142 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



cart, and gets hia wife and daughters, or whoever he can catch, 

 to help him to put in a little manure, and then he changes hia 

 horses again from the cart to the plough, and perhaps hy 

 working an hour or two over, he gets it sown with turnips ; 

 but all the time it was exposed to a baking sun, and it might 

 be that unfortunately rain came and he was laid off alto- 

 gether for a week. If you compare the probable success and 

 cheapuess of management of the one with those of the other, 

 you will find that all the hard work, all the poor hoeing, all 

 the parsimony eoiployed — and which is all a poor man has to 

 employ upon a small faim — is not at all adequate to the sys- 

 tem, the arrangement, and the skilful operatii us of larger es- 

 tablishments. I have had through my hands a gooi ni5ny 

 farms of different descriptions, and for the last three years, 

 wheu I have had a small farm of £100 a-year or less to let, I 

 have been obliged to take the same rent, or perhaps leas than 

 before; but, wheu I have had a large farm of £500 ayear, I 

 have been able to realize a great advance of i ent ; and, if I 

 have had a farm of £1,000 or £1,200 a-year, then 

 I have had 25 or SO per cent, advance. I do not 

 say I rejoice ia this, but it forces itself ou my obser- 

 vation. The only liking I have for a small farm is 

 that it affords a kind of stepping-stone to the industrious la- 

 bourer to advance himself in society. I have seen instances 

 of this, and I have been very glad to encourage it; but, 

 whether we look to individual iuterest or the national good, I 

 must give my vote for farms of a considerable size, where 

 there is abundant capital to employ all the improvements and 



implements known, and to purchase all the manures found to be 

 advantageous, and to make that division of labour which is so 

 essential to the good working of a large catabliahment. Under 

 all proi;rcfs and improvement it is our boundeu duty to try 

 to cultivate the minds of our men as well as to cultivate our 

 iaud. It will be unuecesaary to turn your atteution to the fact 

 that it is meat desirable that we should produce that which the 

 country offers the greatest home market for, and that which 

 will at the same tioie be most remunerative. I know there 

 is a way of reckoning upon wheat as productive and remune- 

 rative ; it has beeu fixed upon to guide the commutatiou of 

 tithes and various other things, but it is proved to be a falla- 

 cious ground for computing the prosperity of a farmer. I 

 have heard many people inveighing against the low market 

 price of wheat at the present moment, and saying, " How 

 can a farmer thrive ?" But there is a fallacy in this, and 

 many of you will hold me out in aayiug that, notwithstand- 

 ing the very low prices, the crop of this year is remunerating, 

 you very much better than the crop of the two former years 

 did. Therefore the actual price is not a fair criterion of the 

 profit which the farmer is making. But, again, if you turu to 

 the remunerating prices that the farmer is receiving for both 

 beef and mutton, I need not recommend you to pursue the 

 rearing of beef aud mutton, but more especially the enlarge- 

 ment of your flocks of sheep to the utmost extent they are 

 capable of recciviug, because this I do believe is the great ob- 

 ject we must look to hereafter as the staple commodity of our 

 arms. 



BATH AND WEST OF ENGLAND SOCIETY. 

 FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF AGRICULTURE, ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCE. 



An important meeting of the Council of this society was 

 held on Saturday, Jan. 15, at Waghorn'a Hotel, Taunton, and 

 was attended by upwards of thirty members. There were pre- 

 sent — John Sillifaut, Esq,, of Coombe, Crediton (President), 

 in the chair, the Rt. Hon. Lord Courtney, Messrs. C. A. 

 Moody, M.P., T. D. Aciaud, F. II. Dickinson, J. Tyrrell, J. 

 Daw, E. H. Drewe, T. Hussey, J. Widdicoaibe, T. Danger, J. 

 E. Knollys, C. Gordon, jun , J. II. Cotterell, R. G. Badcock, 

 John Grav, H. G. Moysey, C. Rush, J. D. Hancock, D. Adair, 

 T. B. Morle, H. G. Andrews, W. E. G.llett, R. Smith, G, 

 Langdon, S. Pitman, G.Poole, Jonathan Gray, W. Thompson, 

 R. May,M. Farrant, and W. 'Wippell. 



Abolition of the Implement Prize System. — Mr. 

 Gabriel Poole brought up the report of the committee, set- 

 ting forth the regulations made in the implement depart- 

 ment for the forthcoming exhibition at Barnstaple ; and Mr. 

 Poole then moved that the implement yard be open for exhi- 

 bition on Monday and Tuesday, the 30(.h and 31st of May 

 next ; that both the implement aud stock yards be open to 

 the public on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of the ex- 

 hibition week, and that the charge for entrance be 2s. 6d. 

 on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, aud la. ou 

 Friday. Agreed to. It was also resolved, " That the council 

 in abandoning the system of prizes for implements beg to 

 record their sincere thanks to the judges of implements for 

 their valuable services, which have in past years conduced 

 80 much to the welfare and prosperity of the society, 

 and that a copy of this resolution be sent to the 

 judges." A communication from the Mayor of Barnstaple 

 (R. Bremridge, Esq.) was read, inviting the members to a 

 banquet during the exhibition in that town. Mr. Sillifaut, 

 the chairman, was deputed to thank his worship for his kind 

 invitation, and to intimate that the council would avail 

 themselves of it on the Wednesday of the show-week. 



Proposed Extension of the Exiiikition to Arts 

 AND Manufactures. — Mr. Thomas Dyke Acland intro- 

 duced this subject in the form of a " memorandum " for the 



consideration of the council. This document, which was very 

 lengthy, described the success which had each year attended 

 the exnibitions since the meetings of the society became mi- 

 gratory, and stated that the agricultural impleoients exhibited 

 increased iu numbers from 400 iu 1852 to 1,100 ia 1857. 

 What was still more important, the practical character of the 

 implements had steadily improved, and the attendance of ex- 

 hibitors from a distance had increased from 16 to above 40. 

 The increasing number of visitors, including a large propor- 

 tion of ladies, had led to the exhibition of many articles not 

 directly agricultural, with a view to their advertisement and 

 sale ; and in order to facilitate the disposal of the products of 

 local industry or talent, it was now proposed to extend the ex- 

 hibition of 1859 to agricultural implements, viz., iu the mechani- 

 cal department, scientific department, domestic or economical 

 department, and an artistic department, &c. The memorandum 

 having been debated at some length, it was resolved : " That a 

 committee be appointed to carry into effect the proposed exten- 

 sion of the Exhibition to Arts aud Manufactures, with re- 

 ference to the memorandum prepared by Mr. Aciaud ; that 

 the undermentioned gentlemen do form such committee, viz. : 

 Messrs. Sillifaut, Acland, Walrond, G. Poole, Grenville, Moy- 

 sey. Pitman, R. N. Grenville, Jonathan Gray, J. Daw, J. 

 Tyrell, and T. D. Newman ; and that Exeter be the place of 

 meeting." It was also ordered that three shall be a quorum, 

 and that all acta of the committee be reported to the Council 

 at its next meeting, for their sanction and approval. Several 

 members of the council offered handsome donations towards a 

 special fund for carrying out the extension of the Barnstaple 

 Exhibition to Arts and ISIauufactures. 



New Members. — The following new members were 

 elected, viz. : — Mr. .Tosiah Goodwin, Gazelle Oflice, Exeter ; 

 Mr Robert Gibbs, Dunster, Somerset ; Mr. W. E. Elliott, 

 Plymouth ; Mr. Davie, Greedy Park, Devon ; Mr. J. W. 

 Sillifant, Coombe, Coppleatone, Devon ; Mr. Landrey, Holne 

 Cot, Ashburtou, Devon ; Mr. Edward Hockiu, Bude, Cornwall ; 

 Mr. H. Harvey, Fenchurch-atreet, London. 



