clxxxix 
Reports of Committees. 
granted upon the usual terms. Fur- 
ther correspondence had been read as 
to a lecture by General Cotton on the 
system of thorough cultivation, as 
originally practised some fifty years 
ago upon the Marquis of Tweeddale’s 
estate at Fester, and the Committee 
had instructed the Secretary to write 
an official letter to the present Lord 
Tweeddale, asking him if he would 
favour the Society with information 
upon the results of the system as pur- 
sued by his predecessor. The Com- 
mittee had considered a suggestion 
that prizes should be offered at the 
Cambridge Meeting for designs for 
labourers’ cottages, but they were of 
opinion that, taken in conjunction 
with the recent article on “ Cottage 
Sanitation ” — since published in 
pamphlet form — the question had 
already been sufficiently dealt with 
at the two previous competitions at 
Manchester in 1869 and Cardiff in 
1872. A paper in a forthcoming 
number of the Journal would contain 
further references to the subject of 
labourers’ cottages (see page C70). 
Directions had been given to the 
Editor with regard to the contents of 
the next number of the Journal, and 
a variety of suggestions for articles 
and notes had been considered. The 
Committee had met nine times and 
made nine reports. 
Chemical. 
Mr. Warren reported that the 
Chemical Committee had had again 
under consideration the question of 
the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs 
Act as it affected the working of the 
Society’s Chemical Department, and 
lie presented their usual quarterly 
report, which, on the motion of Mr. 
Warren, was approved and adopted, 
and ordered to be published in the 
Journal (see page 789). 
The Annual Report of the Consult- 
ing Chemist had been presented, and 
ordered to be published in the next 
number of the Journal (seepage 808). 
Dr. Voelcker had also presented 
statistics of the work done in the 
Laboratory during the past year, 
showing that 1,363 analyses for 
which fees were charged have been 
made, as against 1,211 in 1892, an 
increase of 152 cases, the Committee 
had met eight times, and made eight 
reports. 
Seeds and Plant Diseases. 
Mr, Whitehead (Chairman) re- 
ported, in reference to the inquiry 
into finger-and-toe in turnips, that 
very few replies to the Society's 
circular letter had been received 
since the last report of the Committee, 
and these had not thrown further 
light upon the subject. It was now 
proposed that Dr. Voelcker should 
make a selection from the different 
returns, and obtain samples in repre- 
sentative cases where, side by side, or 
at least on the same farm, soils 
occurred which were affected by 
finger-and-toe simultaneously with 
others which were not affected. 
This would be with a view of ascer- 
taining if there was anything in the 
chemical constituents of the soils 
which would account for the differ- 
ence between them. This investiga- 
tion would go on side by side with 
Mr. Carruthers’ experiments on the 
direct effect of certain chemicals and 
manures upon the growth of seedlings 
in affected soil, and would necessarily 
take some considerable time. It was 
not considered that any more detailed 
account of the nature of the replies 
received than that already reported 
to the Council could with advantage 
be given at this stage, as it would 
merely be an enlargement of the 
general results already recorded, and 
which had added little to the existing 
information . As t he Local Committee 
did not see their way to provide the 
funds for the proposed prizes for 
grain and mustard seed, the Committee 
did not recommend that such prizes 
be offered in connection with the 
Cambridge Meeting. 
With reference to the reported 
appearance of the Hessian tly in 
Norway, the Secretary had submitted 
a report from the Director of Agri- 
culture at Christiania, obtained 
through the courtesy of the Consul- 
General of Sweden and Norway, from 
which it appeared that the insect had 
never been observed in any part of 
the Scandinavian Peninsula previous 
to the last three or four years, when 
it ha4 done damage to the barley on 
some farms at Hole, Ringerike, in 
Norway. The damage done this year 
