THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



479 



and the entry of Stock, which will close on the 1st of 

 June, is already large. 



The Council, in the spirit which has guided them on 

 former occasions, and considering the cordial rec^'ption 

 which awaits them in the county of Kent, have thought 

 they could not do otherwise than defer to the strongly- 

 expressed wishes of the locality, that this special oppor- 

 tunity should not be lost for directing attention to the 

 agriculture peculiar to the district, and have been in- 

 duced to accept the offer of a considerable sum, to be 

 distributed in prizes for Ploughing on the Kentish or 

 turnrise system, as also for Hops, Wool, and certain 

 Breeds of Live Stock. 



The Council have decided, subject to the usual condi- 

 tions, to hold the Society's Country Meeting next year 

 at Leeds, for the district comprising the three Ridings 

 of Yorkshire. Great anxiety was evinced by many 

 localities in the county, to be selected as the place for 

 the Country Meeting ; but the advantages of Leeds and 

 its neighbourhood, joined to the eligibility of the sites 

 offered for Showyard and Trial-fields, have induced a 

 decision in its favour, which it is confidently hoped will 

 result in a most successful meeting. 



In conclusion, the Council trust that the Society will 

 prove itself to be in a position to yiursuc its career with 

 renewed energy, and that its future may be marked by 

 increased endeavours to advance the important objects 

 for which it was specially constituted. 



By Order of the Council, 



IL Hall Dare, 



Secretary. 



Mr. AsTBURY moved that the report be adopted, and 

 Col. HiGGixs having seconded the motion, 



Mr. Sidney said the occasion on which they were 

 assembled possessed a double importance. Not only 

 was it the twentieth anniversary of the Society, but 

 never within his recollection had there been so many 

 members present at a half-year general meeting. He 

 must say that he was not surprised at this ; for whilst 

 they had reason to congratulate themselves on the extra- 

 ordinary progress which agriculture had made during that 

 period, they could hardly have failed to observe that the 

 character of the Society had totally changed, or at all 

 events that the character of the Council had under- 

 gone a radical change. This alteration was especially 

 marked by the report which had that day been presented. 

 At the time when the Society was first established the 

 Council embraced all the leading agriculturists of the 

 day ; it comprised the names of men who stood pre- 

 eminently at the head of the agriculture of this kingdom 

 — a position which none of the members of the Council 

 at the present moment had any pretension to occupy 

 (Hear, hear). There was to be found in their ranks 

 Earl Spencer, who was not only a great landed proprie- 

 tor, but an enlightened agriculturist and an extensive 

 stock-breeder, and was otherwise distinguished from his 

 own order in being united by the strongest ties of sym- 

 pathy to the agricultural and farming class, who in 

 return invested him with their fullest confidence. 

 With Earl Spencer were associated Mr. Ellman, 

 Mr. Handley, and Mr. Pusey, who particularly 

 represented the agricultural class, and upon whom 

 it was unnecessary for him to pronounce any eulo- 

 gium (Hear, hear). There were also Mr. Youatt, a 

 distinguished and able writer on agricultural subjects, 

 and Mr. William Shaw, who had rendered as great 

 and useful services to the agricultural interest through 

 the columns of the newspaper of which he had the 

 management, as it was possible to do. Another 

 characteristic of the Council at that time was — ■ 

 and he believed there were many present who could 

 fully bear him out in this statement that one-half 

 the entire body was compo&ecl of practical farmers, 



or men of the middle-class (cheers). But what was the 

 case now ^ Under the influence which good landlords 

 naturally exercised over their tenantry — for he could not 

 account for it in any other way — farmers feared or neg- 

 lected to use their right of electing the Council, one by 

 one the vacant seats had been absorbed by landlords or 

 amateurs, and there were only thirteen persons on the 

 Council who could be described as practical or engaged 

 in the cultivation of the soil for profit ; and he took it 

 for granted as an obvious truism, that a man of intellect 

 and education engaged in the cultivation of the soil for 

 profit was greatly superior to one who cultivated the 

 soil for amusement (cheers) ; that he enjoyed a larger 

 share of the confidence of the farming community, and 

 was likely to confer upon the Council a corresponding 

 amount of advantage (Hear, hear). Whenever a prac- 

 tical farmer had been removed from the Council, his 

 place had been filled up, not by a man of his own class, 

 but by some nobleman, or son or son-in-law of a noble- 

 man, or country scjuire, whose interest in the soil was 

 no more than that of an amateur at the best, while 

 men of the most glaring inefficiency with aristocratic 

 connections were re-elected year by year. He (Mr. 

 Sidney) did not deny — no one would deny — that 

 the landed gentry of the country ought to be fully 

 and fairly represented on the Council ; but if they 

 meant the Society to be efficient for good, there could be 

 no doubt that they ought also to have a considerable 

 infusion of thoroughly practical men (cheers). He re- 

 membered that when at the Warwick Meeting he took 

 the liberty of making some similar observations to 

 these, a gentleman who was now present, who had been 

 a farmer, and through the application of a powerful 

 artificial manure in the shape of an inheritance, had 

 been converted into a squire, informed him that if 

 practical farmers were placed upon the Council they 

 would never attend (Hear, hear). But at the Council 

 meeting at which the House List had been settled, two 

 distinguished farmers who were regular attendants at 

 the Farmers' Club meetings had been rejected in favour 

 of two peers and a squire whose airicuUural reputation 

 was as yet unmade. When the Council was originally 

 formed there was only one peer upon it ; there were 

 now seven, and three were chosen in preference to 

 three men whose practical knowledge, general intelli- 

 gence, and station entitled them to the confidence of the 

 agricultural public. He alluded to Mr. Owen Wallis, 

 of Northamptonshire, Mr. Pawlett, of Bedfordshire, 

 and Mr. Rigden, of Sussex, all three members of a club 

 — the Central Farmers' Club — to which he (Mr. Sidney) 

 had the honour to belong, two of them regular attend- 

 ants, and all of whom had been rejected in favour of 

 men, in no respect so well qualified for the office as 

 themselves (Hear, hear). But he would go further, and 

 say that the whole course of the Society too much re- 

 sembled that of the Royal Society, when it elected for 

 its President a royal duke, and for its Fellows gentlemen 

 perfectly innocent of possessing a spark of scientific 

 knowledge (laughter), and ignored the claims of the first 

 scientific men of the day. To speak plainly, the fact 

 was that the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society 

 was becoming an agreeable club, the members of which 

 could meet together for a conversazione, and amuse 

 themselves as a body of amateurs ; it had ceased to re- 

 present the agricultural community at large (cheers). 

 It reminded him of All Souls' College, where the qua- 

 lification was " to be well born, well dressed, and a little 

 knowledge of music" (laughter). He granted that if its 

 only end was to instruct landlords, to impart to them a 

 little knowledge where they had none, or to increase the 

 small amount they already possessed, the Council of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society of Entjland bad performed its 

 duty and achieved that object in the most complete man- 



