240 



NATURE 



[October 24, 1912 



chief duty of each subcommittee was, however, to 

 give advice on the means of car.ying out improve- 

 ments. Members were asked to send in an exact 

 statement of their difficulties, and answers were for- 

 warded by the society. If the v,uggestions proved 

 useful, the recipient of advice was expected to report 

 the result for the benefit of his fellow-members. 



The volume of "Select Transactions," published in 

 1743, contains a number of specimens of the questions 

 sent in and the answers supplied. Such subjects as 

 the draining; of boggy land, the use of marl and lime, 

 the effects of seaweed as manure, the cultivation of 

 potatoes, hops, sainfoin, and flax; the feeding of 

 cattle and the employment of steeps for corn were 

 dealt with. Most of the correspondence is with 

 Scotchmen, but occasionally letters from others occur, 

 including an interesting communication from Jethro 

 TuU in which he says that "twenty years ago there 

 was much the same way of tillage in England as is 

 now in Scotland, but it has since been exploded by 

 experience, and the farmers have enriched both the 

 land and themselves by plowing it more than they 

 were wont." Directions for lime-burning are contri- 

 buted by Mr. Lummis, "who came from England and 

 made the Rotheran Plough." The Transactions 

 have an advertisement of this plough, from which it 

 appears that the Earl of Stair had sent one of his men 

 to be taught by " the best Plough and Wheel-Carriage 

 Wrights in England," and that Rotheran ploughs of 

 very superior workmanship were being made at New- 

 liston, West Lothian. The Earl of Stair further laid 

 agriculturists under obligation by introducing turnips, 

 cabbages, and carrots as field crops, and he bred 

 very good Galloway cattle. Another notable man 

 among these- early improvers was the Earl of Islay, 

 who gave special attention to the cultivation of peaty 

 soils and succeeded in producing good corn and grass 

 on land previously thought to be of little value. He 

 also planted extensively, and, according to Max- 

 well, introduced the larch, among other trees, to 

 Scottish foresters. 



The society did not confine its attention exclusively 

 to agriculture. It noted a natural connection between 

 the agricultural and fishing industries, and did much 

 to promote the latter, thus establishing an early prece- 

 dent for the association of agriculture with fisheries 

 for administrative purposes. Manufacturers, too, were 

 encouraged, and in this connection there stands out 

 the name of the Duke of Hamilton, who moved the 

 following "Overture " : "That all of you and all under 

 your Influence, should, for Examples to others, buy- 

 no foreign Linen for Shirting, Bed-linen, or any other 

 Household-furniture ; and that vou should propagate 

 to the utmost of your power the wearing of home- 

 made stamped Linen." The consequence, we are in- 

 formed, was that "even at Publick Assemblies of Per- 

 sons of the greatest Distinction, the whole Company 

 appeared dressed in Linen of our own Manufacture." 

 The Duke's success with linen led him next to propose 

 a resolution against the drinking of foreign spirits, so 

 that the great sum annuallv sent to France for brandy 

 might be kept at home ! The consequences were not 

 so immediately noticeable as in the case of linen, for 

 the local records of the east of .Scotland show that the 

 smuggling of French brandy was a verv profitable 

 trade throughout the eighteenth century. It is, how- 

 ever, the case that at a later date the Duke's advice 

 was followed, for not only linen but liquor of native 

 manufacture came to be anpreciated, "even at Pub- 

 lick .Assemblies of persons of the greatest Distinction " ; 

 at .Tssemblies, moreover, on both sides of the Tweed ! 



During the twentv-two vears of its existence the 

 Honourable .Society of Improvers became a powerful 

 and important body. Its influence, it should be noted, 



NO. 2243, VOL. 90] 



was obtained by educational methods, for its funds 

 were small, it had no State subsidy, as had the Irish 

 Society, it offered no premiums, but it drew together 

 in the cause ot agricultural improvement many of the 

 most prominent Scotchmen of the period, and it un- 

 doubtedly laid the foundations of that successful agri- 

 culture for which Scotland has ever since been noted. 

 In 1743 the society had 299 members, and an examina- 

 tion of the list reveals many well-known names repre- 

 senting all sections of the educated classes of Scot- 

 land, with the notable exception of the clergy. 



Of all the members, those who best deserve our 

 notice are Thomas Hope of Rankeilor, president, and 

 Robert Maxwell of Arkland, editor of the Trans- 

 actions. Mackintosh refers to Hope as a man who 

 had taught improved agriculture to hundreds of his 

 fellow-countrymen. He studied the subject, not only 

 in England, but in France, Flanders, Holland, and 

 other Continental countries, and Maxwell says of him 

 "that it has been much owing to Mr. Hope of Ran- 

 keilor vour Preses, that this Society was entered into 

 and that the Spirit of it rose so high," and adds that 

 he " has been instructing others in the Knowledge of 

 it and been preaching up the publick and private 

 Advantages .irising from it for a continued Tract of 

 more than Twenty Years' Time." Of the spirit which 

 animated Robert Maxwell himself we have ample 

 evidence in the dedication of the "Select Transactions." 

 Reviewing what has been done by the society and 

 considering that which might still be done. Maxwell 

 writes, "since the Case stands thus, how much doth 

 it concern the Publick and every Individual that Agri- 

 culture be encouraged and that the Knoii'led,£:e of it, 

 the efficient Cause of all those inestimable Benefits, 

 should be taught to all who are willing to learn the 

 Principles of this the most useful of all Sciences ; 

 to all who desire to know the secret Causes why some 

 plants enrich, and others impoverish the Ground in 

 which they grow; why different Methods of Hus- 

 bandry produce different Effects; and in general to all 

 who incline to study the Reasons for and against, the 

 different Methods practised? They that do not study 

 Agriculture as a Science do right only by chance, and 

 that rarely happens. Why then should Reason be 

 so little exercised, as generally it is, in this Matter 

 of the greatest Importance?" He then refers to the 

 opinions of Virgil, and to the views expressed by 

 Columella on the subject of teaching agriculture, and 

 he urges the society to take steps to found a pro- 

 fessorship. 



Maxwell proposed that the society should address 

 a memorial to the King on the subject of a professor- 

 ship. "You .arc," he wrote, "a great Body of loyal 

 Subjects and generally of great Distinction, and I 

 humbly think upon a proper Application to his 

 Majesty, you cnuld not fail to have sufficient Influence 

 to get such a Professor or Inspector named or both." 



But, alas ! neither professor nor inspector did Max- 

 well see, for within two years Prince Charles Edward 

 had landed in Scotland, the Marquis of TuUibardine 

 was rallying the Highlanders to the Stuart flatr. and 

 the loyalty of the Honourable Society was subjected 

 to a strain which it could not withstand. Most of the 

 members took the advice of Duncan Forbes and held 

 out for the King, but others, like the Duke of Perth 

 and Lords Cromatie. Balmerino, and Lovat, followed 

 Prince Charlie. When peace was restored, the 

 Honourable .Society, and not a few of its members, 

 had ceased to exist; but the purpose for which it was 

 founded had been achieved, and the spirit of the 

 improver lived on. 



One of the objects of the Honourable Society of 

 Improvers was to develop local societies. Two of 

 these may be traced in Scotland before 1745, one in 



