ACTUAL IMPROVEMENT.-: fN ICNMLtSH AGRICULTURE. 165 



and every pains is taken in this way to secure the greatest apt 

 ness and talents. The name of the competitor is not given where 

 it can be avoided, but only the number of the article presented. 

 The rules of admission and competition are stringent and abso 

 lute, and no exceptions are, on any account, allowed. When, last 

 year, a competitor attempted to introduce a machine out of sea- 

 sort, or in some way contrary to the published rules, and wrote to 

 one of the agents of the society, that, if a silver key should be 

 found necessary to its introduction, he begged him to use it, 

 this attempt at bribery was rejected with proper indignation by 

 the society, and the individual concerned, though eminent as a 

 machinist and a manufacturer, and offering every apology for 

 his &quot; indiscretion,&quot; was forever irrevocably excluded as a com 

 petitor for any of the premiums of the society. 



The society likewise offers premiums for essays, which are 

 deemed deserving of such reward, upon any given subjects, and 

 for reports on the agricultural condition and habits of different 

 counties and districts. This has been the means of bringing out 

 many valuable papers. Here, too, the decision is sought to be 

 rendered as fair as possible ; for the name of the writer is not 

 given with the essay, but under a separate and sealed envelope, 

 which is not opened until the successful essay is announced ; and 

 then the seal is broken, and the writer s name declared, in the 

 presence of the society. 



The society likewise has a consulting chemist, a consulting 

 engineer, a botanist, and a professor of the veterinary art, of 

 whose services, in any desirable case, it avails itself. Some time 

 since, it numbered on its lists more than 6500 members ; and lias 

 been, since that time, steadily on the increase. It is impossible 

 to overrate the advantages which such a society brings with it to 

 the agricultural community ; for, though it enrols among its mem 

 bers many gentlemen, who are mere amateurs in the profession, 

 and take little interest, and have little knowledge of its practical 

 details, yet, on the other hand, it combines, among the highest men 

 in the kingdom, a very large amount of practical talent and skill 

 men of the most accurate observation, who carefully enter into 

 the whole subject. There is another great and good influence, 

 which it powerfully exerts, and which must not be overlooked. 

 It gives a high respectability to the agricultural profession, and 

 presents it as a pursuit, not, as has been too often said, for mere 



