AGRICULTURAL DINNER AT SIR ROBERT PEEL S. 



429 



of countenance, if one could be found, to move that a gold medal should be 

 given (not to an officer for killing guerrillas), but to him in each State who should 

 be reported by the State Agricultural Society as the best practical farmer in it ! 

 Yet ours is a popular Republican Government, and Agriculture the great employ- 

 ment and support of the country ; but SO per cent, of its expenses, borne by the 

 land, has been, even in time of peace, on account of its military establishments. 

 Hovp long will farmers continue to stultify and impose upon themselves ? 



Agricultural Order of Merit. — The King of Prussia is about to create an Agricultural 

 Order of Merit. The decoration of the new Order will bear on one side of it the effigy of 

 the Royal Ibuuder, and ou the other the name of the party receiving it, with the legend, 

 " Pour le merite agricole." The Order is to be divided into three classes, and will be gi-ant- 

 ed to cultivators who distinguish themselves in the exercise of their profession, as well as to 

 all such as, by their inventions or writings on subjects applicable to it, sei-ve the cause of 

 Agriculture. This institution seems to be regarded with much favor on the Continent, since 

 it cannot well fail to contribute much to the development of the agi-icultural capabilities of a 

 country in which it is adopted. 



But let us now join the parly at Sir Robert Peel's: 



AGRICULTURAL MEETING AT DRAYTON 

 MANOR. 



On Thursday, the 23d September, a party as- 

 sembled at Drayton Manor, which included the 

 following noblemen and gentlemen : The Earl 

 Talbot, Lord Forester, Lord Hatherton, Sir 

 Francis Lawley, Bart., Capt. Dilke of Maxtoke 

 Castle. Mr. Ed nund Peel, Sir Henry Delabeche, 

 the Dean of Westminster (Dr. Buckland), Dr. 

 Lindley, Dr. Lyon Playfair, Professor Wheat- 

 stone. Mr. Geo. Stephenson, Rev. Mr. Huxtable, 

 Mr. F. Woodward of Comlciston, Mr. Mechi, 

 and Mr. Josiah Parkes. 



On the day following (Friday. Sept. 24), Sir 

 Robert Peel invited to dinner about sixty of the 

 principal occupying- tenants residing in the 

 neighborhood. Dinner was served about two 

 o'clock in the noble Gallery of Portrait.'!, recent- 

 ly completed at Drayton Manor, the whole par- 

 ty being as.sembled. 



Having given, after dinner, the healths of the 

 ftueen and Prince Albert, Sir Robert Peel said 

 he should propo.se only one other toast, the 

 health of the Earl Talbot. Lord Lieutenant of 

 the county. He should purposely abstain from 

 all panegyrics on the private virtues of Lord 

 Talbot, as he trusted the party assembled was 

 about to occupy their time more usefully than in 

 li.stening to an interchange of compliments and 

 eulogiums. He was proud to see the party as- 

 sembled under his roof It comprised many 

 proprietors of the soil distinguished for their zeal 

 in the cause of agricultural improvement, and a 

 large body of occupying tenants eminent for 

 their skill, and respected for their integrity and 

 high character. It comprised also men who had 

 conferred on him by their presence on that day 

 a great honor — men who had rtfi/tiirrd their ■pat- 

 ent of nohilil 1/ by the dcvulion of their /ives to 

 Science, mid by makim^ their taleiitx and, ac- 

 quirements conditcive to the great end of diffux- 

 ing knowledge, and. of practicably improving 

 the condition of their fellow creatures. There 

 ^vas not one of them who would not freely com- 

 municate whatever might be useful or interest- 

 ing to those whom they met on that day. The 

 cultivation of the soil would naturally be the 

 chief topic of conversation, luid he iioped that 

 such men as Mr. Woodwanl, Mr. Mechi, and 

 Mr. Huxtable (not in formal speeches, but in 

 free and unreserved answers to the rjuestions 

 that might be put to them by the farmers pres- 

 ent) would tell them by what means they had 

 (829) 



made barren and exhausted noils prodvctive, 

 and had derived profit from, the application of 

 capital and skill to the improvement of the sozL 

 Sir Robert Peel then proposed the health of 

 Lord Talbot. 



Lord Talbot, in acknowledging the compli- 

 ment, observed that, although a farmer all his 

 life, ho was obliged to admit that he did not 

 know how to grow crops till he this year went 

 into Worcestershire, to visit his friend, Mr. F. 

 Woodward ; and, as that gentleman was pres^ 

 ent, he hoped that he \vould explain, for the in- 

 formation of the meeting, the principles on 

 which he so conducted his farm as to be able to 

 grow the splendid crops he had witnessed, for 

 he thought that his wheat would this year aver- 

 age 50 bushels per acre. 



Mr. Woodward said that although unaccus- 

 tomed to public speaking, and feeling diffidence 

 in addressing an audience consisting of some of 

 the most intelligent and scientific men that Eng- 

 land can boast of, he would endeavor to give 

 the meeting the result of his practical exjjeri- 

 ence of 20 years as an agriculturist. In his opin- 

 ion, thorough-draining was the foundation of all 

 good husbandry, without which maniires and 

 .•ikill are thrown away. Some undrained land 

 had come into his occupation — heavy land, which 

 only produced lOJ bushels of wheat per acre ; 

 he uumediately drained it 3 feet deep, subsoiled 

 it, dressed it with burnt clay, and ihefir.'^t year 

 obtained from it ,')1 bnsheh. He regarded the 

 extensive burning of clay land as a most im- 

 portant practice. It rendered the soil so much 

 more friable and convertible, and enabled the 

 farmer to work it with much less horse labor. — 

 The effect.'! of burnt clay upon all green crops 

 were wondeiful — a most important fact, which 

 could not be too strongly impressed upon the 

 mind, as being very essential to the growth of 

 corn, especially when consumed upon the land 

 by sheep, eating at the same time a little oil-cake 

 or refuse corn. He had not, however, found ad- 

 vantage in the use of Italian rye-gras.i, which 

 he thought undeserving the praise it had re- 

 ceived. The treadini; of sheep was highly ad- 

 vantageous to the Wheat crop, provided the 

 land was thoroughly drained and, snbaoilcd. — 

 In order to secure the reiiuisite amount of press- 

 ure, he had not only employed she(!p but horses, 

 or even men, who he found could tread down 

 land for Is. 6d. an acre. He had also found ad- 

 vantage, under some circumstances, in the use 



