Thursday, May 22, 1902. 237 submitted by Members for analysis. During the five months. -December 1, 1901, to April 30, 1902-434 samples have been sent, as against 353 for the corresponding period of last year and 314 for 1900. Evidence has been given from the Chemical Committee before the Poisons Committee of the Privy Council with regard to the sale of agricultural and horticultural articles containing poison. 12. At the Woburn Experimental Farm, Feeding Experiments have been conducted during the past winter-(1) with bullocks, on the use of purchased foods, such as cake and maize, as against that of home-grown produce (beans, oats, &c.); (2) with sheep, on a full allowance of roots, as against a limited diet of roots. The Field Experiments have been continued, and are making satisfactory progress, as also are the experiments at the Pot-culture Station. 13. During the last six months the Consulting Botanist has attended to 108 inquiries from Members of the Society. Of these, 67 dealt with the purity and germination of seeds, and 8 with the kinds of seeds and the quantities of each which should be used in laying down land to permanent pasture. The most serious injury to crops noted during the winter is the more or less complete destruction in widely separated localities of Red Clover from the attacks of the parasitic fungus, Sclerotinia Trifoliorum. Further work has been done in regard to the eradication of Weeds, and an experiment is now in progress, on a field scale, on land in Hertfordshire, with a view to getting rid of the troublesome pest, "wild onion." 14. During the last six months no insect attack of general importance has been reported, but the advice of the Zoologist has been asked with regard to many of the pests which annually recur during this season. The Black-Currant Gallmite has been kept under observation, and the conclusions arrived at last year with regard to its life-history have so far been confirmed; but the fly whose grub was noticed feeding upon the mites in most of the infested buds has not yet been obtained and identified. 15. In view of the fact that no outbreak of Foot-andMouth Disease had occurred since April 11, 1901, the Council, at their meeting of December 11, 1901, passed a resolution drawing the attention of the Board of Agriculture to this fact, and expressing the hope that His Majesty's Government might be able to see their way to officially declare this country free from the disease. On December 18, 1901, the Board of Agriculture issued an official notice of the kind suggested, stating that the Board had every reason to believe that Foot and-Mouth Disease did not then exist in the United Kingdom. The effect has been to secure the re-opening of the Argentine Republic to British breeders of pedigree live stock. It is a matter for regret that an outbreak of the disease was detected near Canterbury in the last week of March, 1902; but fortunately the measures enforced by the Board of Agriculture appear to have been successful in preventing the spread of the infection beyond the farm in which the disease was first detected. During the past six months outbreaks of Anthrax have been unusually numerous, and Glanders has maintained the high rate of prevalence which it acquired in the first half of 1901. After an interval of ten months Rabies has reappeared in Wales, and nine cases have been detected since the beginning of the year. The outbreaks of Swine Fever reported since the beginning of the year indicate that there has been an important decline in the prevalence of that disease. 16. The number of morbid specimens forwarded during the past half-year to the Department of Comparative Pathology and Bacteriology, established at the Royal Veterinary College by the aid of the annual grant of 500l. from the Society, was 265. Reference was made in the Report of the Council last December to experiments conducted at the Royal Veterinary College, under the supervision of a Sub-Committee of the Council, as to the possibility of infecting bovine animals with tuberculous material from the human subject. These experiments-which have now been brought to a termination—were carried out on a cow, two young calves, and two yearlings. In the case of the cow the tuberculous material was injected into the udder, in the calves it was given by the mouth, and in the yearlings it was injected into the veins. The experiments prove the possibility of infecting cattle with human tubercle bacilli, for at least in the case of the cow the human bacilli had multiplied in the body, and had induced a manifestly diseased condition. In the other cases also, reactions to tuberculin after the attempt to infect with human bacilli would appear to indicate that infection had actually taken place. On the other hand, the absence of distinct evidence of tuberculous disease when the animals were killed would indicate that infection was of a temporary nature. It ought to be noted, however, that in the case of the cow the recovery was not complete six months after infection. Taking all the facts into account, the experiments indicate that the risk of cattle becoming affected naturally from comsumptive human beings must be very slight. The Sub-Committee do not feel justified in drawing from the results of the experiments any conclusion as to the risk of infection in the opposite direction-viz., from cattle to man. Thursday, May 22, 1902. 239 17. The Third Annual Examination for the National Diploma in Agriculture was, by the courtesy of the authorities of the Yorkshire College at Leeds, held in the Great Hall of that College in the week commencing the 5th instant. The Examination for this Diploma is conducted by a joint Board, composed of representatives of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland and of this Society; and it has to be taken by the candidates in two Parts. For Part I. of the Examination 52 candidates entered this year, 11 being students who had previously failed in passing Part I. As the result of the Examination, 26 candidates (including five who failed previously) succeeded in passing in Part I.; 25 failed, and one was absent. In 1901, 20 candidates passed in Part I. only, becoming, therefore, entitled to sit for Part II. this year; and sixteen of these candidates presented themselves at the recent Examination. Ten candidates succeeded in passing Part II., and are therefore entitled to receive the National Diploma in Agriculture. Their names (in order of merit) are :— 1. PATRICK FOWLIE, The Agricultural College, Aspatria. 2. THOMAS MILBURN, Harris Institute, Preston. 3. WILLIAM MAITLAND FINDLAY, Agricultural Department, The University, Aberdeen. 4. JOHN PERCIVAL, Harris Institute, Preston. 5. EDWARD PORTER, West of Scotland Agricultural College, Glasgow. 6. JOHN EDWIN RIGG, Harris Institute, Preston. 7. ABEL EDWIN JONES, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. 8. JAMES BRADSHAW, West of Scotland Agricultural College, Glasgow. 9. JOHN FORREST, Harris Institute, Preston. 10. GEOFFREY STEELE HENDERSON, West of Scotland Agricultural College, Glasgow. 18. The Annual Examinations in the autumn for the National Diploma in the Science and Practice of Dairying will be held as before at the Reading College and British Dairy Institute (for English candidates) from September 22 to 25 next, and at the Scottish Dairy Institute, Kilmarnock (for Scottish candidates), from September 29 to October 2. The entries for both these Examinations will close on September 1, 1902. By Order of the Council, ERNEST CLARKE, 13 Hanover Square, London, W. Secretary. 240 REPORT OF THE COUNCIL TO THE HALF-YEARLY GENERAL MEETING OF GOVERNORS HELD AT THE SOCIETY'S HOUSE, ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1902. VISCOUNT RIDLEY (Trustee), in the Chair. THE Council have to report that during the half-year which has elapsed since the Anniversary General Meeting in May last 3 new Governors and 94 new Members have joined the Society, and 9 Members have been reinstated under Bye-law 12; whilst the deaths of 2 Life Governors, 2 Annual Governors, 68 Life Members, and 50 Annual Members have been reported. A total of 6 Members have been struck off the books under Bye-law 10, owing to absence of addresses; and 171 have resigned. 2. Since the General Meeting in May last, the Society has had to deplore the deaths amongst others of the following Governors and Members:-Lord Braybrooke; Lord Cranworth; the Hon. R. C. Herbert; Sir H. St. John Mildmay, Bart.; Sir J. H. Greville Smyth, Bart.; Mr. John Bellamy; Mr. H. ChandosPole-Gell; Major Francis Dashwood (a Member since 1845); Mr. J. R. Eve; Mr. H. Panmure Gordon; Mr. Thomas Hardcastle; Mr. W. A. Hope; Col. H. L. B. McCalmont, C.B., M.P.; Mr. Marshall Stephenson; Dr. George Thoms, of Riga; and Mr. John Unite. 3. Mr. H. Chandos-Pole-Gell, whose death is recorded in the preceding paragraph, had been a Member of the Council since 1874, and a Vice-President since 1891. He had been an Thursday, December 11, 1902. 241 active worker for the Society, and was Chairman of the Stock Prizes Committee from 1879 to 1886. To fill the vacancy thus caused, Mr. G. H. Sanday, of Highfield, Uxbridge, has been elected a Vice-President of the Society. 4. The total number of Governors and Members now on the Register is 9,457, divided as follows: 7 Foundation Life Governors (Members elected before the granting of the Charter on March 26, 1840); 65 Governors paying an annual subscription of 57.; 95 Life Governors; 5,810 Members paying an annual subscription of 17.; 3,338 Life Members; 114 Life Members by Examination; 28 Honorary Members; 9,457 Total number of Governors and Members, as against a total of 9,650 Members on the Register on May 7, 1902, as reported to the Anniversary General Meeting on May 22 last. 5. H.H. the Maharaja of Kolhapur, who was present this year at the Carlisle Show, has been elected an Honorary Member of the Society, in recognition of the interest which His Highness has invariably displayed in British agriculture since his election as a Governor in 1889. The Council have also elected as an Honorary Member Señor Don Ezequiel Ramos-Mexia, President of the Sociedad Rural Argentina, Buenos Aires. 6. The Society's Sixty-third Annual Meeting was held at Carlisle, from July 5 to 11, 1902, under the Presidency of H.R.H. Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, K.G. There was an excellent exhibition of implements and live stock, the breeds indigenous to the North of England and South of Scotland being particularly well represented. Unfortunately, the extremely unfavourable weather detracted from the success of the Show; and the number of paying visitors only reached 93,187. The receipts and expenditure of the Meeting have been submitted to and examined by the Society's Accountants and by the Auditors appointed by the Members, and show an actual loss to the Society of 2,8981. 8s. 5d. 7. Considerable progress has been made with the preparations for the Show of 1903, which will be held on the Society's new Permanent Showyard in London, between Willesden and Ealing. The Council have fixed the date of the Show for the usual period of the week after Ascot, and have decided that all departments shall open on Tuesday, June 23, and close on June 27, 1903. VOL. 63. R |