April 21. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
35 
than I would hear of their building screw lino-of-battlc- 
, ships for the destruction of each other.” 
Every year, and every research, tends to demonstrate 
the amount of ignorance which yet prevails relative to 
the cause of the Potato Murrain. Wo have, until now, 
entertained the opinion that the unnatural treatment 
the plant and its tubers annually have passed through 
for centuries might have laid the ioundation foi this 
disease. This opinion, however, seems refuted by the 
fact, that other tuberous-rooted species of the same 
genus, recently imported direct from their native places 
on the South American continent, are attacked in 
J Europe by the same disease. The common lotato, 
i most of our readers know, is the Solatium tuberosum; 
! but now, from experiments tried in Germany on the 
! Solatium utile; in the Horticultural Society’s Garden on 
Solatium deinissum, brought thither from Mexico; and 
by M. Decandolle, in France, on Solatium verrucosum, 
also from Mexico, also that their tubers, it is demon- 
j strated, speedily become affected with the murrain. 
I 
.It is very probable that the price of Black, or Grocers 
Currants will be much higher than usual this year, for 
we find that a tenth part of the Vines in Cephalonia 
have been destroyed by disease, and that the growers 
and merchants of the Ionian Islands are uneasy at the 
prospect. A very beautiful coloured drawing of a bunch 
of the Black Currant Grape is in the first volume of the 
second series of the Horticultural Society s Transactions. 
Another Grape which probably has suffered by tho 
visitation is the 1 Vhite Corinth, the stoneless t i nit ot 
which is known in the shops as the Sultana raisin. 
The East India Company have placed a ton in weight 
of seeds of Deodar Cedar at tho command of the Govern¬ 
ment, and it has been calculated that if they all 
vegetate they will produce sixteen millions of seedlings. 
These seeds have been entrusted by the Government to 
Mr. Glendinning, of Chiswick ; Messrs. Lawson, of 
Edinburgh; Mr. Skirving, of Liverpool; and Mr. 
; Waterer, of Knap Hill. This will be a most valuable 
addition to our timber resources, for not only is the 
: Deodar to be admired for its beauty of form, but for 
the durability of its wood. 
! At a meeting of The Rotjal Agricultural Society, on 
1 the 6th instant, among other business the following 
was transacted:— 
Prize Essays. — Mr. Pusey, Chairman of the Journal 
Committee, reported to the Council the following awards 
made hv the judges of essays and reports, competing for the 
prizes, offered by the Society :— 
I. To Sydney Evershed, of Alhury, near Guildford, Surrey : 
the Prize of Twenty Sovereigns for his Essay on the 
improved method of cropping and cultivating Light 
Land, being the best Essay in the class of “ Any other 
Agricultural Subject” for 1852. 
II. To John B. Spearing (Land-surveyor, Engineer, and 
Farmer), of Moulsford, near Wallingford, Berkshire : 
the Prize of Thirty Sovereigns, for the best Essay on 
the relative advantages of Steam or other motive power 
applicable to Agricultural Purposes. 
III. To Thomas Rowlandson, of Brompton, Middlesex: 
the Prize of Fifty Sovereigns, for the best Report on 
the Farmiug of Herefordshire. 
IV. To Henry Evershed, of Albury, near Guildford, 
Surrey: the Prize of Fifty Sovereigns, for the best 
Report on the Farming of Surrey. 
V. To John Jephson Rowley (Land Agent, and Valuer of 
Land and Tillages), of Rowthorne, near Chesterfield, 
Derbyshire : the Prize of Fifty Sovereigns, for the best 
Report on the Farming of Derbyshire. 
VI. To Finlay Dun, jun. (Lecturer on Materia Medica in 
the Edinburgh Veterinary College), of 41, Heriot Row, 
Edinburgh; the Prize of Twenty Sovereigns, for tho 
best Account of those Diseases in the Sheep and the 
Pig, which either are or may become hereditary. 
VII. To the Rev. Thomas Burroughes, of Gazeley, near 
Newmarket; the Prize of Twenty Sovereigns, for his 
Essay on the Bean Turnip Fallow, as the best Essay in 
the class of “Any other agricultural subject” for 1853. 
The Council arranged that Professor Way's first lecture 
should be delivered to the Governors and Members in the 
Council-room of the Society, on Wednesday, the 11th of 
May next; and the second lecture on Wednesday, the 15th 
of June ; to commence in each case at the usual hour of 12. 
Secretary. —On the motion of Mr. Pusey, seconded by 
Mr. Fisher Hobbs, and supported by Mr. Thompson, 
Colonel Challoner, and Lord Chichester, the following reso- 
lution was passed by the Council unanimously:—“That 
on account of the Secretary’s long, faithful, and efficient 
services, his salary be raised by XT00 a-year: and that the 
first payment of the increased salary commence in May ; 
next.” 
Agricultural Statistics. —The President informed the 
Council, that having been summoned by that department of 
her Majesty’s Government forming the Board of Trade, to 
an interview on the subject of Agricultural Statistics, he 
had thought it to be his official duty as President, accom¬ 
panied by the Secretary of the Society, who had been also 
summoned to attend such interview accordingly, for the 
purpose simply of receiving from the Board of Trade, and 
communicating to the Council, any request made to him on 
that important subject, leaving it to the Council to decide, 
whether the Society as a body, or only its members in their 
individual capacity, could consistently with its constitution 
take any distinct measiue in promoting the collection of 
such statistical information. 
The Council agreed that as such measures were not 
simply connected with the improvement of practical agri¬ 
culture, but had a direct bearing on prospective legislation 
in Parliament, the Society could not by the following strin¬ 
gent condition of its charter entertain their discussion or 
promotion:— 
“ And know ye further, that in granting this our Royal 
Charter to the said Royal Agricultural Society of Eng¬ 
land, we do hereby declare it to be our full and entire 
will and pleasure that w r e extend our Royal protection 
to its national objects, under the condition that a prin¬ 
ciple of its constitution shall be the total exclusion of 
all questions at its meetings, or in its proceedings, of a 
political tendency, or having reference to measures 
pending, or to be brought forward, in either of our 
Houses of Parliament; which no resolution, bye-law, 
or other enactment of the said body polity and cor¬ 
porate, shall on any account or pretence whatever be at 
any time allowed to infringe.” 
Country Meeting of 1854.—The Town Clerk of Lincoln 
attended the Council on the part of the Mayor and Cor¬ 
poration of that city, with a memorial and other documents 
connected with the Country Meeting of the Society to be 
held in 1854, at some place within the district comprised of 
the counties of Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, and Rutland. 
The Earl of Yarborough transmitted a memorial on the 
part of the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society, of which his 
lordship is the President, in favour of the city of Lincoln as 
the place of such meeting. 
These documents were referred to an Inspection Com¬ 
mittee, consisting of Mr. Raymond Barker, Mr. Fisher 
Hobbs, Mr. Brandredth Gibbs, and Mr. Milward, with a 
request that they would pay a personal visit to the localities 
