xxxiv ' Report to the General Meeting. 
they have concluded a satisfactory arrangement for an experi- 
mental investigation into the relation existing between the com- 
position of the ashes of a plant and the fixed elements essentially 
required to be present in the manure or soil in which it is grown ; 
and the first report, by Professors Way and Ogston, of the Royal 
Agricultural College of Cirencester, will appear in the forth- 
coming part of the Journal. In the communication of informa- 
tion, the Council have not only made every increased exertion, 
at no inconsiderable expense, to facilitate the transmission of the 
Journal to the various Members of the Society, but have enlarged 
the opportunities afforded by Lectures and Discussions for the 
elucidation or illustration of subjects of a practical and scientific 
character. The Lectures of Professor Johnston and Mr. Parkes, 
at Newcastle, and the Discussions to which they gave rise, formed 
a new and most successful feature in the Annual Country Meet- 
ing of the present year, held at that place. 
The Council were so well satisfied with the result of the first 
trial of a discussion on the questions of pi'actical interest and 
personal experience connected with agriculture at Newcastle, 
that they have resolved to make arrangements for a similar op- 
portunity for the interchange of opinion on such topics, under 
similar regulations. 
The Society has this year, in the course of its j)rescribed cir- 
cuit, held its Country Meeting in the district comprised of the 
northern counties of England, and remote from the localities of 
former years ; but they have the satisfaciion of recording, that in 
every point of view the Newcastle Meeting has been a most 
successful one, not only in the fine exhibition of Stock and the 
trial of Implements, but in the opportunity which it has afforded 
the Members of the Society of experiencing the hearty welcome 
and the lively participation of the Farmers of that district in the 
common object of their mutual interest. To Dr. Ileadlam, the 
Mayor, and the members of the Corporation ; to Sir Matthew 
Ridley, the Chairman, and the Members of the Local Com- 
mittee ; and to all the other individuals and public bodies in 
Newcastle and its neighbourhood, who had laid the Society 
