FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



of information upon various branches of agricul- 

 ture, especially that resulting from the Society's 

 investigations. 



No time was lost in giving effect to this varied 

 programme, and ample proof of the practical 

 utility of the work thus carried on over a long 

 series of years is to be found in the very full account 

 of it in the many printed reports issued from time 

 to time by the Society. The Government, as 

 represented first by the Privy Council and after- 

 wards by the Board of Agriculture, fully recog- 

 nized, in reports to Parliament and by grants in 

 aid, the value of the work thus undertaken. 



Some especially important outcomes of the 

 movement, in addition to the land and manure 

 experiments, were the establishment as an im- 

 portant feature of the annual show of a working 

 dairy, in which lectures, demonstrations, testings 

 of new processes and implements, and competi- 

 tions were held ; the organization, by means of 

 schools, of systematic instruction in dairying and 

 farriery ; and the provision of stations for experi- 

 mental and research work in connection with 

 cheese-making, cider-making, etc. 



When, by the Local Taxation Act of 1890, 

 County Councils had funds placed at their dis- 

 posal for the promotion of technical education, 

 several of them appealed to the Society to con- 

 duct dairy schools on their behalf and made 

 monetary grants for the purpose. The Society 

 willingly responded to such appeals either by 

 equipping and conducting schools or by render- 

 ing such help as enabled others to do so. The 

 extent of this development of the Society's work 



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