HONORARY SECRETARIES. 517 



no trouble too great if he could in the slightest degree 

 promote the important objects which the Society had in 

 view. Mr Hope Johnstone acted till the General Meeting 

 on 14th January 1851, w^hen his resignation was reported, 

 and a resolution was adopted recording the sense of the 

 meeting of the value of his services, and the regret with 

 which his resignation had been received. Mr Hope John- 

 stone died in 1876. 



VI. Sir John Stuart Forbes of Pitsligo, Bart., was 

 elected at the General Meeting on 14th January 185 1. On 

 considering the most eligible person to recommend as 

 successor to Mr Hope Johnstone, the Directors unani- 

 mously looked to Sir John. He had invariably taken an 

 active part and warm interest in all that concerned the 

 Society. On the death of Mr Innes of Stow in 1832, he 

 was appointed Treasurer, which office he held till 1847, 

 when it was resigned by him in consequence of his absence 

 from Scotland. Sir John resigned the office of Honorary 

 Secretary in 1859, and at the General Meeting on 19th 

 January that year, the meeting resolved to record its sense 

 of the value of his services, and the regret with which his 

 resignation has been received. Sir John died in 1866. 



VH. The Right Hon. Sir George Clerk of Penicuik, 

 Bart., was elected at the General Meeting on 19th January 

 1859. Sir George acted worthily and well, and invariably 

 took the deepest interest in agriculture and in natural 

 science^ till his death in 1867. At the first General Meet- 

 ing thereafter — 15th January 1868 — a resolution of the 

 Directors, recording their deep regret, and expressing their 

 sense of the valuable assistance which the Society had for 

 many years received from Sir George as Honorary Secre- 

 tary, and as a member of the Council on Agricultural 

 Education, was read and adopted by the meeting, and 

 ordered to be engrossed. 



Vni. Sir William Stirling-Maxwell of Polloc 

 and Keir, Bart., M.P., was appointed Honorary Secretary at 

 the General Meeting on 15th January 1868. Sir William 

 was well known as an accomplished author, a man of great 

 taste, and a zealous agriculturist. His stock of Clydesdale 



