SOCIETY. 



merit the attention of all agriculturalifts and farmers in the 

 kingdom. 



Society or Board of Agriculture, a fociety or board of 

 this kind, which %%'a8 eltablifhed at London, under the au- 

 thority of government, for the purpofe of promoting agri- 

 culture and the internal improvement of the country. It 

 was inllitutcd in or about the year 1793, and confills, ac- 

 cording to the charter of its incorporation, of a prefident, 

 (it fuch feveral members, by virtue of their different offices, 

 as are therein mentioned, and of thirty ordinary mem- 

 bers, moftly members of parliament : befides which, of fo 

 many honorary members as they may think proper, and of 

 fuch a number of correfponding members, natives or 

 toreignerSj as may be neceilary for the purpofes of the m- 

 ititution, the former of whom have the right of being pre- 

 fent at all deliberations of the fociety, but not the latter. 

 Neither of them, however, have the power of voting upon 

 any queltion. 



The preiident, and a part of the ordinary members, to 

 the number of five, may and are capable of bein^ changed 

 ann\ially on the twenty-tifth day of March. The Tour vice- 

 prefidents may likewife be annually changed, and new ones 

 named and appointed at the iame time, as well as the trea- 

 furer, and fecretary. But the under fecretary, the clerk 



clerks, with the furveyors, &c. are not fubjeft to an- 



lal change. 



It cannot be doubted or difputed, that the plans and ob- 

 jedts which this eftablilhment has in view, are extremely 

 important, diverfified, and comprehenfive, as they relate 

 not only to the improvement of the agriculture itfelf, but 

 to the whole of the internal economy and management of 

 the country. They will probably, however, be beft under- 

 Itood by confulting the fmall traft, which contain:; an ac- 

 count of the origin of the cllablifliment and its progrefs 

 for three years afterwards, publifnod in 1 796, by its firft 

 prefident, fir John Sinclair. 



The confequence and utility of fuch an inititution as this, 

 when under judicious and able management, muft obvioufly 

 be very great, not only to this nation, and the community 

 at large, but alfo in its example to others, where no fimilar 

 ellablifhments have yet taken place. 



Under fuch fort of regulation and management, it is un- 

 qucltionably capable of promoting improvements in many 

 different ways, and with many different dcfigns and inten- 

 tions, lo as to be of the utmoft beneficial confequence to 

 the general intereds of the country as a whole. Its means 

 are now likewife much more ample and fufficient for accom- 

 plifliing fuch purpofes, than they were on its firft found- 

 ation, as they have been, in fome meafure, incrcalcd fince 

 that period. 



It may in (hort, by the combination of ingenuity and 

 talent which it affords, be the means of promoting and ex- 

 tending a better, more full, and wider cultivation of the 

 foil and territory of tiie country, fomewhat in proportion 

 to the increafing population, wealth, luxury, and wants of 

 the community ; of coUefting and embodying the numerous 

 ufcful fcattercd fafls and praftices on the fubjefl, which 

 have been fpread throughout the different diftrifts of the 

 kingdom ; and of providing and difpcrfing a more full and 

 corrc£t body of information on all parts of tlie fubjedt, lo 

 as to rcTider the nature of the land, the objedts of cultiva- 

 tion, and the modes of performing it, more clearly under- 

 ftood, and approach nearer to the Hate of pcrfedtion. In 

 thefe ways, it may alfo be the caufe of exciting and draw- 

 ing a greater and more careful attention to all matters of 

 the agricultural kmd, than has hitherto been the cafe, fn 

 all thofe who either poilefe rank, property, or talents, in 



the different claffes of fociety, all through the country j 

 which, by operating upon the vaft mafs of knowledge that 

 has been drawn together, muft have the eft'cft of giving rife 

 to an almoil boundlefs variety of interefting improvements 

 in the profeffion, both as a Icience, and an ufeful praftical 

 art. Some, indeed, have been lo much perfuaded of this, 

 that they have indulged the notion and fuppofition of the 

 inftitution becoming of the greateft advantage and import- 

 ance to the country. Its utility and benefits mult, how- 

 ever, require fome length of time, before they can fully 

 difplay themfelves, as is the cafe in all fimilar eftablifh- 

 mcnts. 



Societies, County /tgrkultural, the various focieties of 

 this nature, which are formed and eltablifhed in different 

 counties and parts of the country, for the purpofe of im- 

 proving and bettering the ftate of the agriculture and rural 

 management of them. Thefe kinds of focieties are now 

 inltituted in almoft every part of the kingdom, and mull 

 have confiderable effedl in rendering the local modes of 

 managing lands in fuch fituations more perfeft and bene- 

 ficial, as well as in fpreading and diffufing the knowledge 

 of the iinprovements, which arc progrefflvely made in the 

 art of cultivation, in a more full, complete, and extenfive 

 manner. Though fome, who arc by no means deficient in 

 intelligence or information, may have doubted of the utility 

 and advantage of thefe inftitutions, there can be no reafon, 

 on the whole, for fuppofing that they have not been bene- 

 ficial to the interefts of the nation. As there is probably 

 nothing which is more conducive to general improvement, 

 than a rational fpirit of inquiry, inveftigntion, and" experi- 

 ment, the eltablifhment of thefe kinds of focieties would 

 feem to have had a direft difpofition and tendency to excite 

 and bring forth fuch a fpirit, as well as to extend it, which 

 has been of the utmolt advantage in guiding and diredling 

 the attentions and exertions of praftical farmers to thofe 

 methods and objetts of management, which are the moll 

 fuitable and likely not only to be beneficial to themfelves, 

 but to the whole nation and community at large. 



It is not improbable, however, but by having more re- 

 gard in refpecl to their regulations and the general objedls 

 of their confideration, as well as to the various local cir- 

 cumftances which are connedled with them, they may be 

 rendered a great deal more ufeful and efficient than they are 

 at prcfent, by producing a much greater competition among 

 the Imaller claffes of cultivators, and by contributing to a 

 far more exaft knowledge of the nature of foils, the dimcn- 

 fions of farms, and the real profits and benefits to be de- 

 rived from them. 



In lliort, the utility and expediency of itiflitutions of 

 this fort mull always be, in fome meafure, in proportion to 

 the increafe of population, and the general wants of the 

 country, in fo far as food is required. 



Moll of the focieties of this defcription, which have been 

 ellablifhed in this country, comprehend, befides tlie various 

 local regulations, which relate particularly to themfelves, 

 the whole or a great part of the plan and objefts which 

 are comprifed in the dill'ei'ent county reports on the if ate 

 of agriculture, which have been publilhed by the Board. 

 See Surveys of tiie Board of Agriculture. 



Many of thele focieties exiltcd long before the Society 

 or Board of Agriculturi.- was eftablifhed. 



Thefe focieties, befidts l)eing ufeful in promoting and 

 difleminating all fortu of valuable improvements in tlie local 

 rural managements and praftices of the particular dillrifts 

 to which they l)elong, fuch as in fencing, draining, tilling, 

 ploughing, fowing, harrowing, cutting, fecuring, watering, 

 pafluring, flocking, and feeding different kinds of land or 



foil; 



