lxxxiii 
Wednesday , December 6, 1905. 
2. In persuance of these National 
Objects, the Society has held annually 
since 1839 an Agricultural Show of 
Live Stock and Implements. This Show 
has gradually increased to very large 
dimensions, and its maintenance as a 
comprehensive National Agricultural 
Exhibition taxes severelv all the 
resources of the Society. Equally in 
pursuance of the National Objects 
enumerated in the Charter, are the 
Education and Scientific Branches of 
the Society’s work, which are carried 
on simultaneously with the Show. 
II— Education Branch. 
3. From 1808 to 1905 the Society has 
awarded medals, prizes, life member- 
ships, certificates, scholarships, and 
diplomas upon the results of annual 
examinations, and in the period of 
the thirty-seven years named has 
expended upwards of 12,OOOZ. in direct 
efforts of this kind for the “improve- 
ment of the education of those who 
depend upon the cultivation of the soil 
for their support.” (Clause 7 of Royal 
Charter of 1840.) 
4. At the present time, the Royal 
Agricultural Society of England, in 
partnership with the Highland and 
Agricultural Society of Scotland, holds 
annual examinations in agriculture 
and dairying, awarding to the success- 
ful candidates, respectively, National 
Diplomas in the Science and Practice 
of Agriculture and Dairying. The 
number of candidates entered for these 
National Diploma Examinations has 
increased year by year from twenty 
at the commencement of the Dairying 
Examination in 1896 to sixty-one in 1905, 
and from fifty-three at the commence- 
ment of the Agricultural Examination 
in 1900 to ninety-one in 1905, proving 
that both examinations are supplying 
a definite need and are being increas- 
ingly appreciated by teaching insti- 
tutions and their students. 
5. These examinations provide, indeed, 
the only independent test of the teaching 
given at the Agricultural Colleges and 
Dairy Institutes which are subsidised 
by direct Government Grants admin- 
istered by the Board of Agriculture and 
Fisheries, and by funds at the dis- 
posal of the County Councils. Being 
thoroughly practical in character, the 
diplomas are a guarantee of the fitness 
of those who possess them for appoint- 
ment in various agricultural and 
dairying capacities at home, in the 
Colonies, and abroad. 
6. The examinations are conducted 
by the National Agricultural Examina- 
tion Board, comprised of representatives 
of the two Societies ; and the work 
thus carried on has already received 
the recognition and co-operation of His 
Majesty’s Government by the appoint- 
ment as members of that Board of 
official representatives of the Board of 
Agriculture and Fisheries and the 
Scotch Education Department. 
Ill— Scientific Branches. 
7. The Society conducts an Agricul- 
tural Experimental and Pot-culture 
Station under the direction of its Con- 
sulting Chemist (Dr. J. Augustus 
Yoelcker), and the results of these 
experiments which embrace the trial 
on a field scale and by pot culture of 
different manures, rotations, and crops, 
and also the relative economy of 
different foods in the fattening of 
cattle, sheep, and pigs, are made avail- 
able for all landowners and farmers 
through the columns of the Society’s 
Journal, of which 10,000 copies are 
issued. Fertilisers and feeding stuffs 
are analysed at small fees and farmers 
are periodically warned against par- 
ticular cases of fraud and misrepresen- 
tation. 
8. Dating from the foundation of the 
Society, an Annual Grant has been 
made to the Royal Veterinary College 
for the purpose of securing veterinary 
advice in the treatment of cattle, 
sheep, and pigs, and in aid of the study 
of cattle pathology, as distinguished 
from equine pathology. Under arrange- 
ments made with the College, important 
outbreaks of disease amongst farm 
animals have been investigated in the 
public interest, and original scientific 
researches in comparative pathology 
and bacteriology have been undertaken 
and reported upon in the Society’s 
Journal. 
9. The Society has retained the ser- 
vices of an authority upon agricultural 
botany (Mr. W. Carruthers, F.R.S.), 
whose advice on the laying down and 
renovation of pastures, the choice of 
seeds, the extermination of weeds, and 
the diseases affecting crops and plants, 
has been published in the Journal for 
general information. Much original 
research into the nature of and reme- 
dies for such serious maladies as the 
potato disease, clover sickness, finger- 
and-toe in turnips, &c., has been carried 
out by the Botanical Department, and 
the results have been given to the 
public. Important grass experiments 
in different localities have also been 
undertaken and reported upon. Re- 
searches into the vitality of agricultural 
seeds and the comparative value of 
English and foreign clovers are now 
being carried on under the direction of 
the Consulting Botanist. 
10. A Department of Agricultural 
Zoology has also been maintained. 
The Society’s Zoologist (Mr. Cecil 
Warburton) has furnished information 
and advice respecting quadrupeds, 
birds, insects, parasites, &c., which 
affect the farm or rural economy 
generally. Useful original researches 
have been patiently and laboriously 
carried out by this Department, includ- 
ing investigations into the life-histories 
of serious insect pests such as the black- 
currant gall-mite, which causes “big 
bud,” and of other insects affecting fruit 
and vegetable crops. The informa- 
tion thus obtained has been published 
in the Journal. 
