xlii Report to the General Meeting. 
the current account in the hands of the Society's bankers, on the 
1st instant, was 2806Z. Is. Id., and 2000Z. remained on deposit. 
The Carlisle Meeting will commence on Monday, July 12th, 
and close on Friday, July 16th. Prizes have been offered by 
the Society and by the Carlisle Local Committee for the chief 
breeds of Cattle and Sheep, which are distinctive of the Border 
Counties and of Scotland, in addition to the classes which are 
ordinarily included in the Prize-sheets. The Council hope that 
interest on both sides of the Border will thus be aroused, and 
aid in bringing the Society's second Meeting at Carlisle to a 
successful issue. 
In consequence of the great interest manifested in the Exhi- 
bition of Dairy Machinery at work in the Kilburn Showyard, 
the Council have arranged with the Aylesbury Dairy Company 
to exhibit the chief kinds of Butter-making Utensils at Carlisle, 
and to make Butter in the Showyard on the several systems 
which prevail in different districts of England, on the Continent 
of Europe, and in America. 
The district assigned for the Country Meeting of 1881 com- 
prises the counties of Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Northampton, 
Nottingham, and Rutland ; and the Council have decided to 
accept a most cordial invitation, which they have received from 
the Mayor and Corporation of Derby, to hold the Country 
Meeting of 1881 in that locality. 
The Country Meeting for 1882 will be held in the district 
which comprises Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Somerset- 
shire, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Sussex, and 
Kent, in accordance with the scheme of rotation which is at 
present followed. 
The result of the first year's work in the new Laboratory 
has been highly satisfactory to the Council. The number of 
analyses has increased from about 700 to 1200, and while the 
charge on the funds of the Society has remained practically the 
same as in former years, the cost of each analysis to Members of 
the Society has been reduced to half the previous rates. 
The question of the comparative manurial value of soluble 
and insoluble phosphates has recently attracted much attention 
and given rise to considerable discussion. The Council, there- 
fore, requested Dr. Voelcker to write a short statement of the 
present condition of our knowledge of the subject for the infor- 
