Domestic Notices : — Scotland. 499 



this country; to take in all the periodical and other scientific works pub- 

 lished in any part of the world, and to print and circulate in a cheap form 

 monthly digests of whatever useful matter they might contain ; but prin- 

 cipally to endeavour, by all means, to introduce into the schools at which 

 farmers' children are now educated, the elements of the modern sciences. 

 It is supposed that, whenever our practical farmers shall become con- 

 versant with chemistry, entomology, botany, meteorology, &c., the face of 

 our agriculture will be totally changed: but such knowledge can be con- 

 ferred nowhere but at school, and the society might promote the establish- 

 ment of such schools in various ways, either by providing the requisite 

 instruction for the masters, and supplying them with proper books and 

 apparatus ; or by keeping the subject constantly before the public through 

 their monthly pubhcations, and by their influence with provincial societies. 

 In England we now produce on an average about a quarter of corn per 

 acre more than is grown in France. Is there any absurdity in supposing 

 it possible to produce a quarter per acre more than even we do ? 



The state of our population makes it necessary to adopt, without loss of 

 time, efficient measures for increasing the productiveness of our soil. In 

 1801, 9,100,000; in 1831, 14,000,000; in 1861, 22,000,000. 



If the rate of increase which has prevailed for thirty years past be con- 

 tinued for thirty years more, England and Wales will then contain twenty- 

 two millions of inhabitants ; being eight millions more than are now sup- 

 ported with difficulty. Unless, therefore, the produce of the soil be made 

 to increase in a similar ratio, that is, unless the acre, which now bears 

 25 bushels of wheat, be made to bear 40, the people must starve, and the 

 poor rate must absorb the whole rental of the country. 



The expense of the Board of Agriculture established by Mr. Pitt was 

 3000/. a year. The annual income of the Highland Society of Scotland 

 is about 2000Z. — W. Haivkins. Hitchin, Hertfordshire, May 5. 1831. 



Such a society as that contemplated may do good : even the Board of 

 Agriculture, though it occupied itself with petty details of culture and 

 management, instead of endeavouring to reform our agricultural legislation, 

 and strike at the root of tithes, and the general ignorance of farmers, still 

 was not altogether useless. But we cannot bring ourselves to take much 

 interest in societies where all the members are not equal in almost every 

 respect ; having hitherto in this country seen similar associations, with 

 scarcely any exception, speedily degenerate into jobs. We look forward to 

 the establishment, through the influence of Lord Brougham, of a system of 

 national education by government, in which all useful knowledge will be 

 taught to all; and the operation of this on the rising generation will fit 

 them for deriving knowledge from books on the science of whatever art they 

 may choose to pursue. It will also teach them how and when to cooperate 

 together in societies, for the effecting of any particular object. — Concl. 



SCOTLAND. 



Doryanthes excelsa. — Another beautiful specimen of this wonderful 

 plant is in blossom at Woodhall gardens. It is the third that Mr. Hen- 

 derson has succeeded in bringing into flower. We know of no other suc- 

 cessful attempt, save that of Mr. Cunningham, at Comely Bank, near Edin- 

 burgh. The plant of last year was 24 ft. high. This one is not so tall by 

 some feet, having come several months earlier into flower than either of 

 the former, from the time of the stem making its appearance. The plant, 

 however, is healthier and stronger, measuring at the base 14 in. diameter. 

 The flowers, which resemble those of the orange lily, only they are larger 

 and of a pink colour, are beginning to unfold themselves ; their anthers are 

 covered with a beautiful green pollen, and the cells are filled with a honied 

 liquid; of these flowers there are nearly 100 upon a ramified umbel of 

 about 2 ft. diameter. {Glasgow Free Press, March 23. 1831.) 



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