528 Biographical Sketch of 



action. Indeed, in 18G4, Mr, Thompson in his ' Essay on Pro- 

 gress,' virtually invites some such comparison, Mr, Pusey and 

 Mr, Thompson were in no sense rivals, they were altogether 

 complementary the one to the other. When the dying man 

 relinquished the lamp of agricultural progress to the hands of 

 another, it was with the full assurance that it would be safely 

 and rapidly carried forward on the path that he himself had in- 

 dicated from the first and carefully mapped, Pusey was a 

 natural leader of men, endowed by nature with that indescribable 

 essence called genius. Thompson on the other hand was a man 

 of highly cultivated talent. What the one grasped by flash of 

 instinct, the other followed patiently and laboriously with true 

 British pluck and painstaking, Pusey boldly led the way by the 

 force of dominating character ; irresistibly Thompson pushed 

 men on by the gentle and modest suggestion of superior know- 

 ledge of every subject and question in issue. Mr. Thompson 

 was essentially a practical man. 



The good seed practically sown by those good husbandmen 

 Sir John Sinclair, Arthur Young, and others, bore good fruit in 

 the shape of practical agricultural tours undertaken by Mr. 

 Thompson accompanied by Denison, afterwards Speaker 

 and subsequently Lord Ossington, Mr. Lawes, and others. 

 Most of the farms worth seeing in Great Britain were visited 

 and much valuable information gained. At this time also, the 

 writings of Baron Liebig directed attention to the practical 

 application of chemical science ; Mr, Thompson's thoughts 

 turned towards the chemistry of agriculture. 



His Irish tour, in 1839, is interesting, especially in connection 

 with the subsequent visit he made with a political object to 

 that country. The following is an extract from an article con- 

 tributed by him to ' Tait's Magazine,' for April, 1840 : — 



" No one, with the eye of a farmer, can travel through the counties of 

 Tipperary and Limerick, and, in short, the whole province of Munster, with- 

 out remarking the great natural capabilities of the soil. A mild, moist 

 climate, with innumerable springs at various elevations, offering the greatest 

 facilities for artificial irrigation, point it out as eminently fitted for the 

 breeding and rearing of cattle ; whilst the lower lands are equally adapted to 

 the growth of wheat. Yet, with these great natural advantages, what is the 

 present aspect of the countrj- ? Small shapeless fields, in which no imple- 

 ments can be worked to advantage ; land of first-rate quality covered with 

 stone, and so saturated with water, that no crop can be grown without 

 devoting a third of the land to deep furrows, for the sake of elevating the 

 remainder into comparative dryness. These are but a fraction of the errors 

 which might be pointed out. But it is foreign to orr purpose to wi'ite an 

 agricultural treatise, and we turn at once to the remedy which is lucTcily as 

 self-evident as it has hitherto been unattainable. Capital applied to agri- 

 culture, and bringing in its train the mechanical and scientific improvements 

 of the sister kingdom, would, in a very few years, double, nay treble, the 

 produce of this fertile portion of the island ; whilst the great amount of un- 



