balance- 
have, by an alteration in their bye-laws, postp 
na! l of their prize-sheet from June to 
December in the year previous to that of a Country 
Meeting at which such prizes are to be awarded. Ac- 
cordingly the prizes for the Northampton Meeting will 
not be finally settled until the month of December, 1846. 
In the meantime a preliminary prize-sheet for that oc- 
casion is laid before the members at their present 
General Meeting, for the purpose of receiving from 
engaged.in carrying out the various details connect 
with other departments of the trial. 
« The mode adopted last year for the appointment of 
Judges for the Show was found so satisfactory to all 
parties, that the Council have decided again to act upon 
it, They have accordingly requested the members of 
the Society at large to send to the Secretary, or deliver 
personally to the President, at the General May Meeting 
their nomination of persons to act as Judges in any or 
all of the several departments of the Show ; and have 
appointed two Committees,—one for Judges of Stock, 
and the other for Judges of Implements,—to select from 
these nominations, and to report to the Council for con- 
firmation, the names of those gentlemen, who, in their 
opinion, are best qualified to perform those important 
duties. 
* The great amount of actual expences, independently 
of personal charges and loss of time, incurred by the 
exhibitors at the Country Meetings of the Society, has 
frequently engaged the attention of the Council. Last 
year these expences were diminished by the liberality of 
the London and Birmingham, and the Grand Junction 
Railway Companies, who carried implements and stock 
to and from the Society’s Country Meeting, free of any 
charge whatever ; and the Council have this year the 
gratifyi ing to the members of the 
Society, not only a renewal on the part of those two 
companies of the same most liberal concession, but a 
free grant of similar privileges in favour of the Society’s 
exhibitors, made by the Great Western, the South- 
Eastern, and the Newcastle, Shields and Tynemouth 
Railway Companies. Other companies, though not 
granting so entire a freedom of gratuitous transit along 
their respective lines of railway, have made certain 
concessions, under special conditions, which the Council 
have directed to be communicated to the several exhi- 
bitors for their information ; namely, the South-West- 
them such sugg as they may think proper to 
make to the Council. 
«Report AND Essay Prizes.—The Journal Committee 
have reported the several Essays required to be sent 
in for competition by the 1st of March last, to which 
the judges have awarded the Prizes offered by the 
Society ; namely :— 
To Tuomas RówLANDsON, of Liverpool, the Prize of Fifty 
Sovereigns for the best Report on the Farming of North 
Wales. 
o SAMUEL Jonas, of Ickleton, Cambridgeshire. the Prize 
of Fifty Sovereigns for the best Report on the Farming of 
Cambridgeshire. 
To Jonn BnAvENDER, of Cirencester, the Prize of Fifty 
Sovereigns for the best Report on the Advantages or Dis- 
advantages of Breaking up Grass-land. 
To George NicnonLs, of Hyde Park-street, London, the 
Prize of Thirty Sovereigns for the best Essay on the 
Improvement of the Condition of the Agricultural Labourer 
so far as it may be promoted by private exertion without 
legislative enactment. 
To Huan RaxNnip, of Hengrave, Suffolk, the Prizo of 
Twenty Sovereigns for the best Account of Measure-Work, 
locally known as Task, Piece, Job, or Grate work, in its 
application to agricultural labour. à 
To W. ©. Spooner, of Southampton, the Prize of Ten 
Sovereigns for the best account of the use of Superphos- 
phate of Lime produced with acid and bones for manure, 
To T. €. BURROUGHES, O: azeley, Cambridgeshire, the 
Prize of Ten Sovereigns for the best Account of the Culti- 
vation of White Mustard. 
Wm. LINTON, of Sheriff Hutton, Yorkshire, the Prize of 
Ten Sovereigns for a description of the best method of 
Draining Running Sands. " 
* The judges on the 16 Essays on the Keeping of 
Farming Accounts, having reported that none of the 
Essays are worthy of the Prize offered by the Society 
in that class, the Council have appointed a Committee 
to report on the best mode in their opinion in which a 
practical farmer may be enabled in the simplest manner 
to keep the requisite accounts connected with his farm- 
ing establishment, The Council are indebted to the 
kindness of Mr. Joun CLARKE, of Long Sutton, Lincoln- 
T 
ern Railway Company consent to convey stock or 
implements for the Society's show at one-half the usual 
charges each or either way, an arrangement which that 
Company considerately remarks in conveying the grant, 
< willgivetheexhibi ye benefit of thereduction,should 
they sell any of their stock or implements previously to 
returning from the show’ :—the Newcastle and Car- 
lisle Railway Company agree to convey all stock and 
implements, as well as the persons in charge of them, 
at half fares, either going to or returning from the 
Show ; also, in case the Council decide to have any 
ploughing-match, or other exhibition of practical trial, 
a few miles from Newcastle, they are willing to convey 
the ploughs and horses, together with the ploughmen 
and attendants, to and from the place of such exhibition 
free of any charge whatever:—the Newcastle and Darling- 
ton, and the Midland Counties Railway Companies de- 
cline to accept half-fares, but are willing to give a free 
‘back-passag: impl or stock as shall have 
already paid the fall charges in proceeding along their 
respective lines to the Show. 
“ [n order to complete the schedule of information re- 
‘quired by the exhibitors, the Council have directed a 
statement to be drawn out of the various conveyances 
cand rates of charge by sea from every point of embark- 
ation along the eastern coast to Neweastle-upon-Tyne, 
where the authorities have obtained for the Society cer- 
tain reductions in the port dues in favour of exhibitors 
at the meeting. 
* At the date when the Council arranged their’ first 
‘succession of the; rotation of districts for the Country 
Meetings, ending with the South Wales distriet as the 
one intended for the meeting of 1847, they had not as- 
:certained by actual experience the indispensible neces- 
sity of railwa; dati With a | ledge of 
the absence of adequate railway accommodation 
ederation tl 
shire, in having placed at the disposal of the Journal 
Committee his Essay on Grass Lands, commended by 
the judges. 
“The Council bave-adopted the following schedule of 
subjects and amount, of prizes for the Reports and 
Essays of next year, subject to such conditions as 
will hereafter, in due time, be published :— 
On the Farming of Mo v m «+ £50 
i : 50 
m 50. 
a on as 20 
oe .. 20 
20 
10 
On the Manag 
On the Cultivation of Wheat .. re 
On the Culti ion of Mangold Wurzel .. 
On Paring and Burning ne 
I] 
20 
n ax .. D ae oe 
On the Great Level of the Fens, history of the di 
view of its present state, and account of the def 
which still require to be remedied. .. b y? 
For an account of the best Manure for Wheat, compounded 
chemical ingredients, to be tried by Judges ap- 
pointed by the Society .. zin E .. 
For an account of the best Manure for Turnips, com- 
E 
e 
S 
EA 
throughout South Wales, and the that the 
Bristol Meeting of 1842, and the Shrewsbury Meeting 
of 1845 had been held within the reach of the Princi- 
pality, the Council have felt themselves compelled to 
‘abandon their intention of holding the meeting of the 
Society for 1847 in the South Wales district. 
* The Council have decided on the following as the 
districts of the Country Meetings for the ensuing four 
years, aud have resolved that every year a new district 
Shall be added fin’ advance to compensate for the one 
which will annually elapse :— 
1847.—Txnr Souru MipLAND District (comprised of the 
counties of Bedford, Berks, Buckingham, Hertford, Hunting- 
‘don, Oxford, and Warwick). 
.—Tur YorksnirE Disrnicr (comprised of the county 
wf York). P 
$49.—Tue Eastern District (comprised of the counties of 
Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridge). 
1850.—T HE TERN DrsTRICT (comprised of the counties 
Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall) 
of Wi 
“T 
3 all). 
he Council have accepted the invitation of the 
authorities of Northampton to hold the country meeting 
of the Society for 1847 at that town ; and already the 
Mayor and Corporation, under the great seal of the 
borough, have granted to the Society such liberal 
accommodation for the occasion, as to give reason to 
national institution. 
(Sigued) * By order of the Council, 
James Hupson, Secretary." 
The Presipenr took that opportunity of taking a 
review of the proceedings of the Council during the 
ast half-year, and concluded by expressing his confi- 
dent hope that the Society would eventually attain a 
steady amount of 10,000 on its list, and reminding 
them that it was established for the p ion of prac- 
tical agriculture, aided by that science which is gained 
by experience. 
On the motion of Sir Richard Todrell, Bart., 
sheet of the Shrewsbury Meeting, on the motion of 
Viscount Torrington, seconded by E. A. Sanford, Esq., 
the thanks of the meeting were voted to Charles 
Tawney, Esq., C. Hampden Turner, Esq., and Thomas 
Knight, Esq., the auditors of accounts on the part of 
the Society. 
On the motion of Richard Milward, Esq., of Thur- 
garton Priory, seconded by [John Kinder, Esq., the 
thanks of the meeting were voted to the Railway Com- 
anies, for their liberal concessions in favour of the 
Exhibition of the Society. 
On the motion of the Earl of Ducie, seconded by 
Peter ‘Pole, Esq., the best thanks of the Meeting 
were voted by acclamation to the Rt. Hon. Lord Port- 
man, the President, for the invaluable services he had 
rendered to the Society for his unceasing attention to 
its interests. 
The Meeting then broke up. 
ROYAL INSTITUTION. 
May 15.—Lxcrunz, by the Rev. EDWIN Sipyey, On 
the Nature and Habits of certain Minute Fungi at- 
tacking the Agricultwral Produce of this Country. 
After a few preliminary remarks on the growing im- 
portance of a due acquaintance with these minute pests 
of growing plants, by the agriculturist, Mr. Sidney, ex- 
pressed his intention to introduce the particular subjects 
of his lecture by some observations on the general 
characteristics of fungi. They belong to the second 
alliance of the class of thallogens, and live in air. 
Their proper definition is cellular flowerless plants, 
notirished by a thallus called spawn or mycelium, and 
propagated by naked spores or sporidia, enclosed in 
vesicles, The normal mode is an elongation of the 
episporium or protrusion of the inner membrane. 
deviation from this mode will have soon to be noticed. 
Fungi absorb oxygen, and exhale carbonic acid, which 
is similar to the result of animal respiration, They 
assume various forms ; the simplest is that of articu- 
lated filaments, laid end to end like beads in a neck- 
lace, and so called Monilia. Such are all the tribes of. 
Mucor and Mucedo. In a state a degree higher, they 
assume a determinate figure, the centre of whieh con- 
sts of spores attached to cellular tissue, of which the 
most ready example is a common Puffbal. In;the 
Agaries or Mushroom tribe, the form is far more com- 
plete ; they have two surfaces, one not perforated at 
ail, and the other separated into plates or cells, and. 
called the hymenium, where the spores are found on 
little processes mostly in fours. It seems that they 
might fairly be broken up into six different orders, for 
a description of which the audience was referred to 
Lindley’s “Vegetable Kingdom.” Some fungi are 
edible, some poisonous, others medicinal, while a few 
are phosphorescent, giving a brilliant light in certain 
mines. In analogous climates, and where the range o 
the thermometer is the same, fungi are so nearly 
identical, that one might almost draw iso-fungal lines 
on the map of the earth. More observations are wanted 
on the real nature of all the plants called fungi ; and, in 
fact, some diseased leaves which were shown this evening 
appeared to have fungion them, but thematter having this 
appearance wasin one case Erineum,which ismerely adis- 
ease of the superficial tissue ; and in the other it arose 
from, the blisters of acari. Amidst the various specu- 
lations respecting the causes of the development of 
ungi none wears the aspect of genuine truth, except 
that of the almost universal diffusion of their exceed- 
ingly minute sporules. As to their places of growth, 
their usual matrices are composed of organic matter in 
a state of greater or less decomposition. But those of 
the simplest organization are not, it is considered by 
some very high authorities, confined to such conditions, 
but attack plants and even parts of animals in apparent 
health. Indeed, fungal disease may be produced in 
them by inoculation, as in the case of silkworms, by 
the Botrytis bassiana, and in Wheat by the Uredo 
fctida. Some, in the opinion of Mr. Berkeley, one of 
the most eminent observers, are truly terrestrial. "The 
cereal fungi have their mycelium present in healthy 
plants, and when ci b ble are 
developed from it. It may be asked, what is mycelium ł 
It is merely the development of the spores of fungi, or 
of mycelium already produced ; and its appearances 
vary in the different tribes of fungi, being sometimes 
T JD Pt, and T 
g 
vesieular. The curious Rhizomorpha is matter of fungi 
developed in an anomalous condition. Two curious 
specimens were exhibited, one of them taken from the 
woollen round a body in a leaden coffin, out of a vault 
of Roman construction; and it was stated that the 
opinion sometimes given that the hair has grown after 
interment should rather be that a hair-like Rhizomorpha 
has made its appearance. It was proposed this evening 
to explain the most frequent instances of fungi attack- 
ing (1), Cereals; (2), Leguminous plants; (3), the 
Potato ; (4), a few other vegetables grouped together 
for want of time ; (5), to propound certain remedies OF 
palliatives, sett 
1. The Cereals.—The straw is attached by Puccinia 
It appears in brown patches, 
which are masses of spores that have burst the epider- 
