482 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



societies, and that lie liad refused on the ground tliat if 

 he did not take that course he might afterwards be sus- 

 pected of favouritism. (Hear, hear.) As regarded the 

 manner in which the elections took place at the annual 

 meeting, he repeated that there was in his opinion room 

 for improvement ; and if no one else did so, he should him- 

 self bring forward a motion on that subject. They had 

 been exceedingly fortunate in their selection of a 

 President, and never more so than in the past year. 

 (Cheers). No nobleman in England could have filled 

 the office with greater credit to himself or more satis- 

 factorily to them than the noble lord, who would quit 

 his post after the meeting at Canterbury. (Cheers). 

 There had, however, been great defects in that respect 

 as regarded the suitableness of the selection of the show. 

 The President for each year should, he thought, be a 

 gentleman who had great influence in the part of the 

 country where the show was held ; whereas they had 

 taken Lord Ashburton to Lincoln, Lord Portman to 

 Carlisle, and Mr. Handley to Bristol (laughter). 



Lord Feversham said the whole address of Mr, 

 Sidney turned on the point that there were not a suffi- 

 cient number of practical farmers in the Council of that 

 Society. Mr. Sidney had told them — and told them 

 truly — that that was not his first appearance at (heir 

 meetings. He had on former occasions canvassed and 

 criticised — perhaps very properly — the proceedings of 

 the Council, and on those occasions he had told them 

 that, in his opinion, the number of practical farmers 

 ought to be greatly augmented. He was not aware 

 whether Mr. Sidney was himself a practical farmer. — 

 [Mr. Sidney : " No, I am not."] — He believed that 

 he belonged to a \ ery useful profession. Whether he 

 had belonged to that institution to which he had referred 

 —All Souls' College, Oxford — he could not say ; and 

 whether he belonged to any of those clubs to which he 

 had alluded in such a jocular and pleasant manner was 

 also a point on which he (Lord Feversham) was igno- 

 rant. Mr. Sidney had told them, and very rightly, 

 what were his complaints with regard to the proceed- 

 ings of the Council ; but he had omitted to give his de- 

 finition of a practical farmer. He did not suppose he 

 would for a moment contend that those only were 

 practical farmers who were tenant farmers. He ap- 

 prehended that an owner of the soil was a practi- 

 cal farmer, who residing for some months in the year 

 in the country, had during that period a tract of land 

 under his daily superintendence, rode frequently over 

 the fields, observed the different kinds of culture which 

 were being carried on, remarked upon any defects, and 

 made inquiries as to the mode of cultivation, the kind 

 and quantity of seed sown, and the causes of any 

 deficiency which attracted his attention. If, in ad- 

 dition, this individual were in the habit of importing 

 into his neighbourhood improved breeds of stock, 

 whether it were cattle, sheep, or any other kind of ani- 

 mal — if he were accustomed to introduce in his neigh- 

 bourhood different kinds of implements hitherto un- 

 known, or of which the farmers of the district had had 

 no experience, because they were too expensive for 

 them to be the first to try whether or not they would 

 enable them to make two ends meet ; in this case, 

 whether the individual in question farmed for pro- 

 fit or for amusement, there could, he appre- 

 hended, be no doubt that he came under the definition 

 of a practical farmer. If this view were correct, he 

 would appear to the meeting whether they were 

 justified In assuming that there were but thirteen prac- 

 tical farmers on the Council of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society. He (the Earl of Feversham) would rather say, 

 after looking over the list of members, that at least 

 50 per cent, consisted of practical farmers (" Hear, 

 bear," from Mr. Sidney). He would respond to Mr. 



Sidney's " Hear, hear," and unless that gentleman 

 could show that such a person as he had just 

 referred to was not a practical farmer, he must be al- 

 lowed to difi"er from him as to what constituted a practi- 

 cal farmer. Though such a man might not actually 

 follow the plough, milk his cows, or feed his pigs, yet he 

 apprehended he did practically do the work of a farmer, 

 and he was an important individual among the agricul- 

 tural community of this country. He could assure Mr. 

 Sidney that, as a member of the Council, he had no 

 other object than to serve the agricultural interest 

 to the best of his ability. He had always 

 been a sincere, if not a successful friend and ad- 

 vocate of the farming interest of this country, and had 

 always regarded agriculture as the foundation of the 

 national prosperity, and as a branch of the national in- 

 dustry on which all the other branches were essentially 

 and directly dependent. He begged pardon if he had 

 expressed himself with any undue warmth. He assured 

 all present that he took a deep interest in those who 

 cultivated the soil ; and he had only wished to ascertain 

 from Mr. Sidney whether he was a practical farmer 

 himself, or whether he considered that no one could be 

 a practical farmer who did not enter into all the details 

 of the business of farming. Among the practical farmers 

 who had sat on the Council, were Mr. Ellman, Mr. 

 Handley, and Mr. Pusey, who were landlords and 

 friends of his own ; but, on the other hand, Mr. Jonas 

 Webb, Mr. Hudson, of Castleacre, Mr. Fisher Hobbs, 

 and Mr. Torr, were, he was happy to say, members of 

 the Council at the present time. Mr. Sidney must, 

 therefore, admit that matters had not so entirely changed 

 since the days of Lord Spencer, whose name must be 

 held in the deepest respect, not only by the members of 

 the Council, but by all the members of the Society, who 

 were at all acquainted with Lord Spencer's merits and 

 virtues. 



Sir John Johnstone, M.P., said he happened to have 

 been for some time a member of the Journal Commit- 

 tee. The Council referred to that committee the some- 

 what invidious task of looking into the qualifications of 

 the candidates for the editorship, thinking it better to 

 adopt that course than to leave the question to be de- 

 cided by a vote of the whole body. The task was a very 

 invidious and unpleasant one ; but he did not believe a 

 better selection could have been made ; he firmly believed 

 that the successful candidate had the greatest qualifica~ 

 tions for the office. There was no dispute whatever on 

 the point among the members of the Journal Commit- 

 tee. In the recommendation made by them to the 

 Council, they were, he was sure, actuated by no other 

 motive than a desire that the best man should be ap- 

 pointed, and until results proved the contrary, he did 

 continue to believe that they did what was most condu- 

 cive to the interest of the Society. 



Mr. GiRDWOOD said having travelled five hundred 

 miles partly to attend that meeting, he felt bound to 

 say there was an immense deal of dissatisfaction 

 expressed throughout the whole country at the 

 present management of the Society, increased 

 as this angry feeling had been by the appoint- 

 ment of the new editor. He never heard Mr. 

 Frere's name till that gentleman was elected, 

 though he had been attending to the literature of 

 agriculture for the last twenty-five years, had long been 

 a member both of the Royal Agricultural Society of 

 England, and of the Highland Society. When 

 the committee made its selection, it had before it, in" 

 the list of candidates, the name of John Chalmers Mor- 

 ton — a man who had distinguished himself in the agri- 

 cultural literature of his own country, and who was 

 familiar with that of most other countries. A feeling of 

 the greatest astonishment was created among the agri- 



