viii Report to the General Meeting. 
offered a Champion Prize for the best Shire Stallion in the 
Showjard, and Mr. H. Birkbeck for the best Hackney. The 
Shorthorn Society have also offered two Champion Prizes for 
the best male and the best female Shorthorn to be exhibited in 
the Norwich Showyard. 
Invitations from the Authorities of Darlington and Newcastle 
to hold the Show of 1887 in those localities having been received 
by the Council, they have appointed a Committee of Inspection 
to visit and report upon the sites and other accommodation 
offered by each. 
Thirty-six Silos have been entered to compete for the Prize 
of One Hundred Guineas offered by Sir Massey Lopes, when 
President of the Society, " for the best Silo in England or Wales 
in actual work during the winter of 1885-86;" and eleven 
Stacks have been entered to compete for the Prize of Twenty- 
five Pounds subsequently offered by the Council " for the best 
Ensilage Stack or other system for obtaining Silage without a 
Silo." The Judges appointed by the Council to award these 
Prizes have already made their first tour of inspection. 
In the Chemical Department the analytical work conducted 
for Members of the Society has been nearly as extensive as last 
year, 1587 samples having been received for analysis. 
In the last Report of the Council attention was called to the 
deterioration in quality of Linseed-cakes, owing to increased 
facilities for expressing the oil ; the Consulting Chemist has 
since reported a decided improvement in the purity and richness 
of the Linseed-cakes submitted to him ; but, on the other hand, he 
has pointed out that the same cause which deteriorated Linseed- 
cake applies now almost equally to Decorticated Cotton-cake, 
which is frequently of a very hard and often in<ligestible 
character through inferior manufacture and the application of 
great pressure. 
