436 The President's Address at General Meeting. 



education, wliicli, unfortunately, many of our farmers have not been 

 able to obtain. In the endeavom-s which the Council have lately 

 made to fix the attention of the agricultural world on this subject, 

 they have naturally felt that the amount of funds which could be 

 spared for this purpose were so small as to be utterly inadequate 

 to provide the means of education for the most limited number of 

 youths. They have, therefore, adopted the only course which seemed 

 to be open to them, viz. : that of offering a few prizes of moderate 

 amount for general comjjetition, in the hope that this jn-actical expres- 

 sion of opinion on the part of the Eoyal Agricultural Society would, 

 at any rate, draw attention to the question, and might be of some value 

 as an indication of the kind of education which is most required for 

 young farmers, and in which they are most deficient at present. 



By way of recapitulation, I wish, first, to urge strongly the 

 imj)ortance of treating cattle-plague like a conflagration, and that it 

 is as much a matter of ordinary prudence to keep up the machinery 

 for stamping out the one as it is to keep fire-engines and firemen 

 ready at a moment's notice to extinguish the other. Secondly, I hope 

 to see the method I have suggested of dealing with our labourers 

 generally adopted, and sujjplemented by others of a similar character, 

 whereby we may give the men local interests, and the strongest pos- 

 sible inducement to establish a kind of savings' bank in their own pig- 

 sties and cow-houses, a step which is not unlikely to lead eventually to 

 the savings' bank in the neighbouring town. But, at all events, this will 

 increase the self-respect of the labourers themselves, and enable them 

 to bring up their families in health and comfort. Thirdly, the educa- 

 tion of the rising generation of farmers requires thoroughly over- 

 hauling and adapting to the wants of the day. This movement has 

 already begun in one or two counties ; but there are many deep- 

 seated prejudices to be removed, and there is much vis iiierlice to be 

 overcome before our middle-class education is brought uj) to the 

 present high standard of English civilisation. Lastly, under the good 

 providence of God, who has promised us a return of seed time and 

 harvest so long as the world endures, the present prospects of 

 English agriculture are highly encouraging. Our improved facilities 

 of transport, both by sea and land, are continually giving us access 

 to whole nations of new customers, and as long as our foreign trade 

 continues to increase, so long will the consumj)tion of home-grown 

 commodities by our labourers and artizans be such as to provide a 

 remunerating demand for all the beef and the beer, the milk, butter, 

 and cheese, which the combined practice and science of our farmers 

 may enable us to supply. 



