USEFUL PROJECTS. 
mot be improper to take the oppor- 
atunity of this meeting briefly to 
State, ghe progress we have made, 
since I last had the honour ef ad- 
dressing, myself to you at the con- 
clusion of the preceding session. 
» its on all hands acknowledged, 
that the exertions cf the Board of 
Agriculture last year, inpromoting 
an extra cultivation ‘of potatoes, 
was attended with the happiest con- 
sequences, the beneficial effe&s of 
which . (both the culture and use 
of vhat valuable root having thus 
deen greatly extended) will proba- 
bly long be felt, when the circum- 
stance trom which {ft originated 
may beforgotten. In fact, in times 
of scarcity and distress, there is no 
article comparable ‘to potatoes. 
They. will grow inthe poorest soils; 
they can be taken up ‘in detail as 
they are wanted; they require no 
manufacture of drying, milling, &c. 
previous to their being used ; and 
they can be ‘prepared in various 
waysfor consumption. Above all, 
it is to be observed, that there is a 
space of perhaps ‘four months, 
which. generally is supplied ee | 
the old stock, but in times of scar- 
city must be taken from the new 
srop... That is a circumstance of 
less consequence where spring corn 
is the food of the people‘ (but even 
there it is desirable to thrash the corn 
‘In winterrather than in the spring, 
as the straw is better for the cattle): 
but where the people live upon 
wheat, which is sowr in autumn, 
the case is otherwise; and it is im-. 
possible tosay whatdistress it might 
occasion (when there is no old 
stock-of wheat in the country’), un- 
Jess the aid of such an article as_ 
potatoes can be obtained, if + 
farmer: is obliged, in a hurried a 
destructive manner, to thrash corn, 
[439 
both for seed for himself, and food 
for the public. He might be tempted, 
indeed, by the high price of grain, 
for food, to delay sowing his seed 
until the favourable season hus 
elapsed, in which case it is impos- 
sible to say what damage would ul- 
timately result from it. 
The Board not having yet ob- 
tained the privilege of franking, 
‘\ its- correspondence ‘is much more 
limited “and less regular than it 
ought to be, and is attended with 
a degree of trouble and inconveni- 
ence to the person who presides at 
it, of which it is difficult to form 
an adequate conception. In conse- 
quence, however, of the want of 
this privilege, so essential to a pub- 
lic institution, and the great re- 
strictions recently imposed upon 
the privileges enjoyed by a member 
of parliament, it has been found 
impossible to keep up that exten- 
sive and regular correspondence, 
and to procure that extent of infor- 
mation, from which” the public 
might derive so mony important 
advantages. By the active zeal, 
‘however, of many friends to the 
institution, information was at a 
very early period sent to the Beard, 
containing rather unfavourable ac- 
counts of the last year’s cropot wheat. 
I thought it a duty, therefore, in- 
cumbent upon me, to make use of 
every ‘degree of influence which my 
situation as president of this’ Board 
gave me with the public, to recom- 
mend, in the strongest manner, an 
extra cultivation of “wheat Tist au. 
tumn. My letter upon that suv. 
jet, dated r1thof September, 1795, 
was sent to ail the members of the 
Beard, was transmitted to the quar- 
ter sessions of the different counties, 
and was printed in above fifty dif 
* ferent newspapers. It is with-much 
Ff4 
pleasure 
