V88 Tlie End of the Second Series of the Journal. 
reports of the Chemical Committee on cases of impure manures 
and feeding-stuffs, -with the names of the dealers by whom the 
substances analysed had been supplied. Obviously this publica- 
tion involves a certain amount of risk to the Society ; but the 
members at large, and agricultural associations throughout the 
country, have unanimously and heartily approved the course 
pursued by the Council for the general welfare. And if the issue 
of these reports has been thus appreciated by purchasers, it 
cannot be doubted that its effect upon a certain class of manu- 
facturers and dealers has made their publication beneficial 
to the farmer, by restricting the practice of selling inferioi', 
"mixed," and adulterated manures and feeding-stuffs under 
misleading names. 
The admirable series of reports on the farm competitions, 
which commenced in Vol. VI., have conveyed much practical 
information as to the methods of successful farmers all over 
England ; and amongst articles specially referring to particular 
crops may be mentioned that of Earl Cathcart on the Potato 
in Vol. XX., and those by various writers on Flax and its 
cultivation. The reports emanating from Rothamsted on the 
valuation of unexhausted manures (Vols. XI. and XXI.) have 
been accepted as a standard for farm practice, and their results 
have now become the commonplaces of agricultural knowledge. 
The management of grass-land has been frequently dealt 
with in the Journal during the past quarter of a century, Mr. 
H. S. Thompson having in Vol. VIII. written an admirable 
contribution on the subject, which he had jnade altogether his 
own. The article by Mr. Faunce de Laune in Vol. XVIII. 
not only gave an immense impetus to improvement in the 
quality of grass seeds, but also aroused a controversy as to 
the value of ryegrass, Avliich is still a matter of discussion. 
Professor Fream wrote in Vol. XXIV. an account of certain 
experiments conducted by him on the herbage of old grass- 
lands, and Mr. J. A. Caird in the same volume gave some 
recent experiences in laying down land to gi-ass. The work done 
by Mr. Carruthers, as Consulting Botanist, has been largely in 
connection with seeds for permanent or temporary pastures, 
and his periodical reports in the Journal, commencing with his 
appointment in 1871, have indicated a growing appreciation b}' 
farmers of the importance of the purity of seeds. 
The anniial reports of the Society's indefatigable Consulting 
Entomologist, Miss Eleanor Ormerod, have dealt with natural 
lustory questions which are of immediate importance to the 
farmer ; and the timely advice which Miss Ormerod has pub- 
lished in the Journal and elsewhere on such subjects as the 
