T[[E FARMER'S HAGAZINE. 



177 



whicli bad a Rood library', with access to a reading-room, the 

 books of wliicli tliey allowed to be taken out ; and wliieh, at 

 some risk to the finances of the society, had taken rooms in 

 a central position in the town, and furnished those rooms and 

 provided them with suitable conveniences for the trans- 

 action of busiuess— such a society, he did think, had ac- 

 quired still further claims upon the active support of the 

 agricultural community. He was satisfied in his own mind 

 that a great deal had been already done, and he looked for- 

 ward with confidence to a periodical renewal of the practical 

 discussions on agricultural subjects, and to their being fully 

 attended, and carefully and judiciously, and with some 

 ability, would be entered upon. He trusted, likewise, that the 

 general public, finding the facilities which the club placed 

 within their reach, would be disposed to give it their support; 

 and that both to the club and to the public frequenting the 

 market it would be a great convenience. In connection with 

 such an institution he felt, moreover, that it was to be re. 

 garded not only with reference to the present moment, but to 

 the generations to follow. It was clear to him that as time went 

 on, more knowledge and more reading was required for the 

 farmer than before, and that this institution must be looked 

 to as one of the means of bettering and improving the condi- 

 tion of the occupiers of land in this county. 



The Chairman had afterwards great pleasure in pro- 

 posing the health of his Grace tlie Duke of Northumberland. 

 He was glad to say that in addition to much that had been 

 said of His Grace, and which was no more than the Noble 

 Duke richly and really and honestly deserved, there was this 

 upon this special occasion that he might perhaps say, that 

 he had been an early friend and promoter of this institution. 

 His Grace did not fail to take an interest in their early pro- 

 ceedings, and show it by furnishing the club with a consi- 

 derable number of books from his own library ; he had also 

 presented them with a picture on an agricultural subject 

 which now graced their rooms, and on various other 

 occasions His Grace never failed to express an interest in 

 the well-doing of the society. 



Mr. Anderson, in returning thanks for the Vice- 

 Presidents, said their society might be looked upon as one 

 of the little tributary streams that went to form the great 

 societies— the Northumberland Agricultural Society for in- 

 stance, and from that up to the Royal Society, which had 

 produced the most wonderful effects. 



Mr. G. H. Ramsey spoke at some length in proposing 

 "Agriculture and Commerce combined," He noticed the 

 reciprocal influence of the two. Dwelling, however, more 

 particularly upon agriculture, and tracing the progress of 

 this club, of which he had been one of the founders, he 

 said that they had had some of the best and most learned 

 papers read in their club that had been read in any farmers' 

 club in England. 



Mr. Bell said there had been a toast given to him, he 

 supposed because of the position in which he had had the 



honour to be placed in this county, and from the belief that 

 he must thercfoie have seen perhaps as much of the tenantry 

 of it as most men. He certainly had seen a great deal of 

 the tenantry, and entertained for them the hightat regard 

 aud respect. He conceived that their industry, perseverance, 

 and skill, were not to be surpassed by those of any tenantry 

 in the kingdom. However attached to the county of North- 

 umberland, he could not shut his eyes to the fact that it had 

 not the climate of Sussex, nor the soil of Worcestershire ; 

 therefore he nuist say the landowners of this county were 

 greatly indebted to the tenantry for having brought the 

 land to that high state of cultivation in which it now 

 existed. The skill and ability which were displayed in 

 farming in this county were, iu fact, held in such high esti- 

 mation, that young men were sent from all parts of the 

 kingdom to study agriculture under our farmers. It would 

 be presumptuous in him to speak of the perseverance, in- 

 dustr}', and skill of the farmers ; they had upon all occa- 

 sions set an example of agricultural improvement to the 

 whole civilized world. It was notorious that wherever the 

 British farmer met the foreign agriculturist in the wide field 

 of competition, he had invariably borne away the prize ; 

 and although, at this time, our love for France and French- 

 men was most astonishing, yet he had enough of the John 

 Bull in him— although, perhaps, not the most correct re- 

 presentative of that personage— to think there was no 

 country like England, and that there were no men like 

 Englishmen ; therefore, he hoped and trusted that wherever 

 the British farmer met the French agriculturist, or any other 

 agriculturists, he would beat them as soundly as he had al- 

 ways hitherto done. He regretted extremely that that great 

 interest, which was the mainstay of the prosperity of the 

 country, had hitherto been treated witli worse than neglect 

 by the Government of this country ; for it did appear that 

 Government considered the whole duty of man to consist in 

 spinning cotton. The land had been neglected by them for 

 the sake of our manufactures. Notwithstandi .g this neglect, 

 such were the indomitable perseverance, ability, and skill of 

 the British farmer, that, amidst difficulties and distress, he 

 yet, in his opinion, was the mainstay of the prosperity of 

 the kingdom. He was a good deal amused the other day, in 

 taking up one of our provincial papers, to see there inserted 

 a report setting forth the wonderful advantages that the 

 agriculturists of the county of Northumberland had derived 

 from the repeal of the Corn-laws. Now, whoever the 

 facetious personage was that inserted that report, in his 

 opinion he must have been a wretched plagiarist; for there 

 could be no doubt that the report must have originally ap- 

 peared in the columns of our laughter-loving friend Punch, 

 who, although one of the most amusing of men, was not the 

 most correct journalist. 



There were a number of other toasts, chiefly of a local 

 character. — Abridged from the Netvcastle Journal. 



SICKLES AN;D CYCLES. 



Sir, — After reading the comprehensive and masterly re- 

 view of the monetary year which forms the Citj^ Article in 

 The Times of yesterday, my attention was drawn, not for the 

 first time, to a phenomenon in the past history of the corn 

 trade which I have never had the satisfaction of seeing no- 

 ticed in any public organ, agricultural or commercial, but 



which appears to me sufficiently remarkable to deserve to 

 be known, and, if so, to occupy a small space in your 

 columns. It is this. For no less a period than 32 years— 

 ever since 1827— the price of wheat in this country has 

 moved in quadrennial periods — four years up and four years 

 down—with a regularity so steady and invariable that it is 

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