288 



Royal Agricultural Society. 



Vol. IX. 



Royal Agricultural Society. 



The following remarks of our friend Henry Colman, 

 which we find in the second number of his Agricultu- 

 ral Tour, will hardly fail to interest all of us who look 

 on the movements of our own Agricultural Societies 

 with that kind of solicitude, which arises from L 

 wish that they may do all the good throughout the 

 country that they possibly can. 



The Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, 

 IS an institution similar to that of the Royal Society 

 of England. It is richly endowed and powerfully pa- 

 tronized. " The exhibition of the Society at Dundee 

 last autumn," says Colman, "was, in the character 

 and condition of its animals, in no respect inferior to 

 that at Derby, though the Scotch cattle present differ- 

 ent varieties from those which are fashionable and most 

 esteemed in England." The general management of 

 the Scotch Agricultural Society does not essentially 

 differ from that of the English Royal Agricultural So- 

 ciety. The general exhibition at Dundee passed off 

 rauch in the same style as at Detbv, e.xcopting that the 

 Scotch were thought to have drunk their toasts with a 

 little more heartiness than the English.— Ed. 



In the continued progress of improvement 

 the Koyal Agricultural Society of Eno-land 

 contributes its full share. This was estab- 

 lished about 1837, and embraces a long array 

 of the highest rank and talent in the king- 

 dom, and a vast body of farmers, landlords, 

 and others interested in Agriculture Its 

 funds are large, arising from donations and 

 an annual subscription of a guinea from each 

 of Its members; but it has received no en- 

 dowment from the government. Its objects 

 comprehend every branch of husbandry and 

 rural economy. It has a central office, or 

 building in Hanover Square, London, where 

 the Secretary of the society resides, and 

 where the council of the society and other 

 members hold weekly and monthly meet- 

 ings, for the management of the business of 

 the society, and the discussion of Agricultu- 

 ral subjects, and the reception of Agricultu- 

 ral information. This conduces very much 

 to the interest felt in the projects and opera- 

 tions of the society, and is the means of dif- 

 fusing a great amount of valuable informa- 

 tion. 



It has begun here the establishment of an 

 agricultural library and museum, which pre- 

 sently must assume a considerable impor- 

 tance, and become curious and useful. The 

 object of the library is to collect the most 

 useful and valuable publications on subjects 

 connected with Agriculture, in all its various 

 and kindred branches, including likewise ge- 

 ology, botany, agricultural chemistry, engi- 

 neering, and manufacturing, as far as ihev 

 are connected with the making of agricultu- 

 ral implements, and the great agricultural 

 operations of draining, embanking, irrigation, 



and other important farming processes. The 

 object of its museum is to exhibit its speci- 

 mens of agricultural productions, which are 

 capable of preservation, seeds, plants, gras- 

 ses, samples of wool, mineral manures," mo- 

 dels and drawings of agricultural imple- 

 ments, and whatever in any way may con- 

 duce to the advancement of the science or 

 practice of agriculture. It is obvious how 

 very important such an establishment must 

 prove, by giving practical men an opportu- 

 nity of inspecting, at their leisure, the most 

 improved subjects of cultivation, the best 

 grains, and the best grasses and vegetables, 

 and, at the same time, the best tools and 

 machines with which to cultivate them. I 

 have often urged the establishment of agri- 

 cultural museums upon my countrymen, es- 

 pecially, in the capitals of the States and of 

 the United States, where the members of the 

 different Legislatures assemble. Coming, 

 as they do, from different and distant parts of 

 the country, they will be enabled to carry 

 home information of the utmost importance 

 to the farmers, besides having their own 

 knowledge advanced, and their own zeal 

 quickened in this great cause. The com- 

 missioner of patents, in Washington, distin- 

 guished by his indefatigable exertions for the 

 advancement of agriculture, has already laid 

 the foundation of such a collection at the 

 metropolis of the country, and in connection 

 with his own department, where models of 

 all patented agricultural machinery are al- 

 ways to be seen. It is to be hoped that the 

 friends of an improved agriculture in the 

 country will encourage and assist him in 

 extending his collection of valuable grains 

 and seeds. There are few ways so little ex- 

 pensive, in which they may render so much 

 service to the country. It would be desira- 

 ble that the Government should enjoin it 

 upon the commanders of all their ship's of 

 war, visiting different parts of the globe, that 

 they should collect and bring home such 

 seeds and plants, and such models of imple- 

 ments, as would be likely to be of use. That 

 universal vegetable, the potatoe, furnishing 

 so much food to man and beast, and scarcely 

 second to any in value, considering the mul- 

 titudes whom it supplies, and the quantity of 

 food it affords, is said to be an importation 

 from South America. The cotton plant, a 

 source of enormous wealth to the country, is 

 likewise esteemed a foreign plant. 



Besides this, the Royal Agricultural So- 

 ciety issues a semi-yearly publication, of va- 

 luable communications and papers, both on 

 the science and practice of agriculture, which 

 fall in its way, or are made to the society in 

 reply to queries proposed for discussion and 

 for information, upon which it offers pre- 



