THE FARMERS' CLUB 



so much in those thirty years that I could not find 

 a single sentence in my father's essay that fur- 

 nished me with any useful argument for my own 

 case, which was a good thing, as it left me to deal 

 with the subject from the standpoint of my own 

 personal experiences. I did not confine myself 

 to the show side of agricultural societies, but 

 brought Farmers' Clubs, Chambers of Agriculture, 

 Breed Societies, and other organizations within 

 the scope of the paper. It resulted in a very 

 interesting and animated discussion, in which 

 such practical representatives of the national 

 industry as the late Lord Jersey, Jas. Howard, 

 Clare Sewell Read, H. M. Jenkins (Secretary of 

 the Royal Agricultural Society), John Treadwell, 

 Major Craigie, Sir Walter Gilbey, and other 

 shining lights took part. I had several conten- 

 tions to meet in my reply, but nothing that, 

 according to my own reckoning, I could not fully 

 answer. In 1855 my father's health, as the reader 

 of the prize essay, was duly honoured and re- 

 sponded to at the annual dinner of the Oxford 

 Club, and in 1885 history repeated itself, for, 

 on the night after the reading, I was on my legs 

 at the London Club dinner following my father's 

 example, though I have no silver cup to show 

 for it. However, I was well-content with such 

 kudos as the agricultural world and its press were 

 good enough to bestow upon me. 



Later on, at the beginning of the present 

 century agricultural societies and their methods 

 were a good deal criticized, furnishing texts for 

 many discourses in the public press and elsewhere. 

 It used to be said that every man could, or thought 



177 N 



