THE PLACE OF RURAL ECONOMY 

 IN A UNIVERSITY CURRICULUM 



IT is a time-honoured custom in this, as in other 

 Universities, for the new occupant of a Chair to be 

 privileged to address those interested in his department 

 on some phase of the subject that has been entrusted 

 to his direction. Naturally he regards the occasion as 

 furnishing a favourable opportunity for reviewing the 

 past, discussing the present, or forecasting the future ; 

 and, guided by the particular circumstances of the case, 

 he attempts to interest his audience in the life and work 

 of the founder, in the historical developments of his 

 subject, or in his own aspirations as to the growth and 

 progress of his department. My own inclinations lead 

 me towards an attempt to outline possible developments 

 in Rural Economy as a subject of instruction and re- 

 search within this University ; but before doing so it 

 may be well to look backwards and see what has 

 already been done, and outwards, and see what others 

 are doing. 



The post which I have the honour to occupy was 

 founded and endowed by Professor Sibthorp in the 

 year 1796. Four years previously a similar post had 

 been created in the University of Edinburgh, and these 

 two Chairs served the wants of the country till 1842, 

 when the Royal Agricultural College was founded at 

 Cirencester. The closing decade of the eighteenth 



