76 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



raiive merits of which they Lad to adjudicate. lie might liere 

 observe that the gontlemau who sat on his right (Mr. Halkett) 

 had invented a uew steam cultivator, which he was about to bring 

 before the Agricultural Society, and which he was prepared to 

 prove woidd perform the following operations at the following 

 cost :— Plousliing, Is. 7d. per acre ; scarifying, 8d.; harrow- 

 ing and rolling, 5d. ; hoeing, 3d. ; reaping, cutting, and 

 delivering, lOd.; surface water. Is. 2d. ; carriage of manure 

 and ilistributiiig, Id. That was of course when the pre- 

 paratory expenses in laying down the rails, &c., had 

 been defrayed. It would require a good deal of the 

 time and attention of the Council of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society to investigate this matter, and he thought that was an 

 additional reason why the society should be supported by 

 farmers. Mr. Halkett prepared for the work of ploughing by 

 placing rails on the surface of the land ; and he must say 

 that when si many thousands of pounds were spent in pre- 

 paring to launch the " Leviathan," farmers should not grudge 

 a guinea a-year to a society which undertook tlie task of 

 ascertaining the merits of an invention, the object of which 

 was to enable them to perform the operations of the farm in 

 the shortest time and at the least expense (Hear, hear). He 

 trusted that those farmers who had hitherto done nothing for 

 the Royal Agricultural Society beyond drinking success to it 

 would now be induced to come forward with their annual 

 subscription (Hfar, hear). 



The toast having been duly honoured, 



Mr. W. Bennett rose to respond. He said no one 

 could feel more deeply indebted to the Royal Agricultural 

 Society than he did. The society had been established 

 about twenty years, and no one could be ignorant of the 

 great benefit which had been conferred on the country by 

 it.s proceedings. Agriculture had made sucli rapid progress 

 during that period, that it might be said, as was remarked 

 by Sir James Graham a short time ago, to have climbed 

 almost every hill top, to have given fertility to barrenness, 

 and changed the whole face of the country. (Hear, hear.) 

 If a tract (if land were now uncultivated, or not cultivated 

 properly, it was quite an exception to the rule. In liis 

 native county, to which his attention was of course more 

 particularly directed, he had lately taken a review of what 

 had been done in the last forty years ; and he had been 

 exceedingly struck with the extraordinary progress which 

 agriculture had made there. He had no doubt that for 

 this improvement it was in a great degree indebted to the 

 Royal Agricultural Society. It was the fashion to speak 

 contemptuously of the practice of oftering rewards to agri- 

 cultural labourers for superior skill in ploughing ; but, in 

 his opinion, it was a great advantage to the community to 

 encourage emulation among the labourers, in order that what- 

 ever they did might be done in the best possible manner. 

 (Hear, hear.) It was a good maxim that "whatever was 

 worth doing at all was worth doing well," and that maxim 

 was as applicable to the daily operations of the farm as to 

 any^ other branch of labour. (Hear, hear.) He had ob- 

 served that if a labourer contracted a habit of doing things 

 in a slovenly manner early in life, he hardly ever became a 

 good labourer afterwards ; and it was of great importance, 

 therefore, that efforts should be made to excite a spirit of 

 emulation among all who were employed on the farm. 

 The Royal Agricultural Society had in that waj^ been 

 very useful to agriculture; and it was remarkable that 

 in the counties where that society was best supported would 

 almost invariably be found the best farming (Hear, hear). The 

 society had beeu of great service in encouraging the best breeds 

 of animals — those breeds which it would pay best to rear and 

 to fatten. It had also done much to improve agricultural ma- 

 chinery. It was indeed astonishing what had been do^e iu 

 that department within the last fifteen or twenty years, and 

 he fully expected that still greater results would follow if the 

 society were supported iu a proper manner. No man could 

 predict what would yet be done by means of steam (Hear, 

 hear) ; but he must say that he thought Mr. Webster was 

 rather pulling the long bow when he spoke with such confi- 

 dence of the ploughing of laud at Is. 7d. per acre (lauf^hter). 

 It reminded him of something that was said to him on an oc- 

 casion when he was about to give evidence in reference to some 

 agricultural topic. A noble lord who had been at the bar ad- 

 vised him beforehand to be careful not to put the matter too 

 strongly, observing that when he was at the bar he never felt 



so sure of losing hi^ cause as when his witnesses were ready 

 to swear anything (laughter). He (Mr. Eeuiiett) had always 

 remembered that caution iu similar cases. It was an import- 

 ant maxim that men never did themselves so much injury as 

 when they put their case so strongly that no one believed it 

 (laughter). He hoped he should not be misunderstood. He 

 admitted that no one could fix a limit to the extent to which 

 steam might be applied to the cultivation of the soil ; but still 

 he would recommend his friend, Mr. Webster, not to put the 

 case of Mr. Halkett again quite so strongly as he had done 

 (Hear, hear). Before sitting down he had to propose a toast, 

 which he was sure would be well received by all present ; it 

 was " Success to the Smithfield Club " That society was the 

 handmaid of the Royal Agricultural Society, and its operations 

 had beer, exceedingly useful. Tliey all knew that it had, like 

 many other institutions, been a good deal abused. It had been 

 said, for example, that the Smithfield Club encouraged the 

 feediig of animals to such a pitch that no one could eat them. 

 It might happen that a fashionable and delicate young lady 

 would sometimes find on her plate a piece of beef that was too 

 fat for her, and might turn up her nose at it ; but it did not 

 follow that good tat beef was not a good thing for the com- 

 munity at laige. Moreover, it had to be borne in mind that 

 the great object of the Smithfield Club was to dcteimine the 

 question what kinds of animals it would pay best to rear and 

 fdtten for the market. He believed that that club had within 

 t! e Idit fifiy years conferred immense benefit on this couLtry. 

 Why was it that England stood before all the rest of the world 

 as regarded the quality of its animals ? Why was it that, as 

 regarded the growing and fattening of animals, no other coun- 

 try came near our own ? It was because practical, business- 

 like men had devoted their attention to the subject for a great 

 number of years, and offered rewards for the beat animals that 

 were brought to London. Let the Times or any other great 

 leviathan of the press say what it would on this subject, they 

 must still strive to go ahead, they mutt still endeavour to im- 

 prove the breed of stock, and he was confident that they would 

 thus effectually promote both their own interest and that of 

 the community at large. He would now propose " Success to 

 the Smithfield Club !" 



Mr. C. Stokes said, as an old member of the Smith- 

 field Club, he felt great pleasure iu rising to return 

 thanks. Thirty years ago, he remembered when the Luke 

 of Bedford withdrew his premium, this club was very near 

 being broken up. Had it not been for a few spirited 

 farmers at that time, it must certainly have become extinct ; 

 and he might leave it to any one who had that day visited 

 the noble exhibition m Baker-street to say how great a loss 

 that would have been. (Hear, hear.) No one could look at 

 the Devons, the Herefords, and some of the Shorthorns; or ex- 

 amine the Lcng-woolled sheep, tl e Leicester?, and the South- 

 downs, without being gratified at the great improvemtnt 

 which had taken place within the last few years. It should be 

 remembered that the Smithfield Club had been a pioi.eer to 

 all the other societies having similar objects, and that but for 

 it the various local associations would, probably, never have 

 existed. (Hear, hear.) Its influence had been felt not only in 

 this country, but even in France, where there had beeu periodi- 

 cal exhibitions of stock for the last five or six years. More- 

 over, the Smithfield Club might claim the honour of having 

 produced the Royal Agricultural Society. Lord Spencer and 

 the Duke of Richmond mentioned their intention cf forming 

 the Royal Agricultural Society to the members of ilie Smith- 

 field Club, and Lord Spencer afterwards declared (hat it was 

 the cheers with which the British farmers received the propo- 

 sal, that encouraged them to proceed. No club iu the king- 

 dom, he believed, now rested on a surer foundation than the 

 Smithfield Club. Their funds were in a most flourishing 

 state. They had plenty of money to give away, and plenty of 

 money to put by (cheers). 



Mr. WiLMOT said he had been called upon to propose the 

 next toast, which was " The Committee of Management." He 

 thought the best thing that he could do, in propo.-ing that 

 toast, was to refer to the report just issued, which showed aa 

 increasing number of subscribers, and an increas<; of the funds 

 (cheers). If that state of things continued, the cub must go 

 on and prosper. He begged to couple with the toast the name 

 of Mr. Wood, of Ockley. 



Mr. "Wood, in replying on behalf of the Committee 

 congratulated the a.ssembly on the fact stated in the repoit 



