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lESSajlS nnb <KcportS — prizes for 1856.— A11 Prizes of the 
Royal Agricultural Society of England are open to general com- 
petition. Competitors will be expected to consider and discuss the 
heads enumerated. 
I. FARMINa of' BEDFORDSHIRE. 
Fifty Sovereigns will be given, by the Society, for tlie best 
Report on the Farming of Bedfordshire. 
1. Physical characteristics of the county ; climate, surface, rivers ; geolo- 
gical subdivisions and peculiarities, noting diflcrences, if any, of 
farm-j^ractice traceable thereto. 
2. Agi-icultural divisions ; proportion of meadow, pasture, and arable ; 
peat Jand ; ordinary course of cropping on light and on heavy 
soils ; treatment of clays ; drainage ; irrigation ; dairy practice ; 
farms of particular note ; markets ; population. 
3. Notice of former agricultural reports of the county ; improvements 
since Bachelor's survey ; further changes needed. 
II. KEEPING QUALITIES OF TURNIPS. 
Twenty Sovereigns will be given for the best Essay on the pro- 
duction of Turnips possessing good keeping qualities, and 
their preservation to a late period of the season. 
1. Kinds best adapted for storing. 
2. Keeping qualities ; how far aficcted by nature of soil ; by early or lato 
solving ; by heavy dressings ; by special kinds of tillage ; by the 
character of the season. 
3. Drawing, and storing. 
III. SPRING-FEED CROPS. 
Ten Sovereigns will be given for the best Essay on Spring-feed 
Crops, with special reference to early growth. 
IV. DEEPENING THE STAPLE SOIL. 
Twenty Sovereigns will be given for the best Essay on the 
different mechanical modes of Deepening the Staple soil, in 
order to give it the full benefit of atmospheric influence. 
1. Deep-ploughing, comparative effect of, at springtime and autumn. 
2. Subsoiling, especially upon lands recently drained. 
3. Trench-ploughing ; foi-king, digging, &c. 
4. Is pulverization sufficient without inversion of the soil ? 
V. ATMOSPHERIC ACTION ON NEWLT-DEEPENED SOIL. 
Forty Sovereigns will be given for the best Essay on the 
Chemical Results superinduced in Newly-deepened Soil by 
Atmospheric Action, 
1. Effect of frost and alternations of temperature. 
2. Of rain and of its passage through newly-exiiosed virgin soil. 
