of Science to Agriculture. 155 



evident that the former only can be expected to meet with atten- 

 tion on farms which are either in the hands of individuals, or 

 which are intended as examples for their imitation ; but as the 

 distinction made by Lord Bacon by no means implies that the 

 latter class of experiments is barren, but only that the fruit they 

 bear is of tardier growth, this Society could not be accused of 

 losing sight of those practical ends for which it was instituted, if, 

 in the spirit of the instructions of the great Restorer of Learning, it 

 sought for experiments which afford light, even in preference to 

 those which promise immediate profit. 



A Society like this, indeed, may be said to bear the same rela- 

 tion to an individual Proprietor which the latter does to the Tenant 

 at will ; and as the prospect of a remote and contingent advantage 

 often stimulates the landlord to embark his capital and labour on 

 improvements which the yearly occupant would reasonably shrink 

 from engaging in ; so a still more far-sighted view of future benefit 

 to the community, and a more enduring interest in the welfare of 

 this mighty empire, may justify a Body of men like that to v/hich 

 I now appeal in instituting experiments of a description such as 

 few individuals could be induced to undertake. 



