438 HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



berate consideration of the suggestions in that letter, made 

 a unanimous report against the measure proposed, as being 

 in itself inexpedient, and as one which would speedily 

 absorb every shilling of the Society's capital. Their report 

 was, with the like unanimity, approved of by the following 

 General Meeting (6th July 1835). 



Mr Lewis subsequently published his views more at 

 large, and Mr Nairne of Claremont, at the General Meeting 

 on loth January 1837, moved the appointment of a com- 

 mittee to re-consider the subject. On receiving Mr Nairne's 

 notice of motion, the Directors, who had not seen the 

 second pamphlet, ordered copies of it to be circulated to 

 every member of the Board, preparatory to giving their 

 opinion. At a meeting subsequently held, they again came 

 to the unanimous resolution that, although Mr Lewis de- 

 served every credit for the zeal and talent with which he 

 illustrated his views, there w^as nothing in the additional 

 suggestions to induce them to recommend a decision differ- 

 ent from that taken by their predecessors in 1835. 



Mr Nairne was heard at considerable length in support 

 of his motion. He thought such a farm would be attended 

 w^ith many advantages, and would be an excellent append- 

 age to the professorship of agriculture. Instead of five 

 hundred acres, perhaps one of one hundred, or of fifty or 

 sixty acres might be sufficient in the first instance. After 

 expressing his acknowledgments for the courtesy he had 

 received from the Directors in his communications with 

 them, and thanking the meeting for their attention, he 

 concluded by moving for a committee. 



Professor Low said that he could not look to the pro- 

 ject of forming what was termed an experimental farm, 

 under the auspices of the Society, with any hope of a 

 favourable result. Experimental farms had been tried in 

 many countries in Europe ; and experimental farms had, 

 one and all, ended in disappointment. Nor could any other 

 result be anticipated. Good husbandry does not consist in 

 a set of experiments, but in the wise application of know- 

 ledge already acquired. Experiments were the exception, 

 and not the rule, of successful tillage, and a farm conducted 



