498 Abstract Report of Afjricultw'al Discussions. 



in England were collected in kind, whereas in Scotland there has 

 always been a rent-charge : that is the only distinction which I can 

 di'aw between the two. But such is the feeling at this moment, that 

 if the Government would strike whilst the iron is hot — if they would 

 call in the assistance of the Board of Trade and Mr. Graham, I believe 

 they could easily contrive a bill upon the subject that would be 

 heartily welcomed by the whole agricultural community. 



There are three authorities whom I have consulted as to the amount 

 of horned stock in this country. There is, first, Mr. Maclean at 

 one extreme — the greater ; there is next Mr. Morton — ^justly a great 

 authority — as the least extreme ; and then there is M. Lavergne as 

 the mean. I shall take M. Lavergne's calculation as to the horned 

 cattle of Great Britain, which amounts to about 6,000,000 in round 

 numbers. It appears from the Government returns that by means of 

 the plague we have got through (lost) 210,000 head. But from my 

 own personal observation I know that the Government returns do not 

 adequately represent the actual losses. There are under-statements. 

 There are panic slaughters which are not returned. There are also 

 great losses for breeding piu'poses. Quantities of unripe meat are 

 brought into the market, as I have seen myself; and taking all these 

 things together, I say that it is not an over-estimate to double the 

 210,000, and so put down 420,000 as the total losses w^e have already 

 sustained. In other words, something like one- fifteenth of the whole 

 of the stock in the country. You will observe that I am speaking of 

 Great Britain, not England alone. I do not think that it is over the 

 mark; yet, in cases of defence, it is always better to "weigh 

 the enemy mightier than he seems." 



" How great a matter a little fire kindleth ! " How much of 

 the fruit of the labour since 1775 of the Bakewells, the Collinses, the 

 Booths, and Towneleys ! This loss would be bad enough even if the 

 incidence were equal, but the blow has fallen with a crushing weight 

 upon certain districts. Cheshire, for example, most heavily punished 

 by the great plague in the last century, is said now to have lost from 

 one-half to two-thirds of its horned stock. Next comes the question, 

 and this is the all-important question. Where is the disease to end ? 

 If the sapling produces such bitter fruit, what may we expect from 

 the tree '? Then, as to the probable continuance of the plague, there 

 are some twenty-two thoxisand jdaces where the plague has been, and 

 those plague-spots are dotted pretty nearly all over the fair face of 

 Britain. Infected hay conveyed infection after foiu' months' exposure 

 to air. That fact I take from the German report. Dung laid out in 

 the autumn, and frozen in the winter, conveyed infection in the 

 spring. Clothes or sacks laid upon cattle also conveyed infection. 

 There have been numerous bacl and insufiicient burials, with the 

 probability of the bones being dug up or exhumed. 



All that Bolingbroke, or Arnold, or Kingsley could say on the 

 advantage of the study of history to men of action, may be summed 

 up in a single phrase, " Dead men open living men's eyes." Let us 

 now turn for a brief space to that long-neglected voice from the grave 

 — the ' Gentleman's Magazine,' from 1745 to 1757. In February, 



