vi 
Report to the General Meeting. 
than Two thousand pounds. On the 1st instant the actual 
balance of the current account at the London and Westminster 
Bank was 1535/. 14s. %d. 
Notwithstanding this pecuniary loss, the Council have reason 
to congratulate the Members of the Society on the result of their 
second Meeting at Oxford. The Entries of Implements, Cattle, 
Sheep, and Pigs, were more numerous than at any previous 
Meeting of the Society, while the quality of the animals ex- 
hibited in most classes reached the highest standard. 
The most distinctive feature of the Oxford Meeting was the 
competition for the Farm-prizes offered by Mr. Mason and the 
Society for the two best-managed farms in the Oxfordshire 
district. The awards of the Judges were made known at the 
General Meeting of Members held in the Show-yard, and on 
their recommendation a third prize was added by the Society. 
The Report of the Competition, with descriptions of the Prize 
and Commended Farms, written by Mr. H. W. Keary, one of the 
Judges, has been published in the last number of the ' Journal.' 
The farming of every district has its strong and its weak points, 
and each season its peculiarities. To point out and record these 
seems a fitting object for the Society's efforts, and must offer 
valuable and instructive lessons to agriculturists generally. The 
Council are endeavouring to promote a continuation of these 
competitions by offering, in conjunction with the landowners of 
Shropshire and Staffordshire, similar prizes for the two best 
managed arable and dairy farms in a district to be hereafter 
determined upon in connection with the Wolverhampton Meeting. 
The Council refer with satisfaction to the two numbers of the 
Society's ' Journal ' published during the current year, which 
contain papers of more than ordinary interest. The Report on 
the Agriculture of Belgium especially calls for particular notice, 
as it is an able description of the rural economy of a country 
whose farming has been so frequently and so loosely described 
by agricultural writers, that a detailed and trustworthy account 
of the daily doings of Belgian farmers is a valuable addition to 
existing knowledge on the subject. It is very creditable to Mr. 
Jenkins that, in the short period which has elapsed since his 
appointment as Editor, he should have made himself sufficiently 
conversant with both the Science and Practice of Agriculture to 
be able to write a report of this high character. 
