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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



eighteenth century, we may enumerate the gradual 

 introduction of a better system of cropping, 

 since the publication of " Tail's Husbandry," and 

 other useful works from 1700 to 1750; the improve- 

 meat of live-stock, by Bakewcll and others, about 

 17C0 ; the drill-system of growing turnips; the use of 

 lime and marl m agriculture ; the tapping of springs ; 

 the revival of the art of irrigation, by Boswell ; and the 

 publication of the Bath Agricultural Society's papers, in 

 1780. The introduction of the Swedish turnip, about 

 1790; andof spring wheat, about 1795; and the reports 

 of the Board of Agriculture about this time, also con- 

 tribute to increase the products of agriculture— as the 

 enclosing of common fields, lands, and wastes, and the 

 improvement of mosses and marshes contributed to the 

 produce and salubrity of the general surface of the 

 country. The progress of the taste for agriculture 

 about this time is shown by the great number of agri- 

 cultural societies that were formed ; one or more as a 

 beginning in almost every county. Amongst these the 

 Bath and West of England Society, established in 1777, 

 holds the first rank. We are indebted to this society 

 for the " Bath Papers," of which sixteen volumes were 

 printed ; they were the first agricultural periodicals of 

 England, and were the precursors of the " Journal of 

 the Royal Agricultural Society." The establishment of 

 the Board of Agriculture, in 1793, was looked forward 

 to with considerable interest, and ought to have com- 

 menced a new era in the history of the agriculture and 

 rural economy of England at that date ; but the country 

 was evidently not prepared for bo bold and compre- 

 hensive an undertaking, and it consequently effected 

 little beyond the publication of the " County Surveys ;" 

 still it may be said to have raised the " art of agricul- 

 ture" amongst the higher classes. — This brief, and yet I 

 fear too lengthened, sketch of the early ages, brings us 

 down to the li)th century. The more modern improve- 

 ments date from this period ; still it had been the early 

 province of such men as Jethro Tull, Arthur Young, 

 Marshall, Sir John Sinclair, Lord Somerville, the late 

 Duke of Bedford, Mr. Coke, Sir Humphrey Davy, 

 Bakewell, Loudon, Cully, Cline, Collins, Blakie, Park- 

 inson, and others, to enlighten the path of agriculture 

 before the nineteenth century. These and other good 

 men, true patrons of the art, laid down principles 

 which have rarely been excelled by the modern im- 

 prover. A field of enterprise was now opened up, and 

 " men of many grades" became interested in the more 

 popular occupation of cultivating and enclosing the 

 broad acres of our island, which had so long required 

 this stimulus. The late Lord Leicester and the late 

 Duke of Bedford did much towards making agriculture 

 a popular pursuit. This was accomplished by their 

 festive gatherings at the Holkham and Woburn meetings. 

 These animated and descriptive gatherings went far to 

 enlighten the many visitors who assembled from distant 

 counties. These, on returning home, propounded the 

 advances that had been made, which ultimately resulted 

 in the establishment of local societies for the exhibition 

 of native produce, and the discussion of their future 

 prospects. Then followed the suggestion that a National 



Society should be formed, for the collection and display 

 of the English breeds of live-stock in a prepared state 

 for the shambles of the metropolitan purveyors. The 

 resources of our English breeds of i'at stock had not 

 hitherto been developed ; and it was suggested that such 

 a gathering of business-men and breeders at a national 

 exhibition in London must be productive of good, and 

 gradually lead to the diffusion of improved ideas amongst 

 the general body cf breeders and agriculturists. Then 

 followed the establishment of the Smithfield Club, in 

 1798 — about sixty years ago. To show the early popu- 

 larity of this new society, I may mention that in 1800, 

 his Majesty George III. was an exhibitor. In 1806 

 the Duke of York gained a prize, and of late years the 

 Prince Consort has obtained many prizes with Devon 

 cattle. Experiments in the qualities of vegetable food 

 were instituted, and an exhibition of rude implements 

 now formed an adjunct to the Club's display of fat 

 animals. To this successful institution, English agricul- 

 ture has been mainly indebted. It promoted the gather- 

 ing of influential men, breeders of live-stock and others, 

 who were eminent for their literary attainments ; the 

 one finding practical matter, and the other diffusing it 

 to an advancing class of men ; for the sons of agriculture 

 had made a start. It is to this institution that we 

 stand indebted for the parentage of the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society. The enrolment of this Society was first 

 mooted at the Smithfield Club Dinner, on the 11th of 

 December, 1837. In this the late President of 

 the Club (Earl Spencer), the late Henry Handley, 

 the late William Shaw (Editor of the Mark Lane 

 Express), and the present President, His Grace the 

 Duke of Richmond, took the most prominent part. 

 This society has now held its twentieth anniversary for the 

 exhibition of our English breeds of live stock, has col- 

 lected and tested thousands of implements, has published 

 about forty journals of English agriculture ; and not 

 only has it collected information, but it has been the 

 source from which practical and scientific knowledge 

 has been disseminated by every channel, through the 

 length and breadth of the English counties. From the 

 formation of this justly national society, English agri- 

 culture derives its modern type. Before this period of 

 our history, who ever heard of a steam thrashing- 

 machine, a reaping machine, or a steam plough ? 

 How many parts of England had never seen specimens 

 of our established herds and flocks ? What breeders 

 anticipated a foreign trade for their produce ? Who had 

 manured his lands with portable manures from a guano 

 bag, the produce of foreign birds ? Who had thought 

 of reducing a hard, bony substance to a soluble food 

 for the immediate use of the root crops ? or, lastly, who 

 had anticipated the publication of such an agricultural 

 work as the Journal of this society ? These are results, of 

 which we as Englishmen have a right to be proud. But 

 in the field of our progress we have had another hand- 

 maid at work for us — I mean the press and agricultural 

 literature of the present day. Such men as the late 

 Philip Pusey, Wm. Shaw, Loudon, Sir John Sebright, 

 Bayldon, Youatt, Young, Marshall did good service in 

 this department. Amongst the other names familiar to 



