AGRICULTURE UNDER FREE TRADE, 1846-96. 37 



still more remarkable has been the improvement in their 

 general character. Among the sciences to which agri- 

 culture has been indebted mention should be made of 

 physiology and, particularly, veterinary science. To a 

 fuller grasp of scientific principles is probably attributable 

 the great development of early maturity, and conse- 

 quently of economical meat production. It is sometimes 

 doubted whether a knowledge of the principles of breeding 

 farm stock has really advanced greatly beyond what was 

 known and practised by Collings, Bakewell, and other 

 heroes of the last century, but there can be no doubt 

 whatever that there has been a wide diffusion of 

 knowledge and a general levelling-up of the character of 

 the farm stock of the country. One striking fact — at 

 once a cause and an effect of this tendency— is the multi- 

 plication of societies for the publication of breed registers 

 and the protection of the interests of particular breeds. 

 The Shorthorn Herd Book dates from 1822 and the 

 Hereford Herd Book from 1845, but with these exceptions 

 and that of the Thoroughbred Stud Book, I believe all the 

 present breed-register societies have come into existence 

 since 1846, and most of them within the last twenty 

 years. 



The extension of dairying has been alluded to, but 

 mention might also be made of the equally remarkable 

 development of other branches of farming, which fifty 

 years ago would hardly have been recognised as coming 

 within the scope of agriculture, such as the cultivation 

 of fruit and vegetables, and the keeping of poultry. 



Time fails to refer to other points, such, for instance, 

 as the crowding-out of the class of yeoman farmers, and 

 still more the wholesale migration of labourers from the 

 land. Both these facts, and all they imply, the historian 

 of the period cannot overlook. The dominant fact of 

 the latter half of the period has been the steadily 

 continuous fall of prices. I complete the figures which I 

 have previously given of the price of wheat : — 



