A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



number of children without parochial aid ; to those who had worked the longest time in the same 

 place without interruption ; and to male servants who had continued for the greatest length of time 

 in farming service, on the same farm, or with one master or mistress. Other premiums given during 

 the first few years were to the Bedfordshire farmer who should have under-drained the greatest 

 number of acres in proportion to the extent of his farm ; to labourers in husbandry who should 

 have been the greatest number of years in a benefit club ; and generally towards encouraging the 

 practices of under-draining and of marling sandy or gravelly lands, as well as the foundation of new 

 benefit clubs. 



Before the formation of this Society, the Duke of Bedford had already commenced holding 

 those annual ' Sheep Shearing ' meetings at Woburn which Arthur Young described as ' by far the 

 most respectable agricultural meetings ever seen in England, that is, in the whole world, attended 

 by the nobility, gentry, farmers, and graziers from various parts of the three kingdoms, from many 

 countries in Europe, and also from America.' These ' Sheep Shearings ' were kept up for many 

 years, Mr. Ernest Clarke, writing in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society,^ says : — 



These sheep shearings were far more important than so modest a. term would imply, and were in 

 reality important meetings, at which the duke's tups and ewes were let at certain fixed prices, 

 choice meat stock was exhibited, novel and improved implements were shown, wool was sold, 

 and prizes were awarded to the most successful exhibitors. There were, indeed, all the elements 

 of a modern agricultural show ; and to these must be added the unbounded hospitality dispensed 

 by the duke, who entertained two or three hundred visitors at the Abbey for several days in 

 succession. 



At present, the Bedfordshire Agricultural Society, besides holding the principal show for 

 5tock, &c., holds also an annual root and barley show. It also devotes £100 to the 'Bull' fiind. 

 Every three years this accumulated capital is spent in the purchase of twelve bulls for service 

 throughout the county, the bulls being selected from the breeds that produce the best milking cows. 

 The society also holds an annual stallion show, at which two prizes of ;^20 are given to the owners 

 of the best two stallions, on condition that those stallions travel the north and south divisions of the 

 county that year. 



The flourishing Bedfordshire Shire Horse Society, already mentioned, was founded in 1895. 



From time immemorial there has been held an annual Wool Fair in Bedford ; but owing 

 largely to modern conditions of travel and intercommunication, this wool fair has practically ceased 

 to be a public institution, and has fallen into the hands of one or two agricultural auctioneers at the 

 Bedford Cattle Market. 



About the end of the nineteenth century a Bedfordshire Chamber of Agriculture and Farmers' 

 Club was formed, the members of which meet monthly in Bedford on market days. Lectures are 

 given and discussions held on Agricultural Bills before Parliament and other current topics of interest 

 to farmers. Many of the leading agriculturists of the county belong to the Chamber, but the 

 number of members is not very great. 



Among the most valuable and instructive agricultural institutions in England is the Woburn 

 Experimental Farm and Pot-Culture Station. The origin of this institution is thus described by 

 the present Duke of Bedford in his work entitled A Great Agricultural Estate* : — 



It owes its origin to a paper in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, written in 1875 by 

 Sir John Lawes and Sir Henry Gilbert, on the subject of the manurial values of purchased foods. 

 This subject subsequently became very prominent and important, owing to the passing of the Agricul- 

 tural Holdings Act of 1875, which, among other measures, provided that compensation to outgoing 

 tenants for the unexhausted value of purchased food should be subject to arbitration. The Council 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society, seeing the far-reaching effect of the provision, at once endeavoured 

 to correct opinion by experience. After much deliberation, the Council at last decided that a grant 

 for an experimental station could not be justified, and the duke [Hastings, the ninth duke of Bedford] 

 then came forward and agreed to assume the whole cost of the undertaking. 



The duke accordingly granted the use of a farm of 1 3 1 acres about a mile distant from the 

 Ridgmont station on the London & North Western Railway. The work, which was begun in 

 1876, is carried on under the direction of a special committee of the Royal Agricultural Society. 

 The scientific control was at first placed in the hands of Sir John Lawes and Dr. Voelcker of the 

 Rothamstead Experimental Station ; afterwards of Dr. Voelcker alone ; and since his death of 

 his son, Dr. J. A. Voelcker. As the soil at Rothamstead is heavy, and at Woburn light and sandy 

 the two experimental stations offer valuable opportunities of obtaining results under mutually sup- 

 plementary conditions. Besides experiments on manures, others are carried out on the continuous 



' 3rd Series, vol. ii (1891), p. 129. « pp. 162-3. 



140 



