TJic Agricultural I ut crest 



425 



according to the strictest rules of mechanical 

 science, and -vNTOUght by the most skilful 

 artificers ; and even these are now in their 

 turn giving place to a higher class of ma- 

 chiner}^, in which steam is the great moving 

 power. The picturesque and animating sight 

 of a busy group of reapers or haymakers, 

 plying their cheerful task, is becoming every 

 year more rarely witnessed, from the increas- 

 ing number 0/ machines, by me?ais of which the 

 crops are mown, reaped, and gathered ; and 

 unless in some very backward districts, we 

 cannot now " discern the thrasher at his task, 

 sweating o'er his bread before he eats it." No 

 longer " thump after thump resounds the 

 constant flail ;" for its place has been taken 

 by machinery which does the work by a 

 multitudeof thrashers, winnowers, and carriers. 

 The implement department of a Royal 

 show-yard is one of the most astonishing 

 sights that can be witnessed ; more especially 

 when it is taken into account that the in- 

 numerable articles which are there displayed 

 have been called into existence by the re- 

 quirements of that " interest" which some 

 parties are accustomed to speak of in 

 slighting terms as an " interest " of little 

 weight in the country. Nor do those 

 articles, as they are brought under our 

 notice, fully represent the various industrial 

 occupations which have been called into 

 action. The iron manufacture, in its various 

 branches, depends greatly upon the demand 

 for agricultural implements and machinery. 

 Manures and feeding stuffs, as Lord Minto 

 remarked, are brought from distant parts of 

 the world, and give employment to a large 

 fleet of ships and thousands of seamen. The 

 wages of those who are engaged in supplying 

 the wants of agriculturists afford a livelihood 

 to a host of bakers, butchers, grocers, manu- 

 facturers of clothing and other materials; and, 

 in short, " the agricultural interest" is the 

 great wheel which keeps all the other ma- 



chinery of our social system in motion. Just 

 let it get out of order, or stop moving, and 

 what would be the consequence ? Thousands 

 who at present scarcely recognize the benefits 

 they derive from it, would be reduced to 

 starvation from lack of employment. Sup- 

 pose, for a moment, that we went back to 

 the system of agriculture which prevailed 

 only fifty years ago; that the busy workshops 

 of Bedford, Ipswich, Saxmundham, and many 

 other places were shut up, what a blank 

 there would be ! Nine-tenths of the popula- 

 tion would be in the poorhouse, and Ma- 

 caulay's New Zealander might almost find 

 that the time had arrived when he could 

 fulfil his destiny as a moralizer over the ruins 

 of a deserted metropolis. 



Such, however, is not likely to be the fate 

 of " the agricultural interest." The pressure 

 of population against the means of subsistence 

 will continue to stimulate men to exertion, 

 and the advance which has already been 

 gained, great as it is, will prove only a stage 

 in our progress towards still more important 

 results. " The boundaries of agricultural 

 improvement are far from being capable of 

 distinct definition, and may be placed at a 

 distance far more remote than our present 

 knowledge can warrant us to assign. From 

 past experience we have reason to conclude 

 that the field will gradually open as the 

 necessities of man require. Such is the un- 

 deviating system ; and, as this system is not 

 the result of chance, but the appointment of 

 an infinitely intelligent and all-powerful mind, 

 we may rest assured that it will continue to 

 fulfil its high destination to the last. The 

 power of producing additional food, by what- 

 ever means it may be acquired, will undoubt- 

 edly prove co-extensive with the increasing 

 propagation of our species. Both shall have 

 an end — so the divine oracles declare — but 

 they will end together." 



