226  Report  to  the  Anniversary  General  Meeting^ 
Full  details  of  the  daily  arrangements  will  appear  in  the 
Programme,  which  will  be  sent  to  each  Member  with  his 
Admission  Ticket  before  the  middle  of  June.  Arrangements 
have  been  made  for  the  holding  of  Auction  Sales  of  Horses, 
Cattle,  Sheep  and  Pigs  during  the  Show,  and  the  sales  have 
been  fixed  for  Thursday,  June  23. 
11.  A considerable  falling  off  has  been  experienced  in  the 
number  of  samples  sent  to  the  Society’s  Laboratorj^  for 
analysis  during  the  past  five  months,  the  total  being  240  as 
against  381  in  1903  over  a similar  period.  At  the  same  time, 
several  cases  have  been  brought  to  light  showing  the  need  of 
continued  vigilance  in  regard  to  the  examination  of  fertilisers 
and  feeding  stuffs  used  on  the  farm,  and  it  is  to  be  regretted 
that  the  Members  of  the  Society  do  not  more  generally  make 
use  of  the  safeguards  provided  by  reference  to  the  Chemical 
Department. 
12.  Feeding  experiments  were  carried  out  during  the 
winter  at  the  Woburn  Experimental  Farm.  Those  with 
bullocks  were  upon  the  relative  efficiency  of  linseed  cake 
high  in  oil  and  of  linseed  cake  low  in  oil  ; while  the 
experiments  with  sheep  turned  upon  the  respective  values 
of  Egyptian  and  of  Bombay  cotton  cake.  In  the  Field 
Experiments,  further  trials  with  Canadian  varieties  of  wheat 
have  been  begun.  The  Hills  Experiments  have  been  advanced 
a further  stage  at  the  Pot-culture  Station,  the  influence  of 
manganese  salts  being  the  subject  of  present  investigation. 
Other  points  relating  to  sourness  of  land  and  to  the  influence 
of  green-manuring  are  also  being  dealt  with. 
13.  Since  the  beginning  of  the  year,  156  inquiries  have 
been  dealt  with  in  the  Botanical  Department.  Considerable 
difficulty  has  been  experienced  in  obtaining  seed  of  I’ed 
clover  free  from  dodder.  A large  proportion  of  this  seed 
has  had  to  be  imported,  and  is  being  sold  without  being 
efficiently  cleaned.  Several  injuries  to  plants  have  been 
investigated,  the  more  serious  being  an  attack  on  lime  trees 
in  HaTnpshire  by  a parasitic  fungus,  and  the  appearance  of 
an  obscure  fungus  disease  on  potato  tubers  in  Yorkshire. 
14.  The  applications  received  by  the  Zoologist  during 
the  winter  referred  for  the  most  part  to  insects  infesting 
stored  grain  and  other  products,  while  in  other  cases  advice 
was  asked  in  anticipation  of  the  attack  of  fruit-tree  and 
various  other  pests.  The  disease  of  “ big-bud  ” in  black 
currants  has  been  a frequent  subject  of  inquiry,  but  no 
Member  of  the  Society  has  recently  asked  for  an  inspection 
of  his  plants  in  the  belief  that  they  are  free  from  the  mite, 
and  further  information  as  to  areas  where  the  pest  has  not 
yet  penetrated  is  greatly  needed.  Since  the  commencement  of 
