THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



193 



as in ancient times ; but the steam-blast, the steam-ham- 

 luor, the steam circiUaf-saw, anJ the steam-turned lathe, 

 have transformed our blacksmiths' shops into gigantic and 

 money-making factories, whence agi-iculture derives the 

 cheap and eflective means of a successful competition with 

 less advanced corn-growing countiies. It would be un- 

 gracious to omit honourable mention of the Ransomes, 

 GaiTetts, Hornsbys, Claytons, Howards, Barretts, and 

 others, who have so admirably met the mechanical de- 

 mands of modern agriculture. It is my lot to welcome 

 many foreign agriculturists, and as I catechize them, I 

 often wish that I had by my side the agricultural alarmist. 

 He would hear [them say, " We have no roads, or we can- 

 not use them in bad weather; we have the old wooden- 

 plougli ; we never hoe our corn, our men do not under- 

 stand this machineiy ; we do not di'ill our corn ; we keep 

 our sheep three or four years before they are fat; we use 

 no oilcake — our animals live on straw in the winter ; we 

 are very far from a market or river — we have no railways 

 or canals ; we grow three, four, or five bushels for one." 

 A brother of a neighbour of mine emigrated to America, 

 and, writing to his brother, said, " I expect to see some- 

 thing of the country, for so-and-so is going out with a load 

 of corn to market (C'hicago) ; he wUl be gone three weeks, 

 as it is 50 miles away." This 1 know to be a fact. It is a 

 variety of these difficulties which beset the foreign cheap 

 producer ; and it is the reverse of all this that comforts 

 and profits the British farmer. 



The Estahlishment of Farmers' Clubs and Agricultural 

 Societies has had a most beneficial influence on agricul- 

 tural pi'ogress, which has been stimulated and improved 

 by competitive exhibitions, by the reading of papers on 

 agricultural subjects, by the discussions following thereon, 

 and, above all, by the diffusion of those readings and 

 discussions by means of the agricultural press. It is a 

 painful, unaccountable, and not very creditable fact, that 

 the only society in Britain that forbids the free and public 

 reporting of its discussions and proceedings is the Eoyal 

 Agricultural Society of England ! In other respects it has 

 conferred great benefits on British Agriculture, especially 

 by its itinerating annual exhibitions for live stock and 

 machineiy. Its " Journal" has also done good service. 

 The same good results have followed from the Highland 

 Society and its " Journal," and the Irish Agricultural 

 Society, and its " Journal," and their exhibitions. It would 

 be doing an injustice to Scotch agriculturists not to com- 

 pliment them on the talent displayed at their discussions, 

 resulting, no doubt, from those more abundant educational 

 facilities which have existed in Scotland, compulsorily, 

 more than in England. Probably this was the cause of 

 their " Agricultui'al Journal" appearing so many years be- 

 fore that of the English Society. 



The Smithfield Club, by its early and original Exhibition 

 of Live Stock, desei-ves especial commendation as the 

 pioneer in animal competitive exhibitions, which have 

 dispelled self-sufiiciency and developed animal per- 

 fection. Among the greatest benefactors to agiicultiu'e 

 stands 



Baron Liehig. — If an accurate account could be taken 

 of the (juantity and value of the additional food produced 

 through his discoveries, the world would be grateful, and 

 we should look ixpon Mm as a great benefactor to man- 

 kind. By the light of his great mind, the darkness of 



agriculture, with regard to the nutrition of plants and of 

 animals, is being rapidly dispelled. Like a great magician, 

 he has taught us to convert bones and mineral apatite into 

 milk, cheese, mutton, and beef. He has taught us that 

 the earth on which we tread forms an indispensable por- 

 tion of animal and vegetable structiu-e. Ho discovered 

 floating in the passing breeze the fat and muscle of our 

 bodies. The once exhausted pastures of Cheshire owe to 

 him their fruitful regeneration, and every Cheshire cheese 

 should in gratitude bear his impress. As an eminent 

 chemist remarked to me the other day : " he has knocked 

 down all the old skittles" — meaning the old erroneous agri- 

 cultural theories. He has supplanted them by imperish- 

 able truths. He has pointed out to us, in peMpective, 

 why a " peppering" of guano rivalled the massive dung- 

 heap. He has entreated us to believe that the waste of 

 our excreta through our sewers is equal to an enormous 

 exportation of corn and meat without receiving its value 

 in return, I am a firm believer in his mineral theory. 

 Agriculture will, at some future age, raise a monument to 

 his memory as the Sir Isaac Newton of agricultural dis- 

 covery. 



What Modern Agricultural Progress owes to Manufactures. 

 —Let us ask how it is that within the last seventy years 

 agriculture has made such enormous strides as compared 

 with its former history ? The answer is read^ and simple. 

 We have become the workshop of the world ; nearly nine- 

 tenths of our population arc engaged in, or dependent 

 upon, manufactures, commerce, trade, and other occupa- 

 tions, non-agricultural ; whilst this once purely agricultural 

 people represent now only one-tenth of the national popu- 

 lation. Agricultui-e owes nearly its all to the spinning- 

 jenny, the power-loom, the mule, and the thousands of new 

 inventions and new occupations of modern times. Mighty 

 steam pours into the national lap the estimated labours of 

 a supposed population equal to that of the whole world. 

 The well-to-do and nuxltiplied millions— under ground, 

 above ground, on the broad waters, and on the busy rail- 

 make greedy and unsatisfied demands on the British 

 farmer, who, shame to say, helpless and powerless, is 

 unable, because unwilling, to respond to the call. Like a 

 negligent shopkeeper, he compels his best customers to 

 deal with and strengthen his competitors' hands over the 

 water. Is there one agricultmist who can still harbour in 

 his mind a lurking belief that his own interest is opposed 

 to that of trade, commerce, and manufactures ? If so, let 

 him sweep away, in his imagination, the towns, and cities, 

 and factories, the iron and coal mines, the railways, and 

 mercantile fleets ; and let him fancy himself, like the 

 ancient Briton, a producer with no other customer than 

 himself, his lord, his wan-iors, and his governors. 



There icas a time ichen Agriculture cast a jealous and dis- 

 approving eye on Manufacturers, but I trust intelligence has 

 removed it. It is precisely because British farmers have 

 their customers — the British manufacturers— almost at 

 their doors, and that other corn-producing countries have 

 )io< any manufacturers, that British agricultm-G is more 

 rich and thriving. The larger the population employed 

 in manufacturing for foreigners, the better for the English 

 farmer and the English landlord ; for no doubt the lattet 

 will always participate largely in the farmers' well-doing. 

 Farmers and country gentlemen sometimes look with ftn 

 unkindly eye eu apron-string farmers or cottdu lorda; but 



