The President's Address at General Meeting. 435 



towns is remarkably illustrated by the quantity of milk now conveyed 

 by railway for the supply of the metropolis. The seven great railway 

 companies, who principally conduct this trade, have kindly furnished 

 mc with the following interesting particulars. One company says that 

 the increase in the quantity carried in 18G6 above that in 1864 is 8G 

 per cent. ; another company says their increase is 120 per cent. ; a 

 third, 352 per cent. ; and the London and North-Western, and 

 Brighton companies, state their increase at fifty and sixty fold respec- 

 tively. There are now more than 220 stations sending milk to Lon- 

 don, by passenger or special milk trains, from distances varying fi*om 

 7 to 190 miles, for a charge varying from a minimum of a halfpenny 

 to a maximum of 2f?. per gallon for the whole distance. In the last 

 three months, September, October, and November, 1866, which are the 

 worst months in the year for the milk trade, no less than 1,652,000 

 gallons of milk have been brought into London by rail, showing that 

 we should probably underrate the total quantity carried for the year 

 1866, if we stated it at 7,000,000 gallons. This is a remarkable 

 instance of the rapidity with which so extensive a trade in an article 

 which is difficult to move in large quantities, and which yet will not 

 bear delay, has been transferred to new and distant localities, when 

 circumstances required it. It is to be hoped that this large introduc- 

 tion of good country milk will effect some improvement in the very 

 unsuccessful mixture which has hitherto been sold under the name of 

 London milk. 



The favourable prospects of which I have spoken are by no 

 means confined to the western side of England. The drier climate 

 of the eastern counties is specially adapted to the growth of first-rate 

 barley, and the value of a little extra quality in the sample was 

 never more plainly shown than in the present season. The 

 landowners of the eastern counties, however, must pardon me for 

 saying that they do not make full xise of their advantages. Barley 

 growers will all tell you that they can only grow good barley on good 

 land, but a large portion of the light sands have marl or clay in their 

 immediate neighbourhood, and that marled sand will grow good barley 

 is well known and extensively acted upon by many of the leading 

 agriculturists in that district ; but there are still thousands of acres of 

 poor weak sands with marl in their midst which, if liberally applied, 

 would double the value of the land, and enable it to produce better 

 barley than any yet imported from other countries. To watch for and 

 promptly seize any opening for a profitable trade which the changing 

 circumstances of the times may afford, and especially to turn thoroughly 

 to account any peculiar advantages of soil, climate, or position, requires, 

 however, not only the shrewd sagacity for which our farmers are dis- 

 tinguished, but also a cultivated intellect, the result of a really good 



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