SECTION M—AGRICULTURE, 
THE CHANGING OUTLOOK IN 
AGRICULTURE. 
ADDRESS BY 
SIR BE. JOHN RUSSELL, D.Sc., F.R.S., 
PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 
Our survey of the changing outlook in agriculture must begin somewhat 
earlier than the 100 years over which we are this week looking back. The 
system of agriculture which dominated Great Britain till recently was 
developed in the eighteenth century, when the great landowners, such 
as Lord Townshend and Coke of Norfolk, had brought in new crops, 
- devised new rotations, and, above all, had shown how to combine the 
production of human food and animal food in one system—the best the 
world had yet seen. There was as yet no definite agricultural education, 
and no organised agricultural shows, but the more enlightened landowners 
invited farmers periodically to such gatherings as the Holkham or Woburn’ 
sheep shearings, where new things could be seen and talked about. Much 
of medieval England remained ; it was essentially an agricultural country, 
governed by the landowning class, and almost entirely self-supporting in 
the matter of food production. 
Agricultural progress continued during the prolonged wars against the 
French Republic and Empire, when prices rose to abnormal heights. 
- Many landowners and farmers spent on the land much of the money which 
_ they received so bountifully in war-time, when wheat stood for three 
_ years at average prices of £5 6s. Od. to £6 6s. Od. per quarter. There were 
other contributory causes besides the rise of prices. Encouraged by the 
writings of Arthur Young and others, local agricultural societies were 
springing up and organising their own shows, which were more educative 
than the rather condescending demonstrations of the great patrons, whose 
day was over. Farmers, too, were beginning to travel. Many a young 
man took Arthur Young’s advice, repeated in each edition of his ‘ Farmer’s 
Calendar,’ that, after having safely got in his hay, and while waiting for 
his corn, he should ‘take his nag for a summer tour, to view some farms 
in well-cultivated counties and to introduce himself to the conversation 
of his intelligent brethren, from whom he will be sure to learn something 
useful.’ This educative travel was stimulated by the great improvement 
in the roads at this time. Till late in the eighteenth century England was 
! The first Woburn sheep shearing was in June 1797, in the time of Duke Francis. 
Arthur Young says: ‘It continued to be held in the same month every succeeding 
_ year, but with increasing numbers and éclat, till it became at last by far the most 
‘espectable agricultural meeting ever seen in England, that is, in the whole world— 
attended by nobility, gentry, farmers and graziers from various parts of the three 
Kingdoms, from many countries in Europe, and also from America.’ ‘The well-known 
print refers to this later time ; Duke John is there the central figure. 
