4 AGRICULTURAL WRITERS. 



there can be no doubt that the communication of information through the 

 instrumentahty of books and journals promoted the advancement of the 

 art more than any other means. I do not say that a practical farmer is 

 to take as gospel all he reads in print, but there can be no reason why he 

 should not reflect upon what he reads, make small experiments and 

 extend them according to the value he has found in them. Further 

 powerful influences in promoting this spirit of improvement was the 

 formation of a number of societies for the diffusion of knowledge, the 

 encouragement of correct observations and beneficial discoveries. 

 In 1724 was instituted the Society of Improvers of Agriculture in 

 Scotland. 



The Dublin Society was formed in 1749, and still doing good work in 

 Ireland ; next came the Bath and West of England Society, established 

 in 1777, and the Highland Society of Scotland, in 1784, and both of 

 these great institutions are still going strong in the dissemination of 

 knowledge. Then came the foundation of the Board of Agriculture 

 in 1793, under the presidency of Sir John Sinclair, Bart. By means of 

 this institution great numbers of intelligent practical men were brought 

 forward, who otherwise would probably never have been heard of, and, 

 being professedly concerned in farm management, agriculture generally 

 was rescued from the hands of theorists, and a revolution of no small 

 extent in ways and means was accomplished.^ The numerous surveys 

 of the art as practised in various counties, executed under the authority 

 of the Board, were of singular advantage, for whilst they pointed out 

 obstacles that lay in the way of improvement, they stated the most 

 effectual methods of removing them. In fact, the Board in a few years 

 collected a mass of agricultural information never equalled by the 

 accumulated stores of any other nation, and this good work was continued 

 until 1 8 19, when it was deemed unnecessary by Parliament, and, the 

 annual vote for its support being withdrawn, it ceased to exist, and w^s 

 not again constructed until within the last twenty years. During the 

 period which has elapsed since the last edition of Arthur Young's " Farm 

 Calendar," agriculture has benefited by mechanical ingenuity, by extended 

 resources and individual experiment vastly more than during any similar 

 period of history. No doubt the foundation of our present Royal 

 Agricultural Society, in 1838, had a deal to do with the change as this 

 great institution, including many similar associations now established in 

 every county, has stimulated cultivators, by the offer of prem.iums and 

 other honorary awards ; consequently the whole business is no longer an 

 act of labour, but is a science, and it is generally admitted that the present 

 Board of Agriculture serves to sustain the reputation of its progenitor 

 upon up-to-date methods, and earn the debt of gratitude that cultivators 

 are ready to pay to those who have helped towards their advancement. 



* A list uf these writers will be found in the Bibliography at end of book. 



