844 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE 



22, 18 



• 



sibstiture for the plough or the spade, and that it be re- 

 ferral to the Implement Com 'nit tee to consider the 

 details of the conditions to be mad* for the priz-." 

 Special Council, Dec. 13.— Lord Portman, President, 



in the ehair. 



Live Stock Prizes— On the motion of Mr. Miles, 

 M.P., seconded by Lord Feversham, prizes were unani- 

 mously voted for foreign stock of any pure native breeds 

 of cattle and sheep, open to all foreigners, under con- 

 ditions to be recommended to the Council at their 

 February meeting by a special committee, consisting of 

 Mr. Miles, MP., Mr. Evelyn Denison, M.P., Lord 

 Feversham, Mr. Jonas Webb, Mr. Fisher Hobbs, Mr. 

 Jonas, Mr. Milward, and Professor S'monds. A sum 



There was 



on. There was nothing hut plodding in farming ; it was 

 purely a plodding pursuit. They must look to great 

 things only by the adoption of those improvements 

 which might be small in the first instance 

 never a greater boon to the farmer than the decompo- 

 sition of bones by sulphuric acid, thereby rendering a 

 much les* quantity of bones necessary for the Turnip 

 crop. We owe that improvement to science. If it had 

 not been for science, they would have continued using 

 dry hones for all eternity. With regard to feeding cattle, 

 the scientific man told them their cattle could be kept 

 on a much less quantity of Turnips by mixing with them 

 a larger quantity of chaff. Mr. Bowly then referred to 

 experiments tried by Mr. Holland and Mr. Mechi, and 

 said he himself now kept one-third more cattle upon the 



same quantity of Turnips than he did a few years ago, 

 An enormous quantity of food for cattle had been made 



not exceeding 1202. was voted for Poultry Prizes to be 

 arraxiued by the Council in February. On the sugges- 

 tion of Mr. Townley Parker, a class of Prizes was voted m 



for Dray Morses. The general conditions and regula- by the application of liquid manure upon Italian Rye- 

 tions of the prize sheet in reference to the usual prizes 

 offered by the Society were agreed to. 

 Special Mkcting, Dec. 14. — Colonel 



Trustee, in the (hair. 

 Meeting was agreed to. 



GKNKRAL MfcETING OF THE SOCIETY. 



report was read : 



Challoner, 



The report of the General 



The following 



REPORT. 





The Society, during the past half-year, lias lost 40 of its 

 embers by death, and trained, during the same period, 116 new 

 bers by eiection. Its list now contains — 



9» Life-Governors, 

 140 Annual Governors, 

 815 Life-Meivrabs, 

 3895 AnntiHl Members, and 

 18 Honorary Members. 

 The Council have elected Lord Uerners to fill the vacancy in 

 the number of Trustees occasioned by the lamented decease of 

 Mr. Pusey; and the Earl of Essex to supply th« vacancy in the 

 • neral Members of Council, created by the transfer of Lord 

 15 rners's name to the class of Trustees. 



The Society at lai^e will have deeply participated with the 

 Council in their sense of the great loss they have sustained in the 

 r -moral of Mr. Pusey from the sphere of his invaluable co-opera- 

 tion, and from the direction of that Journal which has so lomj 

 formed the strongest bond of union among its members. The 

 Council have already expressed, through rheir President, Lord 

 P rtman, their condolence with the family of Mr. Pusey on ther 

 irreparah > Inns, *nd their grateful estimation of his devoted 

 services to the Society. 



The Carlisle Meeting has been one of the most successful of the 



effortsofthe Society to promote and extend to remote districts 

 the practical value arising from the trial of Implements and the 

 exhibition of Live Stock. The lateness of the season preventing 

 efficient trials of the Heaping Machines at Carlisle, they were 

 postponed until the end of August, when they took place at 



grass. 



Mr. Mechi said he could not help remembering that what his 

 friend Mr. Bowly had advanced he had read in his books and prac- 

 tised ten years ago, and ever since. He was satis^ed in his own 

 ra»nd the great question of the day would become the possibility of 

 feeding the British public without the help of the foreigner. 

 There was no difficulty in doing that if the British farmer was 

 determined to do it. He did not know whether they were aware 

 of it, but that question was practically answered by the farming 

 of many gentlemen present. He had his eye on many gentlemen 

 in that room who farmed in such a manner, which if it were gene- 

 rally pursued would produce sufficient for our consumption with- 

 out the necessity of foreign importations. He would not refer to 

 himself, or he might be asked how his balance sheet stood 

 (laughter). But there were men then present who were spending 

 more money than he was in agricultural improvement, and yet 

 were making a profit of it. If. however, they did ask him how 

 his balance sheer stood, he would tell them that last year he made 

 a profit of between 6O0J. and 700Z., as between landlord and tenant, 

 and this year he should exceed that amount by about 100/. He 

 mentioned this not from any personal vanity, but because he 

 thought it was right that everybody should understand that if 

 they desired a good balance upon their expenditure they must 

 adopt the most improved modes of procedure, and use a large 

 amount of artificial manure, by which increased crops were 

 obtained, and he having made that expenditure, was now reaping 

 the benefit of it in the present high prices. But how stood British 

 agriculture? They had millions of acres in this country of poor 

 Grass land; and let them recollect that the average value of the 

 produce of England was only from SI. 10s. to 41. per acre, the 

 average rent being 11. per acre. Taking the average amount of 

 prices, he did say there were men then present who would increase 

 that produce 300 per cent. He was quite sure the capital expended in 

 purchased food and purchased manure would be returned. Whether 

 they grew a large or a small crop, they could not avoid the ex- 

 penses of horse labour, wages, rent and taxes; but those were 

 infinitely heavier on a farm which was poorly farmed, than on one 

 on which a large capital was invested in purchased food and pur- 



an 



Abbot's Leigh, in Somersetshire, on a farm of Mr. Miles, M.P., chased manures. He did think thev had still much to do. The 

 the President of 'he Society, who placed for that purpose the • - - ... - . - 



whole of his cr. p^, horses, and men at the service of the Society; 

 and most hospitably received at Leigh Court the official company 

 who attended th" trials on the part ot the Society. 



The Ounril have already agreed to the Live-Stock Prize Sheet 

 for the Country Meeting to be held next year at Chelmsford, 

 including, along with the usual prizes, additional classes for 

 Foreign Cattle and Sheep, and a distinct division for Dray 

 Horses; the arrangement of the Prizes for Farm Poultry and 

 for Agricultural Implements and Machinery being postponed 

 until February. 



Mr. .Miles, M.P., having in June last, as the President of the 

 Society at that tini*, headed a Deputation of the Society to the 

 French Agricultural Meeting at Paris, agreeably with an ex- 

 press invitation of the Imperial Government, has reported to 

 the Council the successful results of that mission in every point 

 of view. 



The 1 :*rl o' Clarendon has continued to transmit to the Society 

 the successive returns furnished by the consuls residing in 

 various tropical districts where guano, nitrates, and other 

 manuring deposits are thought likely to be discovered. The 

 Council have again expressed to Lord Clarendon their deep 

 sense of his lordship's kiudne-s in thus continuing to promote 

 the objects of the Society; and they have requested Prof. Way 

 to prepare for publication In the Journal a digested arrangement 

 of the morns already received by the Society troui the Foreign 

 Office in reference to that subject. 



A claim having at length b**en made in form for the Society's 

 10002. Prize or a substitute for Guano, the Special Committee on 

 that subject have taken into rheir careful consideration ; and, on 

 their report, the Council have resolved that the substitute pro- 

 p id is not entitled to tin- Prize 



Since the la t Gem rai Meeting, Prof. Siraonds has delivered a 

 lecture on the Phys oiogy of Milk-Secretion, and Prof. Way a 

 lecture on the Value of Fish a^ Manure. Prof. Way is also 

 actively- engaged, as the Consulting Chemist of the Society, 

 in prosecuting important researches under the directum of the 

 chemical committee. 



The Council have every reason, in conclusion, to congratulate 

 the members on the position of usefulness which the Society 

 continues to maintain, and on the success with which its opera- 

 tions for promoting improvement in every branch of husbandry 

 continue to be attended. They feel the responsibility which so 

 great a power as the Society now possesses places in their bauds 



train he was in the previous day happened to come to a stand at 

 Farina'don Road for a few minutes, and he saw what struck him 

 as extremely ludicrous. There were four horses attached to a 

 pi- ugh ; arid first one pulled, and then another, and very little 

 progress was made, al' hough there was a man to drive and 

 another to hold the plough; and he was convinced they did not 

 plough as much land in a given time as he could in Essex with 

 only two horses. He had seen four horses to a plough not only 

 at Faringdon Road, but in other parts of this county, and until he 

 saw that practice altered, he should not consider the farmers of 

 England that calculating class of men which some had given 

 them the credit of being, and ready to adopt improvements. 



Mr. W. G. Bay sett thought if Mr. Mechi could show them 

 that they could plough their land in that neighbourhood as well 

 with two as four horses, he would he a great acquisition to the 

 neighbourhood (hear. hear). He had some light and some heavy 

 land, and if Mr. Mechi would show him that he could plough both 

 with two horses only, he would adopt his suggestion. He was 

 not higotted. The agriculturists were not all clod-hoppers, nor 

 were they all fools, heforone was open to conviction. — Mr Mechi 



asked \lr. Be- nett if he ever tried a pair of horses.— Mr. Bennett 

 said he had many times. 



The Hon VV. L. Bathurst observed, in reading over 

 the list of prizes, there were many prizes given, but 

 there were none offered for any person employed in 

 agriculture. That be considered a great, omission. 

 The agricultural interest had been censured by some 

 persons, as well as the public press, on the ground that 

 lar^re prizes were given for fat stock, and small prizes 

 for spare labourers. He proposed offering the first 

 prize of 31, formerly gmo by Sir Michael Beach, for 

 the shepherd who, from a flock of more than 150 ewes, 

 reared the greatest number of healthy lambs, in propor- 

 tion to the number of ewes put to the ram. The 

 second prize of 21. would no doubt be given by some 

 other gentleman. He was sure that one of the chief 

 objects of all agricultural societies was to provide for 

 the well being and advancement of the agricultural 

 labourer. — Mr. D Bowly, in continuation of the remarks 



and entertain an anxious desire accordingly to reader its opera- 



tions Hound and practical, at the same time that they are pro- niade by Mr. Bathurst, observed that he for som»* years 



gre ive. They confidently expect that the union of practice ~ '" 



with science will result in the discovery of principles, and their 

 just application, without which agriculture can never attain to 

 the rank of a rational pursuit, but will remain a mere an, limited 

 by routine, and capable -nly of slow and doubtful extension. 

 By order of the Council, James Hudson, Secretary. 



This report having been adopted, Mr. Raymond 

 Barker sub mi ted the Balance-sheet of the auditors 

 (who were re-elected to that office). Thanks were given 

 to Item, and to Pro'essor Simondg and Way for their 

 lectures. Colonel Challoner, in acknowledging the vote 

 «t thanks to him, as chairman, stated that the Society 



bat never been in a more prosperous state than it was 

 at that t*me. 



Gloucestershire, Dec. S.-The first meeting of this 



Society since the amalgamation of the Gloucester and 

 Cirencester Sf .custien, has been held at Cirenc-ster du fog 

 the past week, with a very large amount of success. The 

 premiums ottered were exceedingly liberal, and the 

 competition was consequently spirited. At the dinner 

 the .toast of" the Successful Candidates " was responded 

 to by Mr. Bowly, who said,-They had to catch all the 

 improvements a s they came up, and to try them, and 

 see now tar they were remunerative on their own farms. 

 Dr .Johnson had very justly .aid that the only w»y to 

 weal Hi was by persevering industry, and ever ploddui" 



offered a prize for the man who brought up the largest 

 family without receiving parochial relief. He had 

 found the result to be unsatisfactory, and had discontin- 

 ued the prize. He should be happy to give the second 

 prize for the sbepherd as proposed by Mr. Bathurst, for to 

 that prize there could be no objection. His experience 

 as Chairman of a Poor Law Union for some years had 

 shown him that instead of giving such prizns as he had 

 formerly offered to agricultural labourers, it was better to 

 provide them with comfortable homes. Unless that was 



done the I -hours of the clergyman would be in vain. Mr. 



Holland said, those who, like himself, had been connected 

 with farmers in different parts of the country, and 

 white seeing what was being done away from home, yet 

 possessed a knowledge of what was doing at horn**/ had 

 an opportunity of contrasting the different methods 

 employed by old stagers who followed their fathers 

 and the new comers. A great mistake which was often 

 made was that men eoming from heavy soils to light 

 one* would work the land in the same way as they had 

 their previous farms, and the same with persons leaving 

 light soils inr heavy soils. At an early period in hi. 

 r.culrura! life he had adopted a principle, and that 



was never to throw away a practice which although it 



could not be explained scientific-ally had yet "been 



on 



upon 



1 the better educated man was continua^S 

 mistakes Scientific knowledge had so increased f*3l 

 spread that they now ascertained what they were ah 



scientific principles, and it would occur that an 

 times the practice of the farmer ha<. been placed ° me " 

 scientific principles without his know U J i t Th 

 should not throw way anything unless thev could r* 'I 

 out something better. He felt grateful to Mr M u- 

 and others for working in advance of thera ' and") 

 Mr. Mechi ever found himself in error, he never m d 

 a point of sticking to it. He considered thev had 

 received as much advantage from Mr. Meehi's mistakes 

 as from his successes. He felt more than ever at th 

 present t»me the necessity of scientific knowledge bein* 

 spread among them. The union of science and 

 agriculture should be closer. There was a wide field for 

 competition, especially since the change in the laws had 

 made competition universal ; and it they would hold n 

 their heads as the leaders of agriculture, they nmst 

 take advantage of the discoveries of science. What 

 was called science was simply a knowledge of the laws 

 of nature, and those laws they should become acquainted 

 with. That the farmer must do if he would continue to 

 hold up his h*»ad in this country. They ad practised at 

 that moment a larger amount of science than they ever 

 did before. Not in the feeding of stock alone, hue that 

 stock which had been exhibited that day could not have 

 been brought to such perfection if it had not been for 

 the scientific application of manure to the root crops. 

 If they were not acquainted with the ingredients of that 

 mauure, they would he liable to lose their crops, their 

 labour, and expenses. Some years back he was ahead 

 of them, and they thought he was working in the dark- 

 yet circumstances had pressed upon them the conviction 

 that he was right, and that now they were with him. 

 — Mr. Curtis Hay ward proposed the " Royal Agricultural 

 College, and Mr. Hay garth, the Principal."— The 

 Rev. J. S. Haygarth returned thanks. Whatever 

 success they had been able to achieve was attribu- 

 table to the cordiality and unanimity which had 

 always existed among them at College. Of the four 

 chief Professors at the College, three of them were 

 there when he entered upon the duties of Principal 

 Another had joined them since, and Mr. Austin. Mr. 

 Austin had acted as a most excellent practical man. 

 The sheep which had been shown to-day were brougit 

 up under his own personal superintendence. He had no 

 shepherd for his master, as farmers often had, and he 

 had taken as much care of those sheep as if they had 

 been his own children. Mr. Haygarth theu expressed 

 the pleasure he had in bearing testimony to the good 

 conduct of the students, whose conduct on all occasions 

 had been what it should have been. 



Wirral : Agricultural Statistics. — At the last 

 monthly meeting the following resolutions were agreed 

 to on this subject. This meeting having had brought 

 before it, and having considered, the following docu- 

 ments, viz.:— 1. The Reports of Sir John Wakhamud 

 Mr. HawJey on the Agricultural Statistics of Norfolk 

 and Hampshire, 1854 ; 2. The Reports of Poor-law 

 Inspectors on Agricultural Statistics (England), \M ; 

 and 3. The Report from the Select Committee of the 

 House of Lords appointed to inquire into the best mode 

 of obtaining accurate Agricultural Statistics from all 

 parts of the United Kingdom, and to report thereon to 

 the House, together with the Minutes of Evidence and 

 the Appendix, 1855 ; have resolved 



1. That the legitimate purpose of the proposed system of agri- 

 cultural statistics is to inform producers of, and dealers 1D j^"Z 

 cultural produce, as frequently and as rapidly as may r>e, 

 variations in the quantity produced, from time to timer l 

 United Kingdom. 2. That this information, to be ^ st *?^i 

 must be complete; and that to be complete, it must be g* 

 at one time into <>ne place, and issued thence in suc ^ am llw ^ 

 as to be readily Hccessible to, and easily understood by, a i 

 may think proper to avail themselves of it. 3. 1 hat x ™. * 

 valid objertions which have been or are offered by tue prou 

 ro all or any of the schemes for collecting agricultural 

 tistics, resolve themselves into an unwillingness on r 8 ^ 



of individuals needlessly to expose their attars 

 persons. 4. That this unwillingness, when duly ,D ^Jj^ctory 



will, in most cases, be found to be justified by an ii' IWU » ^ 



state ot th- relation of landlord and tenant; H _ nd '!t Whether 

 though less frequently, by other circumstances. 5. 1 nac ^ 

 this unwillingness to furnish the required information ^ 

 not justifiable, there can be no doubt that it exists wr *■ ^ 



it takes the form relerred to in the third resolution I ■ u 

 is not essential to a complete cnllection, classification, ,* r^ 

 cation of the required statistics, that any such a™? 10 * ^ 

 affairs of individuals as is objected to, should taW P« .^ ^ 

 hence that those who candidly entertain such °-v sha iintf 

 justified in resisting the operation of any scheme wn whatere r 

 at least render such disclosure improbable. » }■ ' ^ pgf 



the method employed, the information demanded ca ^ 

 into a shape adapted for its sole legitimate use tn j e0 #ce 

 public at large— until it has all been collected into a » s q( 

 in Lo, don. 9. That the less it is meddled w u ] ' ' u ^ r till it 

 form, from the time it leaves the hands ot the \ ^ corT #t, 

 passes into such an office, the more likely is the resi inin g it 



10. That it is not the end. but the method or [Q ^ 



that 1h objected to; and that this method wj i <•< lire <l. in 

 obj en ionabi e to the producer so long as he shai l . js( j,fgwiH- 

 rendering the information called for towtatt u,«S lf ^q, V> 

 to the scrutiny of any person whatever in h |rt °* , ftn de#* 

 the in ert.-re.iee of local officers should trier uv . 



That th 



butiofi 



ce or incai omcers & ■«<■»« --- thedi-*^ 00 . 

 t state of things, be I inured to rh d. 



carried out successfully. He tried to learn 



why 



a 



,ach pers-u w- - o( em 



return has maue one: and (2) whether, "} v ; n *"J V >. That I 

 r fraud exi th suspicio is well or ill-foiinw . |{ det$ u* 

 is Dot denied or even doubted, that a local insp- • u ^ c ura£ 



would tend to check fraud or error as » ourc ^ nera i in** * 

 Ami ««r» ♦»,« nation nf *hp tenant-farmer in S cu 



