FARMER 



3087 



FARNBOROUGH 



An important farm colony was 

 founded at Lasswade, near Edin- 

 burgh, by Sir Robert Philip, in 

 1910. Known as the Royal Vic- 

 toria Farm Colony, in four years 

 it passed out 88 fit men to em- 

 ployments, who had entered it hi 

 various stages of disablement and 

 disease. In 1920 it was proposed 

 to establish a colony for sailors and 

 soldiers suffering from tuberculosis, 

 and 115 acres were acquired at 

 Frimley, Surrey. See Land Settle- 

 ment; Small Holdings. 



Farmer. One who farms land, 

 an agriculturist. Originally the word 

 had a different meaning, referring 

 to one who collected the taxes by 

 contract. The farmer collected as 

 much as he could, but paid over a 

 fixed sum, called the firma, to the 

 king. There was a system of this 

 kind in Rome ; it was done by the 

 sheriffs in medieval England. The 

 word was used later for one who 

 took over a piece of land, paying 

 a fixed sum for the right to culti- 

 vate it, and this is the modern 

 sense. See Agriculture ; Farm. 



Farmer, JOHN (1835-1901). 

 British musician. Born at Not- 

 tingham, Aug. 16, 1835, he studied 

 music at Leip- 

 zig and Coburg, 

 and afterwards 

 taught it at 

 Zurich. In 1862 

 he settled at 

 Harrow, and in 

 1864 was made 

 music master 



at the school. 



John Farmer, From 1885 un- 

 British musician ta his death 



Elliott &Fry he wag Qrgan . 



ist of Balliol College, Oxford, 

 where he arranged Sunday even- 

 ing concerts and founded the 

 Musical Society. He died July 17, 

 1901. In addition to his song 

 tunes, Farmer wrote oratorios and 

 edited a volume of songs for 

 soldiers and sailors, and another 

 for children. 



Farmer, JOHN BRETLAND (b. 

 1865). British botanist. Born at 

 Atherstone, April 5, 1865, and 

 educated at Magdalen College, Ox- 

 ford, he was demonstrator in 

 botany to the university, 1887-92, 

 when he became assistant professor 

 of biology at the royal college of 

 science, S. Kensington. In 1895 

 his chair was made independent, 

 and he became professor of botany. 



Farmer- General. Member of 

 a financial organization in France 

 under the monarchy, who, in con- 

 sideration of payment of an 

 agreed sum to the government, 

 secured the privilege of collecting 

 taxes. The system, based upon 

 that of the Roman publicani (q.v. ), 

 seems to have been in existence in 



France in the 14th century and 

 was firmly established in the 16th. 

 In the general reform of fiscal 

 methods which followed the Revo- 

 lution the farmers- general were 

 abolished. 



Farmer Labour Party . Ameri- 

 can political party. Organized in 

 Chicago in July, 1920, it ran as its 

 candidate for president at the 

 election of that year Parley P. 

 Christensen, of Salt Lake City, 

 Utah. As its name implies, it was 

 in the main composed of radical 

 farmers from the West, dissatisfied 

 with "Wall Street" and the 

 general financial system, and 

 Labour extremists, and it aroused 

 special interest as 

 representing for the ' 

 first time in Ameri- | 

 can politics a 

 separate party of 

 this kind. 



Farmers' Alli- 

 ance. Political 

 party in the U.S. A. 

 It began about 1873 

 when societies of 

 the kind were es- 

 tablished in Texas 

 and other states, 

 the movement 

 being the successor 

 of that known as 

 the Grange. In 

 1882 some of these 

 associations banded themselves 

 together in a national society, and 

 in 1889 the name of National 

 Farmers' Alliance and Industrial 

 Union was taken. It consisted 

 mainly of farmers of the South, and 

 the adopted programme included 

 many changes for the benefit 

 of the farming interest. The 

 alliance took an active part in 

 politics, especially at the elections 

 of 1890. In general it supported 

 the Democrat candidates, but it 

 secured seats for some of its own 

 nominees, and controlling power in 

 Kansas and Nebraska. In 1914 it 

 represented about 3,000,000 farm- 

 ers, and had a programme which 

 included the restriction of immi- 

 gration and the free distribution of 

 seed. See Grange Party ; Populist 

 Party. 



Farmers' Club. -London club 

 founded in 1842. Affording a con- 

 venient social centre for those in- 

 terested in agriculture, it is housed 

 at 2, Whitehall Court, S.W. The 

 term is also often applied to the co- 

 operative trading societies formed 

 under the auspices of the Agricul- 

 tural Organization Societies of 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland. 

 See Agricultural Organization. 



Farmer's Dynamite. Explo- 

 sive of the gelatine dynamite 

 type. It was specially manufac- 

 tured to provide a mild, cheap ex- 



plosive which would be suitable fo 

 breaking up sub-soil, uprootin 

 tree stumps, and similar agricu 

 tural purposes. It is a mixture o 

 about 40 p.c. of nitroglycerine 

 gelatinised with nitrocellulose, 

 p.c. of dry wood meal, 40 p.c. o 

 sodium nitrate, and a small propor 

 tion of magnesium carbonate. 



Farnborough. Urban dist. an 

 parish of Hampshire, England. ] 

 is 33 m. S.W. of London, on th 

 S.E. & C., and L. & S.W. Rlys. 

 mausoleum attached to S. Michael' 

 Roman Catholic church, built by 

 the Empress Eugenie, contains th 

 remains of Napoleon III, the Princ 

 Imperial, and the empress herself 



Farnborough, Hampshire. The mausoleum among the 



trees where Napoleon III, Empress Eugenie, and the 



Prince Imperial are buried ; it was erected in 1887 



For many years the exiled lady 

 lived at Farnborough Hill. Within 

 the Aldershot area, Farnborough 

 contains north camp, and early in 

 the 20th century Farnborough Com 

 mon was chosen as the site of the 

 Royal Aircraft Factory. Here, too, 

 is a large aerodrome. Pop. 14,200. 

 Another Farnborough is a village 

 in Kent, 4m. S.E. of Bromley (pop. 

 3,210), and there are Farnboroughs 

 in Berkshire and Warwickshire. 



Farnborough , THOMAS ERSKINE 

 MAY, BARON (1815-86). British 

 historian. Born in London, Feb. 8, 

 1815, he was 

 educated at 

 Bedford Gram- 

 mar School. In 

 1831 he be- 

 came an assist- 

 a n t in the 

 library of the 

 House of Com- 

 mons, and in 

 1838 was called 

 to the bar. In 



1846 he was made an examiner of pri- 

 vate bills ; in 1847 a taxing master, 

 and in 1856 a clerk assistant to the 

 House. In 1871 he was appointed 

 clerk of the House of Commons, and 

 he retired in April 1886, dying in 

 London a month later, May 1?. He 

 had been knighted in 1886, and was 

 made a peer a few days before his 

 death. He left no heir. Erskine 



T. Erskine May, 

 Baron Farnborough 



