392 



APPENDIX No. 2 



THE ORIGIN OF THE CENTRAL AND ASSOCIATED 

 CHAMBERS OF AGRICULTURE, AND THE 

 EARLIEST DEMAND FOR A MINISTER OF 

 AGRICULTURE. 



The first of the following letters was copied by some of the London 

 Agricultural papers in 1865, and proved the origin of the 

 Central and Associated Chambers of Agriculture. 



Walton, near WakefielcL December 5th, 1865. 



PROPOSAL FOR A FARMERS' LEAGUE, OR CENTRAL 

 CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE. 



SIB, The idea of a general meeting in London of deputations 

 from all the Farmers' Clubs and Agricultural Societies in the 

 Kingdom, to consider the questions arising out of the Cattle 

 Plague which I had the pleasure of suggesting and proposing 

 to the members of the Wakefield and West Riding Farmers' 

 Club having been so well received throughout the country, 

 ind vices me (after mentioning it to a few friends) to venture upon 

 another subject which has for some years appeared to my mind 

 to be a great want, and which (if properly carried out) would 

 tend greatly towards the efficient management of agricultural 

 affairs. My present suggestion is embraced in the title of "A 

 Farmers' League." The means of forming such an Association 

 are so ready to hand that I almost wonder it has not been carried 

 out long ago. I would adopt the same plan as suggested for the 

 Cattle Plague Meeting, viz., forming the Chairman and Secre- 

 taries, for the time being, of every Farmers' Club and Society 

 with such other members as it may be found desirable to enrol 

 into one central " Farmers' League or Association," each Club 

 paying, say, 5 5s. to the funds of the League annually, which 

 (as there are some 400) would give at once about 2000 per 

 annum. With such pecuniary means and such extensive influence 

 capable of being exerted at any moment over the whole country, 

 and brought to bear with all its force upon any and every measure 

 affecting the farmer, it cannot but be evident, I think, that the 

 agricultural interest would thereby have a power ready at com- 

 mand which it does not possess at present, simply because there 

 is no organisation ; each Club exhausts its influence locally 



