60 



Meeting of the Royal Agricultural Socieitj of England. Vol. V. 



Meeting of the Royal Agricultural So- 

 ciety. 



A VALUED friend has put into our hands an 

 English paper, containing' a very interesting 

 account of the late meeting of the Royal Ag- 

 ricultural Society of England, which took 

 place at Cambridge, on the 1-lth and 15th 

 days of July. It was most numerously at- 

 tended, and the business was conducted with 

 perfect order and decorum, although it is sup- 

 posed that 30,000 strangers entered the city 

 of Cambridge, between the hours of five and 

 twelve o'clock on Wednesday. The sum 

 realized for admission into the show-yard dur- 

 ing the exhibition amounted to between 

 £1600 and £1650 sterling, or more by £500 

 than was taken last year at Oxford. 



We feel a great desire to give a bird's-eye 

 view of the fete, but scarcely know where 

 to commence the sketch, knowing too, that 

 the difficulty will be as great in determining 

 where to end : the whole account ought to be 

 given unmutilated, for assuredly, the hoart 

 of every agriculturist must warm, to witness 

 in imagination only, such a multitude, actu- 

 ated by one spirit and one mind, and all en- 

 gaged in the furtherance of an object, that 

 must be dear to the heart of every true-born 

 son of the plough throughout the world. 



The reporter commences with a few re- 

 marks on the importance of the science of 

 agriculture, (without, however, offering the 

 least disparagement to commerce, manufac- 

 tures or the arts) which ought to be pre- 

 served, for they are as applicable to this as to 

 any other countiy. He observes : " But what 

 would become of all the immense masses of 

 people, which trade and commerce have, as 

 it were, forced so recently and so suddenly 

 into existence, if it were not for the astonish- 

 ing progress of our agriculture ? It is from 

 this source that they can alone be fed, in all 

 the vicissitudes of commercial advance and 

 decline ; for it is evident, that no other means 

 of procuring subsistence can be adapted to an 

 increase of population, but the incessant cul- 

 tivation of the soil : this is a point of the 

 greatest political importance, and combines, 

 and ought inseparably to connect this society, 

 with the great moving power of the govern- 

 ment ; for, provided the people be well fed 

 and employed, they cannot increase too ra- 

 pidly. 



Agriculture is the root and trunk of the 

 prosperity of a country — manufactures and 

 commerce are the branches emanating from 

 it — a branch may be blasted or cut off, but 

 whilst the root and trimk are sound and 

 healthy, fresh shoots may be thrown out to 

 supply its place ; but if there be a canker at 

 the root, and the trunk decay, the branches 

 cannot flourish. Statesmen may imagine, 

 that glory consists in extent of territory, the ( 



pomp of state, the greatness of revenue or 

 the terror of arms ; but an accurate know- 

 ledge of mankind should convince them, that 

 true glory can only arise from governing a 

 people, who, being free from the weight of 

 oppression, and reaping the fruits of their in- 

 dustry, rejoice in the happiness of communi- 

 cating to their descendants, the blessings of 

 security and comfort: under these circum- 

 stances, a great population is the safeguard 

 of the country, as well as its greatest glory. 

 In England alone, in the space of eighty 

 years, the population has been doubled ; but 

 to what do we owe this augmentation, but to 

 our capacity of affording this population the 

 means of subsistence ? Commerce, trade and 

 manufactures have undoubtedly brought the 

 largest portion into existence, but it is agri- 

 culture which has been made capable of feed- 

 ing them ! Every encouragement, therefore, 

 which can be given to the fruits and growth 

 of our soil — whether in the shape of bread- 

 corn, cattle, wool, or the other varieties of 

 animal production, which forms so large a 

 portion of the farmer's capital, and assists 

 and remunerates him for the tillage of ihe 

 soil — a calculation too often undervalued and 

 despised by the engineer and manufacturer — 

 is strictly conformable to the constitution of 

 nature, as she seems to provide for an indefi- 

 nite increase of mankind ; and as the fruit- 

 fulness of the earth is likewise indefinite, 

 there seems no rational obstacle to their 

 united advancement, far bej'ond the point 

 hitherto reached in almost any part of the 

 known world. 



The objects of this society are of the high- 

 est national importance, and the powerful 

 means for carrying them into execution, which 

 its extensive organization places at com- 

 mand,* must render it a most efficient instru- 

 ment for the improvement of agriculture, and 

 the increase of national wealth and prospe- 

 rity: but, notwithstanding its boasted pre- 

 eminence in agriculture, England h*, until 

 lately, been far behind our continental neigh- 

 bours in practical improvement — in the sci' 

 entific knowledge applicable to the labours 

 of the husbandman. Ignorance and preju- 

 dice have been, and to a great extent still are, 

 impassable stumbling-blocks in the way of a 

 more complete and extended success; the 

 majority of farms have yet to reap the fruits 

 of an enlarged exercise of skill and know- 

 ledge, and to unlearn many a grievous but 

 long-cherished error, and to get rid of preju- 

 dices as deeply rooted in their minds, as they 

 are opposed to their best interests : time must 

 necessarily be allowed for all this, but pro- 



* Already the Society— in the second year only of its 

 existence— boasts of the names of a great number of 

 the first men of the land ; and it is expected that before 

 the close of the present year, at least 5000 names will 

 be on the list as subscribers. 



