S2 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



pose. Mr Acland concluded by proposing " The Visitors," 

 and coupled with the toast the name of Mr. Olcott from the 

 United States. 



Mr. Olcott, on risintf, was greeted with an expression of 

 hearty welcome. lie said that it gave him the highest grati- 

 fication, as a member of the United States Agricultural So- 

 ciety, to receive the polite courtesy which had been extended 

 to it in his person ; and as a representative of that young and 

 vigorous nation which had sprung from our own loins, and 

 was by ten thousand bonds linked to us, he returned thanks 

 for the expressions of interest in her welfare, lie was both 

 surprised and gratified to find that an agricultural meeting in 

 England was so similar to one in his own country, for it 

 evinced the progress they had made towards an imitation of 

 our own excellence. And further, he saw that at an agricul- 

 tural banquet we, like they, seemed animated by a de- 

 sire to bury all controversies and sectional jealousies, and 

 unite in praise of the most majestic of national interests. 

 You have read, gentlemen, of the strife between the slave- 

 holdiof;^ and non-slaveholdiug interests, and of the opposing 

 factions at the North and the South. But need I tell you 

 that when the representatives of those parties meet at the 

 table of a society such as thi», peace and fraternal courtesies 

 banish all harsh feelintrs ; and that with one accord, and like 

 loving children of <a common parent, they seek only to say, 

 as eloqiiently and as earnestly as they e^u, how important is 

 the labour of the husbanda-.an. The peculiar necessities of each 

 nation tend to develope certain branches of industry to a very 

 unequal extent, and kence the show-yard of an American 

 Agricultural Society presents a certain dissimilarity in appear- 

 ance from one in Great Britain. At an American meeting we 

 have a larger variety of labour-saving machinery, but not so 

 many stationary engines. Ilorae power is still, to a great 

 extent, applied to the working of thrashing machines, sawing 

 wood, grindinsr, and suchlike occupations. Still, steam is being 

 slowly but surely employed for all these purposes, and a large 

 number of very excellent portable engines are being annually 

 brought into use. The scarcity of labour, as compared with 

 an almost boundless territory of 3,000,000 of square miles, 

 compels us to the production of machinery jind implements 

 for performing every detail of agricultural labour. Take, 

 for instance, the Indian Corn or Alaize crop, which, 

 strange as it may seem to such of you as are not 

 familiar with the actual statistics, is four times 

 as valuable in the aggregate as the cotton, which is boastiiigly 

 said " is king." The vast area of fertile laud in the Western 

 States, which is suitable for the production of this staple, and 

 its very moderate price, ei.able men in even moderate circum- 

 stances to own hundreds and even thousands of acres. With 

 a scanty, and what is more, a thoroughly independent popula- 

 tion, it is evident that these fields cannot be worked by 

 manual labour, and the result is that the mechanical faculties 

 of the nation are taxed to produce machinery to supply this 

 pressing need. So successfully has this demand been met, that 

 we plant, cultivate, harvest, and prepare for market the corn. 

 A farmer scarcely needs to touch it, from the time it leaves his 

 granary until its produce fills his bins in the autumn. You 

 will not then, my Lord and gentlemen, accuse me of exaggera- 

 tion when I say that it is only necessary to intimate to a really 

 ingenious Yankee that a machine is wanted for a particular 

 purpose, and in thirty days you will have patents registered 

 for at least thirty machines of the greatest dissimilarity of 

 plan, and each claiming to accomplish its work by the shortest 

 possible cut. To the breeding of cattle we are also giving much 

 attention. By importation from your best herds we have, in a 

 quarterof a century, accumulated many ofyourvery best blooded 

 animals; and in a genial clin^ite, and by skilful management, 

 their jirogeny reproduce with faithful exactness the noble 

 qualities of their sires. At an American show you will see 

 ranges of sheds appropriated to Shorthorns, Ilerefords, Devons, 

 Alderneys, and Ayrshires, to all your various breeds of 

 sheep and swine. We have breeds of horses peculiar to our 

 country. The Morgan and Black Hawk of Vermont are 

 strong, symmetrically shaped, and of sreat beauty of appear- 

 ance. In Kentucky, your thoroughbreds attain an early matu- 

 rity, and lose nothing of their strcngh of constitution or fleet- 

 ness of foot. The very abundance of land and the migratory 

 character of our people militate against the realizatiim of that 

 beautiful system in farming which I sec in every part of Eng- 

 land which I have visited ; but the wide diffusion of agricul- 



tural literature, the interchange of visits between wealthy 

 agriculturists of both countries, the enthusiastic support of 

 agricultural fairs, are all working effectually to bring about a 

 future " good time" for agricultural science in my country. 

 Do not suppose, my Lord, that we are ignorant of what you are 

 doing in the field of agricultural experiment ; for we are, per- 

 haps, as well aware of it as yourselves. We get your Mark-lane 

 Eipress, your Farmer') Magazine, the Gardeners' Chronicle, 

 the Journal of your own Society, and those cf the Royal 

 Agricultural Society of England, and the Highland and Agri- 

 cultural Society of Scotland ; and although our farmers 

 have not the means or the disposition, or I might say, 

 in many cases, the necessity, to duplicate your prac- 

 tice, they know very well what is going on at 

 Rothamsted and Cirencester, at Tiptree Hall and Lois Wee- 

 don. My Lord, I pray you to bear with me if I seem to be 

 prolix ; but the theme is a glorious one, and the interest and 

 the nation in whose behalf I speak are very near to my heart. 

 I could wish that we might welcome to the tables of our agri- 

 cultural banquets many more of your agriculturists than we do, 

 and that many more of ray brother farmers of America could 

 see what I have this day seen, and hear what I have heard. It 

 does not need your warm grasp of the hand or your kindly 

 accents of welcome to conviiice us of the interest you take in 

 our welfare ; nor do I believe that yourselves require like 

 convincing proof on our part. A community of interests 

 between your Royal Exchange and our western farm — between 

 your cities of manufacture and ours of shipment — have forged 

 bonds that w^ill endure for ever. A common origin causes 

 national sympathies that cannot be kept asunder by a few 

 thousand gallons of water in the bed of a sea. When your 

 brave and good soldier fell in the torrid latitudes of the East, 

 after having conquered impossible difficulties and achieved 

 almost impossible glory, we mourned for him as if be had 

 been leading an American, and not an English host. In our 

 principal cities the flags at half-mast, the solemn tolling of the 

 bells, the deeply affectionate expressions of our citizens, and 

 the tone of our public press, all betokened our sentiments of 

 grief. It was the tribute of a brave nation to a brave and 

 good man. And I feel confident that General Havelock'a 

 widow, or his children, would find in the United States an 

 opening of doors and an opening of hearts that is only ac- 

 corded, iu moat cases, by one's own countrymen. Thanking 

 you sincerely, my Lord, and gentlemen of the Bath and West of 

 England Society, for your welcome and the attention you have 

 bestowed upon my remarks, I take say leave of your hospita- 

 ble society. 



Jlr. Jonathan Gray gave ''The Railway and Steam 

 Navigation Companies," and thanks to them for the facilities 

 they bad afforded the society, 

 Mr. T. Walbron, " Prosperity to the town of Cardiff." 

 Mr. Caldwell " Success to the Bath and West of Eng- 

 land Society;" and the Chairman " Success to the next 

 merry meeting at Barnstaple." 



THE ANNUAL MEETING 



took place on Thursday. Lord Courtenay in the chair. The 

 Secretary read the 



REPORT OP THE COUNCIL, 



which was adopted. 



" The Council have again the satisfaction of reporting 

 an increase in the number of members. 



" Since the last annual meeting the sum of £76 has been 

 distributed in prizes for essays. 



" The Council deem it of great importance to maintain the 

 efficiency of this branch of the society's operations, and they 

 have issued the following offers of prizes for essays, to be sent 

 in for adjudication next year: — On Pigs, £15 ; on Steam Cul- 

 tivation, £25 ; on Potatoes, £10; on the comparative Value 

 of Cake, Corn, and Roots in making Fle?h and Manure, £20; 

 on Autumn Cultivation, £10; on the Training of Farm Ser- 

 vants, £15 ; and lastly, on a subject for which they hope 

 that the present gathering will furnish fertile suggestions. 

 On the Connection, both Agricultural and Commercial, be- 

 twten the West of England and South Wales, £20. 



" After careful consideration, the Council have thought it 

 for the iiitercst cf the society to again engage the services of 

 Professor Brown, and he is accordingly acting as veterinary 

 inspector at the Cardiff' Meeting. Arrangements have been 



