1 



1844] 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



H \ 





m 







p.m., his Grace the Duke of Richmond, K.G., President, 

 in the chair. The following members were present :— 

 The Marquis of Downshire, Earl Spencer, Col. Chal- 

 loner, Dr. Hamel, Rev. James Linton, Sir Robert 

 Price, Bart., Capt. Randolph, Professor Sewell, Rev. J. 

 R. Smythies, Sir Harry Verney, Bart., and Messrs. B. 

 Almack, W. Astbury, John Alraack, D. Barclay, M.P 

 Thomas Raymond Barker, H. Blanshard, W. R. Browne' 

 John Beck, S. Wood Blake, John Beasley, Donald 

 Barclay, Thomas Bennett, H. W. Beauford, Charles 

 Barclay, E. H. Baldock, R. W. Baker, G. Burnard, A 

 J. Brown, C. R. Colvile, M.P., Henry Colman, John 

 Clover, George Cottam, A. \V. Crouch, Robert Cobb, 

 F. C. Cherry, Joseph Druce, Samuel Druce, R. Davey 

 James Dean, John Ellman, Thomas Ellman, B. Edging- 

 ton, P. Fearnhead, Thomas Fowler, R. Fulshaw, Wil- 

 liam Greaves, H. J. Grant, John Griffith, G. Griffin, 

 W. H. Hyett, W. Hankin, W. Fisher Hobbs, W. Hol- 

 bech, C. Wren Hoskyns, C. Hillyard, H. Holding, 

 Thomas Jones, John Kinder, George Kilby, Fielder 

 King, Thomas Knight, John Kendle, Edward Lawford 

 William Miles, M.P., Thomas Mount, Richard Mil- 



861 



tn^nS S! "SSf^"?' ^ «tfw«d. of that depart: (Signed) t. r. ^^c^^^^^^~ 



ward, W. harden, Charles North, H. Overman, A 

 Ogilvie, Henry Paget, Josiah Parkes, C.E., W. H. Potl 

 ter, H. Price, J. Allen Ransome, R. A. Slaney, Thomas 

 Stone, Albany B. Savile, William Stace, Richard Smith 

 J. Scales, W. P. Salter, John Villiers Shelley, M. H. 

 Shuttleworth, William Shaw, S. Reynolds Solly, Samuel 

 Solly, W. Skirting, H. Smith, J. Holt Stanway, J. H. 

 Turner, C. J. Tower, Thomas Tweed, John Thompson, 

 W.Trinder, J. C.Thorpe, Thomas Umbers, John Wood, 

 and J. A. Williams. 



The Secretary, by direction of the President, read 



the Report of the Council to the General Meeting : 



Report.— The Council have again the satisfaction of 

 reporting to the Members, at their present General 

 Meeting, the effective state of the Society in every 

 branch of its operations, and the continued influx of new 

 members from all parts of the kingdom. The commu- 

 nications of practical results in farming, furnished by 

 correspondents from the various localities of the country, 

 and again disseminated among the Members by means of 

 the Journal ; the increasing extent and importance of 

 the Annual Country Meetings, at which not only the 

 agricultural community have the immediate advantages 

 of personal communication and direct interchange of ex- 

 perience on farming topics of common interest to all, 

 but where from year to year specimens of the most 

 PI 



approved breeds of cattle are in succession exhibited to 

 their notice, and the rapid improvements now made in 

 the implements of husbandry submitted to their inspec- 

 tion, and their real value brought at once to the test of 

 practical trial: form the leading points on which the 

 Council have to congratulate the Members, as evidences 

 of the progressive advancement of the Society in tbe ful- 

 filment of its various objects. In the application of 

 science to the improvement of agriculture as an art, the 

 Council are fully aware that the results will only be con- 

 clusive and satisfactory in proportion to the perfection 

 of the particular science itself, whose principles are pro- 

 posed for the regulation of agricultural practice. The 

 laws of mechanics being simple and determinate, their 

 application to the improvement of the principles on 

 which the machines and implements of agriculture may 

 be most economically effected, has been attended with 

 results correspondingly decisive in their character ; but 

 while the simple and well-established principles of inor- 

 ganic chemistry may with confidence be expected to serve 

 as safe guides in leading us to a knowledge of the pro- 

 perties of every variety of soil, and the means of their re- 

 quired modification to particular objects, any new light to 

 be thrown upon agriculture by organic chemistry, a less 

 perfect branch of the science, must as yet be received 

 with greater diffidence, though it ultimately promises 

 the most important results. The Council are convinced 

 that the perfection of agriculture as a science, or farming 

 as an art, is only to be attained by the establishment of 

 scientific principles derived from practice, and their ju- 

 dicious application under the given circumstances and 

 conditions of each particular case of climate, soil, or as- 

 pect. While, however, they deem this caution requisite 

 in exposition of the practical objects and character of 

 the Society, they witness with great satisfaction the rapid 

 advances made by the distinguished chemists of the pre- 

 sent day in that comparatively new and infant branch of 

 chemical philosophy connected with investigations into 

 the laws of organic matter and the principles of vege- 

 table life ; and they have to congratulate the Society on 

 the zeal with which their consulting chemist, Dr. Play- 

 fair, has entered this new and valuable field of scientific 

 inquiry, and the kindness with which he has again fa- 

 voured the members on the occasion of their general 

 meeting, with two highly interesting lectures, elucidating 

 the application of the most recent discoveries of chemical 

 science to the practical operations of agriculture. The 

 Council feel, that if any circumstances could enhance the 

 obligations under which they are laid in reference to 

 these lectures, they would be the readiness with which 

 Dr. Playfair, at a very short notice, and regardless of 

 personal inconvenience, prepared himself for their deli- 

 very, and the liberality with which the Royal Institution 

 of Great Britain at once placed their theatre at the dis- 

 posal of the Society for the occasion. The Society's re- 

 cent country meeting at Southampton was most success- 

 ful in every department of its arrangements, and fulfilled 

 the most sanguine expectations of the Council. The 

 extent of the show-yard, and the number of entries for 

 exhibition on that occasion exceeded those of any pre- 

 vious meeting ; and the trial of implements, so depen- 

 dent on circumstances for failure or success, was con- , 



ment and the exhibitors whose implements were selected 

 for trial, and proved an object of much attention to the 

 numerous spectators by whom it was witnessed. The 

 success, in a financial point of view, was greatly pro- 

 moted by the means so liberally placed at the disposal of 

 the Council by the committee of the town and neigh- 

 bourhood of Southampton, in the contribution of 1000/. 

 to the funds cf the Society for the purpose of meeting 

 the expenses of the occasion. To the Mayor, 

 corporation, and authorities of the borough, the lo- 

 cal committee, the commissioners of police, the occu- 

 piers of the trial ground, and the South Western Rail- 

 way Company, the Society, before leaving Southampton, 

 conveyed by unanimous resolutions their best acknow- 

 ledgments of the essential services which those parties, 

 by their cordial and zealous co-operation, had respectively 

 rendered to the Council in promoting the objects of the 

 meeting. From the agricultural character of the district 

 in which the next Annual Country Meeting of the Society 

 at Shrewsbury is appointed to be held, the Council antici- 

 pate with confidence a result no lest gratifying than that 

 obtained at Southampton ; and they have already taken 

 the requisite steps in preparation for that meeting, and 

 have also decided that the judges of stock shall be ap- 

 pointed from recommendations made by the members of 

 the Society at large at the General Meeting in May. 



The Finance Committee will lay before the meeting the 

 balance-sheets of the accounts as examined and approved 

 by the auditors on the part of the Society. Their chair- 

 man will also report to the members the large amount of 

 arrears of subscription discharged during the past half 

 year, as well as the mode proposed for facilitating the 

 future collection of subscriptions. Since the last half- 

 yearly meeting upwards of 300 new members have been 

 elected, and the Society now consists of the following 

 members :— Life Governors, 97 ; Annual Governors, 208; 

 Annual Members, 6037 ; Life Members, 470 ; Honorary 

 Members, 15; making a total of 6827 members on the 

 list of the Society at the present time. The Council 

 have unanimously requested Mr. Pusey to accept the of- 

 fice of a trustee of the Society, vacant by the death of 

 the Duke of Grafton, and have elected Mr. Thomas 

 Lockley Meire, of Cound Arbour, near Shrewsbury, 

 a member of the Council, in the place of the late 

 Mr. Edward Gough, of Gravel Hill, near Shrewsbury. 

 The increasing importance attached by the members to 

 the possession of the Society's Journal, has led the Jour- 

 nal Committee to continue its best consideration of the 

 means by which the distribution of each publication may 

 be effected with the greatest certainty, and least loss of 

 time, among the members throughout the kingdom; and 

 they trust that this desirable object will gradually become 

 attained, as the addresses of members are more accurately 

 known, and the most convenient modes of transmission 

 to them more distinctly ascertained. For the convenience 

 of members availing themselves of their privileges of at- 

 tending the rooms of the Society, the Council have or- 

 dered a catalogue of the library, and an inventory of the 

 implements, models, &c.,tobe prepared for their reference. 

 Fouryears having elapsed since thedate of the charter,and 

 the bye-laws then framed agreeably with the new powers 

 conferred upon the Society, the Council havebeen desirous 

 of rendering the experience gained during this period 

 available for the regulation of their proceedings ; and 

 they have accordingly made a complete revision of their 

 former bye-laws, and en acted a code of bye-laws and 

 regulations, not only embodying the tenor of such of 

 their special resolutions as had a permanent operation, 

 but rendering the whole more exactly in accordance 

 with the provisions of the charter. A printed copy of 

 these bye-laws was appended to the journal on its last 

 publication, and thus brought under the immediate 

 notice of the members. 



The Council, in conclusion, beg to congratulate the 

 members on the present sound and vigorous condition 

 under which the Society is steadily advancing in the gra- 

 dual fulfilment of its national objects; and, supported as 

 it is by the continued accession of new members, they 

 hope to extend annually its sphere of usefulness.— By 

 order of the Council, (Signed) James Hudson, Sec. 

 On tbe motion of Mr. Samuel Druce, seconded by 

 Mr. Tower, this report was unanimously received and 

 adopted. Mr. Raymond Barker, chairman of the 

 Finance Committee, then read to the meeting the follow- 

 ing balance-sheets as audited on the previous day : — 



I.— GENERAL STATEMENT OF ACCOBNT FROM JAN. 1. 



Ju.ve 30, 1844.— Receipts. 



Balance in the hands of the bankers, Dec. 31, 1843 .£657 11 



Balance in the hands of the secretary, Dec. 31, 1843 14 2 



Half-year's dividends on stock 130 16 



Life-compositions of governor* 150 



Life-compositions of members 263 



Annual subscriptions of governors . . . . 827 10 



Annual subscriptions of members . . . .3904 8 

 Sale of Journal : 332 17 



Sale of cottage tracts 10 1 



Receipts during tbe half-year, on account of the 



country meetings 1080 6 



Payment made in error to Messrs. Drummond by 



Sir R. C. Glyn and Co 25 



T. AUSTK.V, "\ 



H. Blanshard, [ 



D. Barclav, 1 



C. B. Challoner, ) 



Downshire 



C. H. Turner. ■» 



T. Knight, j 



Members of Finance 

 Committee. 



Trustee of the Society. 



Auditors on the part of 



the Society. 



II.-SUMMARV OF THrt SOUTHAMPTON MEETING BALANC*- 



c . . ,. _ s hurt. —Receipt!. 



Subscriptions from Southampton . . . ^ 1000 n 

 Dinner tickets ../..' *™ J 



Ladies' gallery tickets . . . ' ' 9 * 



Show-yard " * 



Sale of catalogues . . JZ 



Sale of hurdle. • • . sw 



Sale of badges for Council and Stewards ! 

 Excess of payment! o»er receipts at the SouthI 

 ampton meeting, chargeable on the funds of the 



** l «* 806 19 



^5736 S 2 



2432 



363 



192 



7 



10 

 3 



19 

 19 

 10 





 

 



2 

 



8 

 



„. Payments. 



Dinners . . . ,~ 



Ladies' gallery refreshments . 



EJvUton 



Show-yard and trial of implements . 

 Police 



J,,d *e» I ' ." • , . SS4 



Consulting Engineer g 5 



Auctioneer . 



Surveyors 



Printing 



Stationery . 

 Advertisements 

 Carriage 

 Postage 

 Official Staff 



Extra clerks 



Swearing-in constables 



^"945 1 



. 25 

 . 794 12 

 . 2630 11 

 . IS! 15 

 14 

 1 

 

 14 

 5 

 1 

 5 

 14 

 4 

 

 I 

 15 



21 

 7 



399 

 19 



S65 

 36 

 11 

 32 





 

 



7 







6 



2 

 

 



•J 



7 



4 

 10 



7 



4 

 



6 



jc:.7*6 5 2 



(Signed) 



Richmond, President. 



T. R. Barker. Chairman of Finance. 

 C. B. Challoner. 

 Thomas Austen. 

 Henry Blanshard. 



TO 



8 

 1 

 6 

 

 

 

 

 8 

 



9 



Payments. 

 Permanent charges . . . . " . • 



Taxes aud rates 



Establishment charges ...... 



Postace and carnage 



Advertisements ....... 



Expenses of Journal 



Prizes 



Miscellaneous payments 



Payments during the half year en account of the 



country meetings 



Balance in the hands of the bankers, June 30, 1844 

 Balance in the hands of tht secretary, June 30, lb44 



.£7300 13 



jf270 II 



•20 7 

 56-i 7 



37 7 



9 19 

 1263 8 



320 10 

 47 1 



1291 



3456 



15 



2 



19 

 17 







8 

 6 

 2 

 6 



1 

 



9 



7 

 9 



8 

 11 



Mr. Barker having given an explanation of these 

 balance sheets, and invited the members to an inspection 

 of the various account-books of the Society then lying 

 on the table, in which every detail connected with the 

 items from which those documents were derived, would 

 be found registered, proceeded to report to the meeting 

 the satisfactory manner in which the Finance Committee 

 had continued the revision of the early list of members, 

 and their consideration of the best mode of effecting a 

 still further reduction of the arrears of subscription ; 

 when it was moved by Mr. Shelley and seconded by Sir 

 Robert Price, m That the balance-sheets then laid 

 before the meeting, and the statement with which they 

 had been favoured by the Chairman of Finance, should be 

 received and adopted : " — a resolution which was carried 

 unanimously. 



On the motion of Sir Harry Verney, seconded by 

 Mr. Dean*, the thanks of the Society were voted to the 

 judges at the Southampton meeting. 



Earl Spencer then rose to propose the thanks of 

 the Society to Dr. Playfair for the two lectures he had 

 that week delivered to the members. Dr. Playfair had 

 apologised for the imperfection of his lectures, occasioned 

 by the short time given him for their preparation, but 

 his lordship was quite sure that the members who at- 

 tended them would agree with him in thinking that such 

 an imperfection had not been perceived by Dr. Play fair's 

 auditory on that occasion ; and that, however interesting 

 those lectures were found to be at the time of their 

 delivery, he had no doubt they would prove still more 

 intelligible and instructive when printed and read at 

 leisure. It was quite true that in the first lecture there 

 were many points of an abstract nature which it required 

 time and consideration distinctly to understand ; and he 

 had no doubt, that on careful perusal, the lectures would 

 be found of much greater advantage to the members than 

 might at first be apprehended from the impressions 

 derived on a cursory attendance only at their original 

 delivery. 



The Marquess of Downshire kaving seconded the 

 motion, it was carried unanimously. 



Mr. Miles, M.P., then proposed that the thanks of 

 the Society should be given to the Royal Institution of 

 Great Britain for the kindness they had evinced in grant- 

 ing to the Society the gratuitous use of their theatre for 

 Dr. Play fair's lectures. He had the very greatest satis- 

 faction in making this proposition. He need not say 

 that whenever the cause of science had been brought 

 forward in England, the Royal Institution had always 

 lent its powerful aid to advance its progress ; and he was 

 proud to think that the Royal Agricultural Society of 

 England had met with so effective and congenial an ally 

 in the prosecution of its objects. 



Mr. Solly, of Heathside, in Dorsetshire, rose to ex- 

 press his gratification at this compliment to an institu- 

 tion of which he had been a member very nearly from its 

 first commencement. It was established for the applica- 

 tion of science to the purposes of life. The attention of 

 its founder, Count Rumford, was principally directed to 

 the economy of food and fuel, in aid of the views of an 

 association for bettering the condition of the poor, among 

 whom unusual distress was felt in consequence of incle- 

 ment seasons. The experiment of Count Rumford, on 

 the means of obtaining greater warmth from the same 

 consumption of fuel, have produced lasting benefits. To 

 the experiment of Sir Humphry Davy in the laboratory 

 of the Royal Institution we are indebted for the safety 

 lamp, which has so much diminished the danger, and 

 consequently the expense of excavating some of our prin- 



^7300 13 8 cipal stores of coal. By the Board of Agriculture, whose 



