vi 
Report to the General Meeting. 
Dr. Voelcker, who had been the Consulting Chemist and Direc- 
tor of the Laboratory of the Society for more than a quarter 
of a century. It is largely owing to the confidence which agri- 
culturists of all classes have reposed in his skill, knowledge, 
and judgment for so many years that the Chemical Department 
of the Society has acquired its present development and its high 
state of efficiency. 
At the General Meeting in May, Sir H. Hussey Vivian, 
Bart., M.P., and Mr. Henry Chaplin, M.P., were elected Mem- 
bers of the Council to fill vacancies caused by the resignation of 
Col. Picton Turbervill and Sir R. Loyd Lindsay. Since 
then, the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. George Turner, 
of Isca, Pennsylvania, Exeter, has been filled by the election 
of Mr. T. H. Miller, of Singleton, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lanca- 
shire ; and a more recent vacancy, caused by the resignation of 
Mr. Jabez Turner, of Horsington, Horncastle, Lincolnshire, is 
under the consideration of the Council. 
The half-yearly statement of accounts to the 30th June last 
has been examined and certified by the auditors and accountants 
of the Society, and has been published in the * Journal ' for the 
information of the Members. The funded capital of the Society 
remains the same as at the Annual Meeting in May, namely, 
25,880Z. 4s. 4c?. New Three per Cents, as the Finance Com- 
mittee did not deem it expedient to adopt the Government 
scheme of conversion into Two-and-a-half or Two-and-three 
quarter per cents. The balance of the current account in the 
hands of the Society's Bankers on the 1st instant was 
2421/. 7s. 5(?., and 3500Z. remained on deposit. The Council 
have ordered that the Society's funded capital should be in- 
creased by the investment of 4000/. in the New Three per 
Cents. 
The Shrewsbury Meeting was remarkably successful in every 
way, and, notwithstanding the expense of the very satisfactory 
Trials of Sheaf-binders, it has resulted in an addition of about 
1500/. to the Society's funds. The Report on the Show of Live 
