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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



and there caa b;; no doubt t!i;it the advantages derived 

 from them was very great — was, that they afforded to 

 landlords and tenants opportunities of mingling together, 

 and by means of the meetings which took place that 

 bond of union which ought always to exist was drawn 

 tighter and tighter. (Hear, hear). For his own part, he 

 could declare with sincerity that he rejoiced in every op- 

 portunity of meeting the tenantry of the country. Mr. 

 Trethewy had alluded to the interesting character of the 

 topics which had been discussed in that Club, and had 

 observed that the benefits derived from the discussions 

 were not confined to the room in which they occurred. 

 He referred, by way of illustration, to the very interest- 

 ing paper which was read on the previous evening, but 

 he omitted to refer to another paper of equal interest on 

 the allotment system. (Cheers). In meetings lilce 

 those of the Club every man expressed his views openly 

 and independently ; and if occasionally some things were 

 said that were not quite correct, they were only met 

 with a little playful rebuke — a sort of rebuke which was 

 beneficial sometimes to all of them. (Hear, hear.) lie 

 had never attended a meeting of the Club without ex- 

 periencing gratification ; and if, as he grew in years, he 

 found himself less able to enter into many subjects con- 

 nected with agriculture, the longer he lived the more 

 deeply was he impressed with the importance of agri- 

 culture, and of meetings for its advancement. Since it 

 was first established, the Club had passed through vari- 

 ous vicissitudes ; but the indomitable perseverance and 

 the skill which had been exhibited in its management 

 had overcome all obstacles, and he hoped and believed 

 that it v.ould continue to prosper. He begged now to 

 propose " the Health of their excellent Chairman, Mr. 

 Owen." (Cheers.) 



The Chairman, in returning thanks, said he could 

 scarcely find words adequate to express his sense of the 

 honour which had been conferred upon him, but they 

 might rest assured that he felt deeply sensible of it. 

 He was proud of being surrounded as Le was on that 

 occasion by men of capital, intelligence, and integrity ; 

 and whom hs regarded as representing the mainstay of 

 the country. The Club might have had a much more 

 eflScient chairman than himself ; it could not have had 

 one who more sincerely desired to serve it (cheers). 

 One reason why he especially prized that club was, that 

 it had enabled him to form many valuable friendships- 

 friendships from which he had derived great advantage 

 in connection with agricultural science and practice. As 

 regarded his own personal position as a farmer, which 

 had been referred to by the noble Lord who proposed 

 bis health, he could not help remarking that, though he 

 had no lease, he had an assurance from his landlord 

 that his name should never be disconnected from the 

 estate (cheers), 



Mr. G. P. TuxFORD had been entrusted with a 

 toast which he could wish had been assigned to some 

 one more competent to discharge the duty of proposing 

 it. He had to give, " The Royal Agricultural 

 Society," coupled with the name of Mr. Robert Smith 

 (cheers). Most of them were old enough to remember 

 the birth of that society, and hence, without takinjf a 

 very distant retrospect, they could easily recal to their 

 minds the state of agriculture previous to its existence. 

 Many of them, too, could well recollect some of those 

 who took a leading part in the early proceedings of that 

 institution. The names of Spencer, and of Handley, 

 and of several other founders of the society, would 

 quickly rise up, as it were, from the past. But if in 

 the early days of the Royal Agricultural Society its use- 

 fulness was generally admitted, and men went from one 

 part of the country to another to see the little improve- 

 ment which had been made, how much more universal 

 was the testimony, how much greater the advance wit- 



nessed at the ])resent ! If those who were at Oxford 

 contrasted what they saw there with what was recently 

 exhibited at Chester, nothing more would be required to 

 show that this Society deserved the most cordial 

 support from such a body of men as he was addressing 

 — the members of the Central Farmers' Club — whom he 

 had ever considered as constituting the van of agri- 

 cultural progress (cheers). When he looked at the ad- 

 vance of the national Agricultural Society, and saw how by 

 every means that human ingenuity could devise, the best 

 energies of the mind had been devoted to the promotion 

 of the welfare of the farming interest of this country, he 

 felt that those who had commenced and carried on that 

 good work hiul done honour alike to their own names 

 and to the country to which they belonged (cheers). It 

 was not, however, in our own Isle alone that the 

 benefits arising from the Royal Agricultural Society 

 were diffused ; the civilized world was daily and hourly 

 deriving advantage from that institution (Hear, hear). 

 He knew, from his own sources of information, that 

 the improved agricultural machinery which had bet-n in- 

 vented and manufactured in tliis country — machines 

 which h'ld been brought into use mainly through the 

 medium of that society — were not confined even to the 

 continent of Europe. Jf they looked from the confines 

 of Russia, to our remote colonies in Australia, they 

 would find English engineering talent was brought to 

 bear on agriculture to an extent which was never known 

 in any previous age of the world (cheers). Then if 

 they already saw so much advance, what might not be 

 hoped for, in the future ! (Hear, hear.) If within a 

 period of five-and -twenty years they beheld a society, 

 numbering some thousands of men, uniting their efforts 

 to make it more useful, in order that the growing popu- 

 lation might be better fed, what might not be hoped for, 

 if the society received adequate support, and full scope 

 were given to it in Its career of improvement ! They 

 might, indeed, well be proud of the position which 

 that institution had really attained ; but they must not 

 be contented with the progress already made. They 

 might depend upon it, that if they ever came to the 

 conclusion that they had arrived at perfection, they 

 would immediately begin to retrograde. They might 

 rest assured that if they ever thought that it was 

 enough to grow corn for the existing population with- 

 out having regard to the future iucrcasc, they would 

 find themselves dependent, in the hour of difficulty, 

 on those who would assuredly disappoint them in 

 their greatest need. Such were his views with regard to 

 the Royal Agricultural Society — an institution which, 

 in Ills opinion, deserved well, not only of the farming 

 interest, but of every interest wherever civilization was 

 known ; and he felt confident that, having been carried 

 on with so much success up to the present time, it 

 would in future realize results f-ir exceeding any yet 

 attained. So satisfied was he of the importance of that 

 institution, thut hi would fain hope that there was not 

 a gentleman belonging to the Club who would not 

 endeavour by every means in his power to enrol new 

 members among such of his neighbours as had not 

 already joined it (Hear, hear). Though the associates 

 of that society were numbered by thousands, he felt 

 sure that its usefulness would be much increased by 

 the enrolment of thousands more ; and when he remem- 

 bered that the agriculturists of this country comprised 

 one-third of the population, he was ready to exclaim 

 with astonishment that there should be so few jjctsons 

 comparatively to represent that great interest. More- 

 over, when he considered the lectures now given to the 

 members of that society by analytical chemists and 

 veterinary surgeons, as well as the increasing ability 

 displayed by the judges in the discharge of their duties, 

 he felt that they had indeed reason to be gratified 



