nuYAL SOClETr.] 



i\rODEKX ENGLISH FAlOlJXr^. 



[DnAINAOK. 



. - d did for commcrco — concentrated and 

 (iilFiised knowledge, brought ciistoinors nnd 

 producers into contact, and helped to ex- 

 linguisli prejudices in the excitement of sociul 

 triUherings. Tiioy have carried to provincial 

 cities the best live-stock, the best inipleuientH, 

 :itid the best cultivators. Tiie inlluenco of 

 »v;iinple, of competition, and even of rank and 

 Irishion, has been brought to bear on local 

 obstinacy. Squires have been encouraged to 

 improve their estates by tlio speeches of 

 superior men ; and young noblemen, in want 

 of an object, have found it in agricultural 

 duties. Implement-makers have had the ad- 

 vantage of the suggestions of their customers, 

 and, thus taught and teaching at the same 

 time, have, every year, become more de- 

 pendent on tenants, and less on fancy farmers." 

 As with every institution which is founded 

 •with great objects in view, and which meets 

 with success, there always remains something 

 ■which has not been fully foreseen, and which, 

 in the course of time, gradually develops 

 itself. Thus it happened that, when this 

 society was founded, not one of the promoters 

 foresaw the importance of the machinery de- 

 partment. In the ten sections of its cliarter 

 of incorporation, explaining the objects of the 

 association, implements have only an inci- 

 dental reference, as one of the objects to 

 which scientific men were to be stimulated to 

 direct their attention, in a miscellaneous para- 

 graph, which includes the construction of 

 farm buildings, the application of chemistry to 

 the general purposes of agriculture, the de- 

 struction of insects injurious to vegetable life, 

 and the eradication of weeds. At Oxford, a 

 few manufacturers perceived an opening for 

 procuring customers, and found their way to 

 the " show-yard," notwithstanding the difficul- 

 ties from the absence of that kind of cheap 

 conveyance which is now, happily, placed 

 within the reach of the humblest member of 

 the community at large. One gold medal for 

 a collection of implements, three silver medals, 

 and £5 for a paddle plough for raising 

 potatoes, were all the rewards distributed 

 in 1S39, for what was destined to be the most 

 attractive, as well as the most useful feature 

 of the exhibition of the society. After the 

 meeting at Cambridge, in 1840, the importance 

 of the implement department was acknow- 



ledged; and tho mechanical appliances dis- 

 played, beginning with some three hundred at 

 Liverpool, in 1811, increased at tho rate of 

 about one hundred on every Bucceediug year; 

 until, in 1853, at (51oucehter, they reached 

 their highest point in a total of two thousand. 

 Tho rise and fall of a few hundreds chiefly 

 depends upon tho importance in railway facili- 

 ties of tho town where tho " show" is held ; 

 and tho number of implements cxliibited is 

 not so great a test of tho progress of me- 

 chanical invention as of tho sales which are 

 likely to be effected in any particular district. 

 Tlio annual show is only one of the numcrouB 

 ways which the manufacturers adopt to adver- 

 tise and exhibit their ingenuity of invention, 

 and beauty of workmanship, in producing their 

 mechanical contrivances. The real prize to 

 the maker is the one which brings to his estab- 

 lishment plenty of custom. 



At the show at Bury St. Edmund's, steam- 

 engines and barn machinery constituted the 

 class of implements brought to the test; but 

 one hundred acres of heavy land, and twenty 

 acres of light land, were provided for the per- 

 formances of the steam ploughs. Several new 

 arrangements were made in the show-yard ; 

 .among which we may observe that a fence 

 encircled the horse-ring ; and the horses which 

 gained the prizes were distinguished by a set 

 of numbers, similar to those which gave so 

 much satisfaction at the Yorkshire sho\^ of 

 1SG6. Tho poultry show was revived, and 

 £209 worth of prizes were distributed. 



DRAINAGE.- 

 AVlien the Eoval Society was founded there 

 were about 400 local societies in existence; 

 but they were associations formed rather 

 for the encouragement of the social qualities of 

 life, than for the promotion of the arts by the 

 means of which tlie materials for eating and 

 drinking are increased. The speeches de- 

 livered at these convivial " gatherings" were 

 usually of a highly complimentary character ; 

 and the members congratulated each other 

 upon the pre-eminence which distinguished 

 their own enlightened district. They were, 

 in short, associations apparently formed for no 

 other purpose than that of maintaining local 

 ignorance, rather than of obtaining additional 

 knowledge from practical experiment and 



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