398 



flEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Saturday last, confirmed the report of the Ameri- 

 can engineers. (Cheers.) He might be told that 

 that had nothing to do with agriculture, but he 

 contended that it must add materially to the com- 

 merce of the country, and that the interest of com- 

 merce and agriculture were indissolubly combined. 

 (Cheers.) He was happy to be enabled to ac- 

 knowledge the compliment which had been paid 

 not only to the country of which he was a repre- 

 sentative, but to that of his honorable colleague, 

 Baron Bentinck, nearly one-half of Holland having 

 having been reclaimed from the sea. He was also 

 delighted at being enable to express the gratifica- 

 tion he had felt at the proceedings of the day, 

 and, as had been truly said, that the man who 

 caused two blades of grass to grow where one 

 had only grown before, he was a banefactor to his 

 country, it might be truly said that Mr. Mechi 

 was a great public benefactor, and he was assured 

 that England, with her 44,000 or 45,000 square 

 miles of territory, might easily double the produce 

 of her land if she adopted this system of Mr. Mechi. 

 Sir James Duke, M. P., proposed "The Royal 

 Agricultural Society," feeling the greatest gratifi- 

 cation in doing so, from his knowledge of the good 

 it had conferred on the agricultural body. He 

 was proud to know that a citizen of London had, 

 by his enterprise, shown the agriculturists what 

 might be done by science to improve the land, and 

 he trusted that both that gentleman and the agricul- 

 tural body would reap the advantage of his exer 

 tions. He believed that the recent changes in the 

 commercial policy of the country had benefited 

 other branches of the community, at the expense 

 of the agricultural body ; but he hoped the agri- 

 cultural interest was about to revive and partake 

 of the general prosperity. In conclusion he begged 

 to propose this toast, combining with it the names 

 of Mr. Raymond Barker and Mr. Fisher Hobbs. 

 (Cheers.) 



Mr. Raymond Barker having acknowledged the 

 toast, 



Viscount Ebrington stated that he had been re- 

 quested to propose the toast of "Sanatory Reform," 

 and he did so with great pleasure, as their worthy 

 host had that day shewn them how intimately it 

 was connected with agriculture. It was deeply 

 to be regretted that the refuse of towns was al- 

 lowed to poison the air, and spread disease and 

 contamination abroad, when, by proper manage- 

 ment, it might be made to fertilize and improve 

 the land. The Agricultural Society of England 

 had ottered a prize of £1000 for the discovery of a 

 manure as a substitute for guano, and here they 

 were allowing one of the most valuable of fertiliz- 

 ing agents to be wasted for want of proper man- 

 agement. The noble lord then went on to contend 

 that the sanatory improvement of London had 

 been thwarted by a jealousy of what was called 

 centralization, and an outcry for local government. 

 That local government had hitherto only led to 

 there being half a dozen or more of wards who 

 were always in litigation one with another; and 

 what he wanted to see was consolidation, not cen- 

 tralization, without which no really useful meas- 

 ure could be carried, as at present there were 

 2,500,000 people in London, who would neither 

 govern themselves nor allow others to govern them. 

 (Cheers.) 



Aklerman Chadwick acknowledged the toast, 

 and entered into a variety of details to show the 



advantage of drainage, not only on agricultural 

 produce, but upon the health of man. 



The Earl of Fortescue proposed the health of the 

 chairman, who, he felt, in the words of Mr. Law- 

 rence, might justly be described as one of the 

 greatest benefactors to this country, he having 

 not only caused two blades of grass to grow 

 where one had grown before, but upon land which, 

 previous to his taking it, was a perfect waste. No 

 better exemplification of the benefits Mr. Mechi 

 had conferred on the district could be had than 

 the one he received that morning from the drive* 

 of the carriage in which he came over with his 

 friend Mr. Mark Phillips from the railway station. 

 He (the Earl of Fortescue) having remarked to 

 his friend how well the crops looked as they passed 

 along, the driver of the carriage said, "Ah, sir, it 

 is all owing to that Mr. Mechi. When he first 

 came here the farmers laughed at him, but now 

 they are obliged to improve their farming lest 

 somebody should laugh at them." (Cheers.) 



The toast was drunk with loud applause. 



Mr. Mechi returned thanks for the flattering 

 compliment paid him, though he felt he had done 

 nothing more than perform his duty. He had 

 been met with prejudices — a prejudice which was 

 a bar to all improvement, but he felt assured that 

 the time must come when the farmers would be 

 compelled to improve their system of cultivation. 

 He had lately been down to Lew T es, and had been 

 struck with the poverty of the land between Lon- 

 don and Lewes, through which the railway ran. 

 He had heard at the exhibition a great deal about 

 the fat stock, but he had heard nothing of the lean 

 lands, which, in order to render them valuable, must 

 be farmed like those of Norfolk. If the farmers 

 brought to the exercise of their business more en- 

 ergy, more capital, more skill, and less of preju- 

 dice, they might depend upon it, it would be great- 

 ly to their advantage in a sanatory point of view. 

 London, which stood on a clay basin, surrounded 

 by chalk hills, would be greatly benefited by effi- 

 cient draining, whilst the drainage might be made 

 advantageous to the country. His land had been 

 drained on the plan of Mr. Fowler, which rendered 

 any large excavations unnecessary, his drain-pipes 

 being forced through the land by the aid of ma- 

 chinery, and a knife connected with the pipes, 

 which, though it cut the land, left scarcely any 

 mark behind it, a plan which might be generally 

 adopted with advantage. He had no doubt that 

 within 100 years the system of high farming would 

 become general, and, by the application of science, 

 increase the returns from the land. (Cheers.) 

 Mr. Mechi then went on to advocate a general sys- 

 tem of education, as laborers, at present, when 

 brought into connection with machinery and steam- 

 power, from the want of education, did not know 

 how to apply it. (Cheers.) 



The health of the foreign visitors were tb.cn 

 drunk, the toast being acknowledged by the Hon. 

 J. L. White, in a most humorous speech, in the 

 course of which he pledged himself as an Ameri- 

 can, and, knowing the feelings of the American 

 people, that the natives of the United States looked 

 on England with the utmost reverence, as the land 

 of their forefathers, and should anything ever oc- 

 cur to place her liberty in danger, she would only 

 have to hint that assistance might lie required, 

 when 500,000 rifles and 500,000 stalwart arma 

 would be ready for her protection. 



