360 HIGH FARMING, 1837-1874 



standard of excellence to which farming has attained throughout 

 the kingdom has been to a considerable extent the work of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society. For more than seventy years it has been the 

 heart and brain of agriculture. The local associations which now 

 compete with it in popularity are in great measure its own creations, 

 and it can contemplate with pride, unmixed with envy, the sturdy 

 growth of its own children. 



From 1840 to 1901, Queen Victoria was the patron, and to Her 

 Majesty's patronage the Society owed much of its prestige and con- 

 sequent utility. It has been said that " agriculture " is " the pursuit 

 of kings " ; yet the feeling certainly had existed that farming was 

 beneath the dignity of gentry. Fortunately for British farming, 

 landlords have had a truer perception of their territorial duties as 

 well as of their pecuniary interests. In taking the lead they have 

 made a vast outlay of private capital. Windsor, Osborne, Balmoral, 

 Sandringham, and the home-farms of large landowners have set 

 the fashion, and afforded the model, to hosts of agriculturists. They 

 have helped not only to raise the standard of British farming, but 

 also to make a costly industry a fashionable yet earnest pursuit. 

 A detailed history, for instance, of the Windsor farms would epito- 

 mise the history of agricultural progress in the nineteenth century. 

 Roads were laid out. Liebig's discovery that warmth is a saving of 

 food was acted upon, and substantial buildings were erected, designed 

 to economise the expense and labour of cattle-feeding, and at the 

 same time to preserve manure from waste or impoverishment. 

 Skilfully selected herds of pure-bred Shorthorns, Herefords, and 

 Devons were formed ; quantities of food were purchased ; the soil 

 was drained on scientific principles ; the arable land, for the most 

 part a stiff clay, was ameliorated and enriched by high farming ; 

 the latest inventions in implements or machinery were tested and 

 adopted ; the grass-lands were improved by experiment and careful 

 management ; a model dairy, designed to meet the exacting require- 

 ments of modern sanitation and convenience, was erected ; and, to 

 supply the milk, a pure-bred herd of Jersey cattle was formed which 

 soon became one of the most celebrated in the country. 



The work which the Royal Agricultural Society was established 

 to do was not done by it alone. Other societies, as well as associa- 

 tions and farmers' clubs, assisted in spreading scientific and practical 

 knowledge of farming. Among many other useful writers on the 

 subject the Rev. W. L. Rham, Youatt, James Johnston, Henry 



