Ixxx 
Monthly  Council,  December  7,  1904. 
of  his  yearly  contribution  by  100/., 
viz.,  from  .500/.  to  600/.  per  annum, 
the  Committee  recommended  that  the 
best  thanks  of  the  Council  be  conveyed 
to  his  Grace  for  his  generosity  in 
thi.s  matter.  A resolution  had  been 
received  from  the  Leicestershire 
Chamber  of  Agriculture  (whose  Mem- 
bers had  visited  the  Farm  and  Pot- 
culture  Station  during  the  past  season) 
expressing  high  appreciation  of  the 
value  of  the  work  carried  on  at  the 
farm,  and  their  hope  that  it  would  be 
continued  in  future. 
Mr.  Bowbn-Jones,  in  moving  the 
adoption  of  this  Report,  said  that  it 
was  proposed  to  7'educe  the  cost  of  the 
Chemical  Department  by  130/.  per 
annum  at  the  present  moment,  and  by 
a further  sum  of  50/.  a year  when  the 
capital  cost  of  the  Pot-culture  Station 
had  been  written  off.  Dr.  Voelcker 
had  agreed  to  a reduction  in  his  salary, 
and,  in  addition,  to  reduce  consider- 
ably the  fees  hitherto  charged  to 
Members  for  chemical  analyses.  He 
now  moved  that  the  reduced  scale  of 
fees  be  adopted.  It  was  hoped  that 
the  reduction  in  fees  would  increase 
the  number  of  samples  sent  for 
analysis  to  their  Consulting  Chemist. 
But  whether  this  would  be  so  or  not, 
he  believed  that  Members  of  the 
Society  would  take  advantage  of 
Dr.  Voelcker's  expert  knowledge  and 
still  continue  to  send  their  samples  to 
him,  in  preference  to  going  to  the 
public  analysts  employed  by  the 
County  Councils.  Perhaps  hitherto 
the  fees  charged  might  have  deterred 
some  from  doing  this,  but  the  new  fees 
were  nearly  as  low  as  those  of  the 
county  authorities,  who  allowed  the 
analyses  to  be  made  at  low  fees  at  a 
very  considerable  cost,  the  money  for 
which  had  to  come  out  of  public  funds. 
He  could  not  sit  down  without  allud- 
ing to  the  munificent  donation  which 
the  Duke  of  Bedford  had  so  generously 
and  ])romptly  made  to  the  Society. 
His  Grace  had  replaced  the  dei)leted 
capital  for  conducting  the  Woburn 
Experimental  Farm,  and  had  promised 
to  increase  his  present  annual  grant 
from  500/.  to  600/.  He  suggested 
that  a special  letter  of  thanks,  to  be 
signed  by  the  President,  should  be 
sent  to  the  Duke  of  Bedford.  He 
(Mr.  Bowen-Jones)  desired  to  point 
out,  in  connection  with  the  work  of 
the  Chemical  Department  since  the 
Woburn  Farm  began  nearly  thirty 
yeai-s  ago,  that  half  the  cost  of  the 
Chemical  Department  of  the  Society 
had  been  borne  by  succe.ssive  Dukes 
of  Bedford,  and  he  thought  it  would 
be  a monstrous  thing  to  contemplate 
the  abanilonment  of  that  branch  of 
the  work  of  the  Society.  He  should 
further  like  to  point  out  that  the  cost 
of  the  Chemical  Department  to  the 
Members  was  a little  over  1«.  6rf.  per 
head,  and  he  did  not  think  that  that 
would  be  considered  too  large  an 
amount  to  contribute  to  a branch  of 
science  which  was  of  such  importance 
to  the  agriculturists  of  this  country. 
Botanical  and  Zoological. 
Mr.  Wheeler  (Chairman)  reported 
that  the  Annual  Reports  for  1905  of 
the  Consulting  Botanist  and  Zoologist 
had  been  passed  for  publication  in 
the  Journal  (see  ]>p.  258  and  273). 
Other  matters  relating  to  grass  experi- 
ments and  experiments  on  the  eradi- 
cation of  wiki  onions  had  been  dealt 
with. 
Veterinary. 
The  Hon.  Cecil  Parker  (Chair- 
man) presented  the  Committee’s 
recommendation  for  the  continuance 
for  1905  of  the  allowance  of  200/. 
per  annum  to  the  Royal  Veterinary 
College  in  consideration  of  the  veterin- 
ary privileges  granted  to  Governors 
and  Members  of  the  Society'. 
Stock  Prizes. 
Mr.  Sanday  (Chairman)  reported 
that  offers  of  prizes  by  Breed  Societies 
had  been  provisionally  accepted,  sub- 
ject to  the  Show  of  1905  being  held. 
Suggestions  by  Lord  Rothschild  as  to 
Milking  Prizes  had  been  laid  before 
the  Committee,  and  they  recommended 
that  such  suggestions  be  accepted  in 
principle,  subject  to  the  settlement  of 
details. 
Implement. 
Mr.  Frankish  (Chairman)  reported 
the  receiiit  of  a notification  as  to  the 
holding  of  an  International  Congress 
of  Agricultural  Machinery  in  con- 
nection with  the  Liege  Exhibition  of 
1905. 
Showyard  Works. 
Mr.  Crutchley  (Chairman)  re- 
jiorted  that  various  m'Stters  had  been 
