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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



tivation of the soil, improvement could not be effected, 

 because the larger the crop grown the more the farmer 

 had to pay. If land which produced only tea bushels 

 ail acre were made to produce forty, he had to pay a 

 tenth of the increase — no power could prevent it ; and 

 hence the passing of the Tithe Commutation Act re- 

 moved one of the greatest obstructions that ever stood 

 in the way of the progress of agriculture. (Hear, hear). 

 As regarded the poor-law, it was unnecessary for him 

 to remind them of the disadvantages which pressed upon 

 agriculture under the old state of things, and of the 

 benefits which resulted from the alteration that took 

 place a few years ago. The sciences also had come to 

 their aid, and in particular they hnd derived great as- 

 sistance from chemistry, geology, and botany. In short, 

 they were now enjoying advantages which were not 

 dreamt of fifty years ago. What the next fifty years 

 would produce it was impossible to say, but there was 

 reason to hope that they would be marked by progressive 

 improvement. 



The Rev. T. C. James said the history of agricul- 

 ture was in some degree the history of the world ; the 

 three first men in the world being a gardener, a plough- 

 man, and a grazier. " Progress" being now the 

 farmer's watchword, " Onwards ! " his motto, the cul- 

 tivation of "ihe mind and the acquisition of knowledge 

 were manifestly as essential to farmers as to any other 

 class of society (Hear, hear). This was the more evi- 

 dent from the artificial state in which agriculture now 

 was. It was artificial because of the extended use of 

 complicated machinery and of scientific appliances in the 

 operations of the farm ; because of the race which was 

 going on between manual industry and mechanical in- 

 ventions ; because of the wondrous power of steam — a 

 power so astonishing that it was estimated to have added 

 to the power at man's disposal for ordinary purposes a 

 force eijual to that of ten millions of labourers. The 

 practical deduction from all this was, he said, that the 

 farmers of England should endeavour to advance them- 

 selves in intellectual attainments, and to cultivate, at 

 their various homesteads and in their various parishes, 

 skilled men for skilled labour— quick, active, and intel- 

 ligent men, adapted to modern requirements; or else 

 the present race of farmers must yield to others who 

 would pursue a course which was adapted to the 

 energy, enterprise, and intelligence of the age (cheers). 



Mr. Sidney said, when addressing, as he was in the 

 habit of doing, the non-agricultural public, he spoke to 

 them of what farmers had done, and explained that they 

 were not so far behind as a few years ago it was the 

 universal custom to represent them to be ; but when he 

 met farmers themselves, he felt bound to take a different 

 line, and, speaking historically if not practically, to 

 deal in something else than compliments (laughter). 

 Farmers were, like other human beings, too apt to in- 

 dulge in self-laudation, especially at agricultural meet- 

 ings ; and in that he had no wish to encourage them. 

 There could be no doubt, indeed, that at the present 

 time English farmers stood at the head of the agricul- 

 tural world. But, though they had attained a position, 

 practically and scientifically, which had never been 



attained before, they had not done so in the manner 



that they sometimes supposed : they had not attained it 

 solely as farmers, or by handing down from father to 

 son traditions as to farming pursuits, unconnected with 

 the intervention of men of any other calling. Any one 

 who listened to the speeches of many agriculturists, 

 might suppose that they were a class apart — that they 

 had nothing to do with townsmen or with any other 

 class of society. According, however, to his view of the 

 history of ngriculture, almost every change which had 

 produced a decided improvement in agriculture was an 

 importation either from a townsman or from a foreigner 

 (laughter). Unlike the state of things in France, there 

 had in this country been a constant flux and reflux, a 

 constant flow of sharpened intelligence, between the 

 towns and the rural districts. There was a continual 

 migration going on from town to country. If they 

 examined the history of any man who was now eminent 

 as a country squire, they were almost sure to find that 

 his grandfather was a townsman (laughter). The grand- 

 father of Sir Tatton Sykes was a merchant at Hull ; the 

 father of Mr. Farquharsou wa? a gunpowder-merchant. 

 The things which had done most to promote the recent 

 development of agriculture were improved implements, 

 artificial food, and foreign manure. One of the most 

 important of modern implements was the drill ; and il 

 was a parson — the Rev. John Rook — who invented it. 

 In like manner, it was a Scotch minister who invented 

 the reaping machine ; and there were a great variety of 

 other implements which certainly did not owe their 

 origin to farmers. The most important root in modern 

 agriculture was perhaps the turnip ; and that was of 

 foreign derivation. So also were the carrot, Dutch 

 clover, and Italian ryegrass. Oilcake and guano were 

 in the same category. The very strength of agriculture, 

 therefore, lay in its communication with the towns and 

 with foreign countries : without such an interchange, it 

 would have been absolutely impossible for it to attain 

 the development which it now exhibited ; and, while this 

 tended to foster a good feeling between the inhabitants 

 of the towns and those of the i;ural districts, it was the 

 best and only means of securing the continued progress 

 of agriculture. 



Mr. WuisTLKR (Overton, Hants) said, the progress 

 of agriculture seemed to date from the commencement of 

 he four-course system. That system had its origin in 

 the introduction of the turnip, not on account of the in- 

 trinsic value of the turnip, but because of the change of 

 plants whichit allowed. Hetliought the presentunhealthi- 

 ness of the turnip was owing to its too frequent use, and 

 to the non-use of kindred plants, such as clover, peas, 

 beans, parsnips, and rape. Mangold, which had been 

 used lately with great success, belonged to the vetch 

 tribe, including tares, sainfoin, mustard, and carrots. 

 The production of each of these was injurious to that of 

 the others, and he thought that afforded one explanation 

 of the failure of clover after peas, beans, and rape. 

 Wheat, barley, oats, and rye-grass were a perfect change, 

 and seemed to be the best producers of the turnip and 

 likewise of the other tribes which he had mentioned. 

 He did not see hov? they could entirely dispense with 



