xxviii 
Monthly Council , February 7, 1894. 
nothing had yet been heard as to 
further steps being taken. It would 
appear, from the information given, 
that the Act had had a good effect, 
so far as the purchaser was concerned, 
of insuring that he was provided with 
an invoice. The terms of the invoices 
had not always been in accordance 
with the standard adopted by the 
Society, but had practically been 
invoices satisfying the Act. It was 
abundantly clear, however, that the 
order forms issued by the Society 
were used to a considerable extent, 
and would be still more extensively 
adopted, many requests having been 
made through the office for copies of 
them, and of the revised guide. 
The Committee recommended that 
separate mention of basic slag (with 
a fee for analysis of 10*.) be made 
in the schedule of fees, and that on 
the back of the order form the fol- 
lowing be added 
Basic slag to be guaranteed to contain a 
certain percentage of phosphoric acid [a 
good quality contains 15 to 17 percent, of 
phosphoric acid], and to be sufficiently 
finely ground that 70 to 90 per cent, passes 
through a sieve having 10,000 meshes to the 
square inch. 
Seed and Plant Diseases. 
Mr. Bowen- Jones reported that 
Mr. Whitehead had been elected 
Chairman of the year. The Commit- 
tee had discussed at some length a 
variety of interesting points in con- 
nection with the inquiry into “ Fin- 
ger and Toe ” in turnips, which was 
still proceeding. They were indebted 
to the Duke of Richmond and Gordon 
for valuable information received 
from his Grace’s tenants in Scotland, 
in the form of answers to the Society’s 
Schedule of Questions, and to Mr. 
Wrn. Dawson, of the Duke’s Home 
Farm, Gordon Castle, for an exhaus- 
tive report and observations thereon. 
The information thus obtained would 
be incorporated in the general report 
to be hereafter written for the Jour- 
nal. 
A New Forage Plant. 
Mr. Bowen- Jones said that Lord 
Moreton had asked him to state with 
regard to a new forage plant called 
Polygonum Sakhnlinense, which had 
been brought to the notice of the 
Committee, that he had already 
grown some in his grounds as an 
ornamental plant, and that he was 
willing to extend its cultivation with 
a view to see whether stock would 
eat it. Lord Moreton thought that it 
would be well if other members of the 
Council who had the plant in their 
grounds would do the same. There 
were two other kinds of the plant 
which were not of Such large growth. 
This was the giant variety ; the 
others were smaller. The plant was 
of the same family as buckwheat, and 
it was thought desirable to see if it 
were of any value as a forage plant. 
Veterinary. 
Mr. Dent reported the election of 
Sir John Thorold as Chairman of the 
year, and the addition of Professor 
Axe to the Committee. A letter had 
been read from the Board of Agri- 
culture stating that as the demands 
of the Public Departments for the 
year 1894-5 were exceptionally 
heavy, the Lords of the Treasury 
regretted that they were unable to 
sanction the necessary financial pro- 
vision for the inquiry into the subject 
of abortion in cattle suggested by the 
Council of the Royal Agricultural 
Society. In these circumstances, the 
Committee were of opinion that it 
was desirable that an inquiry into 
this disorder should be undertaken 
by the Society itself, and they 
accordingly recommended that a 
Committee of Inquiry be appointed 
for this purpose, such Committee to 
be empowered to collect evidence 
from stock-breeders and from 
veterinary surgeons, both by the 
issue of circulars of inquiry and by 
the calling of witnesses, and to be 
instructed to report as to the 
advisability of experiments with 
breeding animals being undertaken 
by the Society. In the event of these 
proposals being adopted by the 
Council, the Committee recom- 
mended that the Special Committee 
be constituted as follows : — Sir John 
Thorold, Hon. C. T. Parker, Sir 
Nigel Kingscote, Colonel Curtis-Hay- 
ward, Mr. Garrett Taylor, Professor 
Brown, Professor Axe, Professor 
McFadyean, and Dr. Sims Woodhead, 
with power to add to their number. 
