THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



521 



to do with the interests of their tenantry than 

 had the shipowner to do with the navigation of 

 his ships or those who sailed them — tliat all these 

 parties, alike in the one case as in the other, were igno- 

 rant and regardless of the condition of the other. It 

 has been said, gentlemen, that it is advantageous to 

 argue from what are called analogies — fancied analogies. 

 I have no objection to adopt the analogy, but I utterly 

 deny the truth of the premises, and I equally deny the 

 conclusion (Applause). The shipowners of this great 

 commercial country ai-e, no doubt, deeply interested in 

 the welfare, prosperity, and comfort of those who 

 command and sail tlieir vessels ; and though they 

 generally do live on terra firma — and, speaking as a 

 landsman myself, I am not disposed to quarrel with 

 them for preferring the land to the water — a great 

 number of them are scientific navigators. It is said by 

 the authority to whom I have referred, it is absurd to 

 expect the owners of the land— whom he was pleased 

 to call the Dii Majores — to attend agricultural meet- 

 ings, lie further said that when they did attend such 

 meetings it was only for the purpose of talking about 

 politics, but that generally they had other and better 

 things, to attend to than such meetings. Now what other 

 and better things there are to attend to than agriculture 

 I confess I do not know. Again I say I utterly deny 

 the premises of the writer ; and I say boldly for the land- 

 owners of this country — from the highett to the lowest, 

 from the first to the last — that there is not any nation 

 in the world, or any body of men, who are, in all their 

 thoughts, occupations, and pursuits, more thoroughly 

 rural than are the landlords of this country (applause). 

 There are many good practical farmers among them : I 

 do not mean to say there may not be many exceptions 

 — and standing here on this occasion, it is not for me to 

 gainsay that there may be many local exceptions — 

 but I am talking of a general rule, and not of any local 

 or general exceptions. (Hear, hear.) Had the gentle- 

 man who gave expression to the opinions which I have 

 been quoting never heard of the names of the late 

 Duke of Bedford, of the Duke of Richmond, of Lords 

 Spencer and Portman and others, of whom an almost 

 interminable list might be made? (cheers). It has been 

 well said that business is the amusement of some men's 

 lives, whilst amusement is the business of others — and 

 the latter was sometimes very unprofitable business too. 

 I would, however, advise those who were in want of 

 amusement to betake themselves to agricultural pur- 

 suits : I am quite sure there they will find the best of 

 all amusement — aye, and they will be doing their 

 duty, and promoting their interests at the same time 

 (applause)." 



That is a fine manly speech, one that we recommend 

 every landlord in the kingdom to get off by heart and 

 to act up to. To be sure, Mr. Spearman is answering 

 an argument that has no argument in it. " There are 

 ■10 men who in their thoughts, occupations, nnd pur- 

 suits are more thoroughly rnrnl than are the landlords 

 of this country." It is only feir to say that it is not 

 an agricultural journal which would thus keep them 

 from meeting thdr tenantry 3 while as for the notion 



of country gentlemen knowing no more of farming 

 than shipowners do of navigation —that is an 

 old Anti-Corn-Law League absurdity, which we 

 should have hoped had been forgotten or disowned 

 long ere this. At best it is but the libel of a man 

 who knows nothing of what he is talking, or who 

 speaks only in prejudice. As such was it 

 used originally, but it can be of no use now. When a 

 man tells you the business of a landowner is somcthinfj 

 quite distinct from farming , it is only politeness which 

 prevents your laughing in his face. 



We say again, let the landlords of England bear in 

 mind this speech of IMr. Spearman. We aie happy 

 to say the majority of them are already in unison 

 with him. An owner of the soil can do nothing 

 better than support the Agricultural Societies of 

 his district, by his purse, and especially, by his pre- 

 sence and active participation in what is going on. 

 Nothing has tended so much to advance the cause 

 as the influence of these institutions. We have 

 ourselves been eye-witnesses of their effect for many 

 years now in every part of the three kingdoms ; and 

 we attribute their success more particularly to landlord 

 and tenant uniting to support them. As we have often 

 said before, we by no means wish the one class " to have 

 all the talk to themselves." Let owner and occupier 

 each have his say, and the more frequently they have 

 the opportunity to do so the better. To maintain, on 

 the other hand, that a landowner has no business at an 

 agricultural gathering, but that he should learn his 

 duties from, or leave them entirely to his agent, is so 

 utterly incredible, that, had we not Mr. Spearman's 

 answer, one would almost question the utterance of 

 such an anomaly. 



VALUE OF LECTURES ON AGRICULTURAL 

 CHEMISTRY.— THE WENLOCK FARMERS' CLUB.— 

 At the meeting, Nov. 2nd, John Pritchard, Esq., M.P., said: 

 " During the jear that has passed we have not had quite so 

 many meetings as usual, but those which have taken place 

 have beau of very great interest (Hear, hear). lu the be- 

 ginning of the year we had a most able lecture on agri- 

 cultural chemistry from Mr. Nesbit, professor of that science 

 in the college at Kennington ; and roost of the gentlemen I 

 now see before me attended that meeting. Amongst other 

 subjects to which Mr. Nesbit referred, and of which I think 

 wc caunot too often be reminded, was the care of manure in 

 farmyards, by taking care that too great a quantity of water 

 does not get to it, by insufficient spouting of the farm build- 

 ings. You may recollect that he advised the covering now 

 and then of the manure with soil, so as to prevent it from 

 losing some of its more valuable properties. He also spoke of 

 clover, and said it woidd be well if, instead of clearing ofT 

 clover in autumn, we left it to grow to the following summer, 

 as the roots increased in the same proportion as tlie leaves ; 

 and that as the roots afforded greater nourishment, and brought 

 forward a better crop of wheat, it would be better to let them 

 remain increasing during the greater part of the year. You 

 will remember that he also said we use lime too frequently, 

 and that it would be better if we only used it once iu the 

 course of five or six years. His observations with regard to 

 artificial manure were also highly important and useful; and 

 I think we can see that some farmers have profited by his ad- 

 vice when we look at the superior crops of turnips which have 

 been produced by the use of the artificial manure of which he 

 spoke," 



