166 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



dolts and clod-hoppers, but for minds of the highest order, and 

 for men of all conditions, from the prince to the peasant ; for &quot; the 

 king himself is served by the field.&quot; The prizes are contended 

 for with an ardor little short of that which displays itself in the 

 contests of political life, and received with a high sense of their 

 value. I have seen, at the tables of some of the highest noble 

 men in the land, the premiums of agricultural success, exhibited 

 in some form of plate, with more triumph than they would dis 

 play in the brilliant badges of their rank. 



7. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND. The Highland and 

 Agricultural Society of Scotland is an institution of a similar 

 description, and of a longer standing, than the Royal Society of 

 England. It is richly endowed, and as powerfully patronized, 

 and has long rendered itself illustrious by its Journal, published 

 quarterly, in Edinburgh. This Journal, for the ability with 

 which it is managed, and which has been displayed also in the 

 prize essays of the Highland Society, which are always published 

 in connection with the Journal, has certainly no superior. The 

 Scotch have been long distinguished for their acuteness and 

 excellent management ; and the evidences of the justness of their 

 pretensions in these respects, were too obvious and numerous, on 

 my transient visit to the southern portions of Scotland, to leave 

 any doubt of their just claims to the highest reputation. 

 The exhibition of the society at Dundee, the last autumn, was, in 

 the character and condition of its animals, in no respect, in my 

 judgment, inferior to that at Derby, though the Scotch cattle 

 present different varieties from those which are fashionable and 

 most esteemed in England. The short horns and the Leicesters of 

 England would be, as a stock, very poorly adapted to the bleak 

 hills and cold climate of Scotland ; while the hardiness and thrift 

 of the Scotch cattle and sheep show how well suited they are 

 to the homes where they are bred, and whence they are sent, in 

 immense droves, in certain seasons of the year, to the southern 

 portions of the country. The general management of the Scotcli 

 Agricultural Society does not essentially differ from that of the 

 English Royal Agricultural Society. The general exhibition at 

 Dundee passed off much in the same style as at Derby, except 

 ing that I thought the Scotch drank their toasts with a little 

 more heartiness than the English a characteristic of the country- 



