37G On Public hiBtU lit ions for the 



and opulent farmers to have their sons received as pupils, and 

 that in consequence a question of great importance to the general 

 interests of the country has been brought under the consi- 

 deration of the Commissioners, namely, whether it might not be 

 feasible so to extend the institution, as that persons of a higher 

 grade in society should be admissible on paying a fair rate for 

 their board and lodging. 



Oil the Plans lohich have been set on foot with a view to the 

 Advancement of Agricultural Science in England. 



I am sorry to have nothing to report of a similar description 

 with reference to our own country ; for when we consider the 

 rapid augmentation of our population, and the progressively 

 increasing proportion of those who, though dependent for their 

 support, like the rest, on the produce of the soil of Great 

 Britain, are engaged in other occupations than those of hus- 

 bandry, there would appear to be no portion of the globe wherein 

 an equal necessity exists for putting into requisition all the re- 

 sources of science, in order that the agriculture of the country 

 may keep pace with the demands made upon it to supply the 

 wants of the community. 



Some patriotic individuals, indeed — as, for instance, the Earl 

 of Ducie, in Gloucestershire — have founded what are called 

 model-farms, with the view of pointing out to the neighbouring 

 agriculturists the most approved methods of culture at present 

 recoo^nised.* Individuals also, who have acquired a reputation in 

 farming, or who reside in parts of the country where husbandry is 

 supposed to be best understood, often receive into their houses, as 

 pupils, young men to be brought up to agriculture. These ex- 

 pedients, however, though useful so far as they go, must be ad- 

 mitted to serve but as imperfect substitutes for that combination 

 of scientific with practical instruction which the government insti- 

 tutions on the Continent have been shown to supply. 



The same reasons which prevent the director of the establish- 

 ment at Grignon or at Hohenheim from undertaking doubtful 

 experiments, will operate even more forcibly on the agent en- 

 trusted with the charge of a model farm by an individual pro- 

 prietor ; and the most intelligent steward or bailiff, who may 

 undertake to instruct young men in the practice of farming, must 

 of necessity be deficient both in the leisure and information neces- 

 sary for imparting that amount of scientific knowledge which is 

 communicated by the professors attached to the foreign institu- 

 tions alluded to. 



* See Mr. Morton's work on Soils for a statement of the plan pursued, 

 and of the success with which it has been attended. 



