A nniversat -y A ddt 'ess. 423 



the Infinite, the All-wise, the Unsearchable. Dr. Johnston, 

 the Club's founder, said " May the Club live for ever," 

 and others have, again and again, echoed his saying. 

 May we not assertj without gainsay, that the Club shall 

 last, if not for ever, as long as Tweed flows, and Cheviot 

 stands. 



The Club's motto — " Mare et tellus, et, quod tegit 

 OMNIA, Ccelum," would indicate even a mure extended 

 field for investigation than its members have as yet 

 cultivated ; and as one who has made no branch of 

 natural science a special study, but rather taken note of 

 its general application to the practical, particularly as 

 affects Agriculture — in the pursuit of which my life has 

 been spent — I may be permitted, without overstepping 

 the limits of observation prescribed by our founder as 

 those within which the Club should confine itself, to 

 take note in the few remarks I am now expected to 

 make, of 



How Agriculture as an Industry has been indebted to 



the researches and discoveries of nature's 



scientists, during the years through 



which this Club has existed, 



now close on sixty ! 



It would be a weary task to describe, in any detail, 

 the progress agriculture has made during these years, 

 and one which your patience would scarcely tolerate ; 

 but a short glance at the advances which have taken 

 place, I think, may not be uninteresting nor unprofitable. 



Let me first try to show what was the condition 

 of Scottish agriculture towards the close of last 

 century. This I do by quoting the words of Lord 

 Kaimes, whom, so eminent an authority as Sir John 

 Sinclair, the founder of the Board of Agriculture, 

 characterises, in his " Account of the Husbandry of 

 Scotland." published in 1812, as "one of the ablest 

 writers on agriculture in modern times." Writing 

 in the year 1770, Lord Kaimes says — "Our crops 



