726 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION M. 
to the Forfarshire Agricultural Association in 1853. Speaking of his own farm- 
ing ancestors, Mr. Stuart describes how his grandfather had been made heir to six 
relatives all in one month by the ambitions of Prince Charlie, and had to begin 
farming on his own account at seventeen; but before he settled to the plough 
he had wrestled hard with his books, had committed his Latin grammar to 
memory, and, as was then the custom in the better schools, had been wont to 
address the dominie in the Latin tongue. ‘There were many such farmers then 
as he,’ says Mr. Stuart, ‘reading their Livy to their breakfast and having a tilt 
at the fencing-foils in the evening with the young fellows. . . . After the fashion 
of the times he kept open house and I heard all the good and the bad of the new 
schools just opened discussed a thousand times over by his visitors, many of them 
retired farming officers, who had seen much in other countries and in a rough 
enough way, and who did a great deal in spiriting on improvements.’ These 
men, representatives as a rule of a minor branch of some powerful family, fought 
when the country was at war and farmed when there was peace; they exercised 
a considerable influence on the development of agriculture, especially in the 
Highlands. 
The second of the local Scottish societies, existing before 1745, was that 
established by an enlightened landowner, John Cockburn of Ormistown, in East 
Lothian. Robertson, in his ‘Rural Recollections,’ gives July 18, 1736, as the 
date of its formation. With Cockburn were associated Sir John Dalrymple and 
other country gentlemen. From a reference made to their meetings by Henry 
Home, it would appear that in this Society we have the origin of the ‘farmers’ 
dinner.’ Home counsels landlords to ‘convene’ tenants once a year to a ‘ hearty 
meal’ at which they were to be instructed in new methods of husbandry. ‘It 
was by such means,’ he adds, ‘ that the late John Cockburn of Ormistown pro- 
moted emulation and industry among his people.’ But Cockburn did not confine 
himself to an annual dinner. Monthly meetings were held for the discussion of 
agricultural improvements, and these were much appreciated not only by Cock- 
burn’s tenants but by neighbouring landowners like the Earl of Stair and the 
Duke of Perth, who attended regularly. Tven the *45 did not suppress these 
monthly meetings, and after Preston Pans the Duke of Perth was mindful 
enough of Ormistown to send troops to protect the members, so that they might 
quietly continue their criticisms of Tull and their appreciations of turnips. For 
which action, had Prince Charlie retained his hold on Scotland, the Duke might 
have been created first Chairman of the Scottish Board of Agriculture, a Depart- - 
ment of State of which, even then, men were beginning to dream! 
Maxwell tells us that the Dublin Society (established 1731) was formed in 
imitation of the Society of Improvers. It is clear when Arthur Young wrote that 
to the Dublin Society ‘belongs the undisputed merit of being the father of all 
similar societies now existing in Europe’ he meant that it was the oldest of 
existing agricultural societies, and not the first society of its kind. The Dublin 
Society soon after its formation received a Government grant and could therefore 
spend much more on its work than its Scottish prototype. Time will not permit 
of a reference to the work of this Society; but mention may be made of the 
experimental farm established by the unfortunate John Wynn Baker, under its 
auspices. The farm was started in 1764 and continued until about 1770, Schemes 
were drawn up by Baker in consultation with the Society, and an annual grant 
of 2001. was made in support of the experiments; two volumes giving the results 
were issued. Baker was, as Arthur Young says, ‘a very ingenious man’ who 
worked hard for the Society, made experiments in agriculture, recorded 
meteorological information, manufactured implements, and wrote essays; but he 
lived in poverty and ‘broke his heart’ because of the Society’s treatment of 
him. Young and he proiected a literary partnership, but Baker’s views on 
authorship could not be reconciled to the demands of fhe publishers of the time, 
and it was not until after Baker’s death that Young realised in his ‘ Annals’ 
(1784) the periodical publication which, with Baker, he had tried to start some 
ten years earlier, 
In 1754 the Royal Society of Arts was established, and almost immediately 
afterwards it began to give attention to agriculture. A record of its valuable 
work written by Sir Henry Truman Wood has recently been published in the 
Society’s ‘ Journal.’ 
The same year that saw the formation of the Royal Society of Arts brought 
