4 The Foundation of the Royal Agricultural Society. 
bably have never been submitted to the public but for the ob- 
servations made by Lord Spencer at the Smithfield Club dinner, 
Mr. Handley spoke of the comparative failure of the old Board of 
Agriculture as having been " frequently quoted as a discourage- 
ment to any similar attempt," but regarded this objection as of 
little weight, for that Board " existed at a period when it was 
least likely to attract the settled attention or command the 
energies of agriculturists," whilst " it was discontinued at 
the precise time when, as subsequent events have proved, it 
ought to have been established." 
"A period of war,'' continued Mr. Handley, " i9 ill suited to national im- 
provements of any kind. During the continuance of war prices, when half 
a crop remunerated the grower, and the most slovenly farmers amassed 
wealth, the usual inducements to extraordinary exertions were wanting; and 
we of the present day, to whom the quotations of ' wheat from six to eight 
guineas per quarter ' are hut as dreams of fiction, are not only surprised that 
our more fortunate predecessors did not effect more — we only wonder that, 
if possible, they did not exert themselves less. 
" In 1817 [1819 ?], however, the date when the Board of Agriculture 
ceased to exist, anew era was about to open upon us ; and without discussing 
the debateable causes of the depression of agriculture which has since en- 
sued, whether arising from the transition from war to peace, the resumption 
of cash payments in 1819, excessive importation or over-production, it is 
sufficient to have ascertained that a vast reduction has taken place in the 
prices of agricultural produce ; and it is at least prudent to anticipate that 
for the future we must look to comparatively low prices — subject, of course, 
to the variations which seasons and circumstances must from time to time 
necessarily entail. 
" Farmers are, I believe, at length convinced that it is not in Parlia- 
mentary interference that they must seek a remedy. Repeated inquiries 
have terminated in repeated disappointments. It is to their own energies 
and their own resources they must look, and by cheapening the cost and 
increasing the amount of production pave the way to future prosperity." 
Having thus reviewed the situation, Mr. Handley went on 
to speak of the " wretched modes of farming " still to be seen in 
many parts of the country, whilst there had been a " rapid and 
marked improvement in the breed of stock, both cattle and sheep." 
Expressing his belief that this improvement was largely attri- 
butable to the stimulus afforded by the Smithfield Club, and by 
minor societies established on its principles throughout the 
country, ' v why," he asked, " should not the same combined efforts 
be united in the application of science to the sister art, agricul- 
ture ? " As an example of the prejudices of farmers of the old 
school against what they called " book-farming," and of the sus- 
picion with which they regarded innovation, Mr. Handley cited 
the use of bone-manure, " which, incredible as it may appear, 
though it has for the last twenty years worked miracles, and 
changed the face of the Midland counties, is at this time viewed 
as a new discovery in many districts of England by no means 
