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CHAPTER IX. 



SCIENCE WITH PRACTICE, 1812 TO 1845. 



If the present century has not proved uniformly pro- 

 sperous to farmers, it has witnessed a miraculous advance 

 in the scientific practice of agriculture. Farming has 

 advanced with gigantic strides. Vast capital has been 

 expended on farm buildings and drainage ; new tracts 

 of land have been brought into cultivation. Steam and 

 machinery have lightened the toil, lessened the cost, and 

 increased the amount of production. Systems of cultiva- 

 tion are better adapted to the requirements of soil and 

 climate ; more live stock is kept, and it is both better bred 

 and better fed. The farmers' resources of crops, winter 

 food, manures, appliances, are infinitely increased. New 

 means of transport and communication bring markets to 

 the remotest door. But the chief improvement has been 

 the diffusion of intelligence and education ; the work in- 

 augurated at the Holkham sheep-shearings has gone on 

 apace. The ' rough-shod race ' no longer despise science. 

 Bucolic life was the pastime of the town, the relaxation of 

 statesmen, the inspiration of poets ; but farmers neither 

 asked nor allowed scientific aid. Now good farming com- 

 bines scientific knowledge with practical experience. The 

 dawn of the new era was marked in 1812 by Davy's lec- 

 tures before the Royal Society, and the adoption by that 

 body of the motto ' Science with Practice.' Progress does 



