The Foundation of the Royal Agricultural Society. 5 
remote from the scene of its earliest and continued success." 
That class was, however, fast passing away, owing to the ad- 
vance of education and increased facilities of communication, 
and it was in the interests of the young farmer that the aid of 
science was to be invoked : — 
" Science — by which is to he understood that knowledge which i.s 
founded upon the principles of nature, illustrated by demonstration — is the 
pilot that must steer us into those hitherto imperfectly explored regions, 
where I am well convinced a mine of wealth is still in store for British 
agriculture. Chemistry, Botany, Entomology, Mechanics, require but to 
be invited, to yield us a harvest of valuable information to guide and to 
warn us." 
As to the nature and constitution of the proposed Society, 
Mr. Handley cordially coincided in Earl Spencer's view that it 
should exclude political matters from its consideration, and 
" should be purely confined to the advancement of agricultural 
science, and the encouragement of the most approved practice." 
The details of Mr. Handley's suggestions, realised and un- 
realised, will be interesting to the reader : — 
" "When the necessary funds shall have been obtained by subscription, it 
will be desirable to form an establishment in London, comprising a complete 
agricultural library, a museum for specimens of seeds, plants, &c, for models 
of implements, and, in all cases where it can be effected, for the implements 
and machines themselves, together with the means of trying them. To engage 
the superintendence of men eminent in the respective branches of science. 
To collect reports on foreign agriculture ; to correspond with other societies, 
both at home and abroad. To refer, as in the French Institute and the 
British Association, papers on professed discoveries of acknowledged im- 
portance to select committees to investigate and report. To amass statistical 
information interesting to agriculture. To offer premiums for inventions, 
bearing some proportionate value to the expense to be incurred ; or in certain 
cases defraying the cost of experiments, observations, and reports ; and, 
above all, to communicate to the agricultural classes throughout the 
kingdom, by means of cheap publications, all matters of moment which 
shall have been submitted to the competent authorities of the Society, 
and which shall have stood the test of fair, rigid, and impartial experi- 
ment." 
With respect to the adoption of the migratory principle of 
the Highland Society and the British Association, Mr. Handley 
urged that, although London should doubtless be the seat of 
direction, it " is probably not the spot in which the greatest 
number of practical agriculturists can be brought together to 
discuss or acquire information on subjects interesting to them." 
" If, however, the annual meeting were held alternately at some con- 
siderable town situated in an important agricultural district— such, for 
instance, as York, Lincoln, Norwich, Bath, Northampton, &c. — not only 
would it be attended by a vast assemblage of gentlemen from distant parts 
who had communications to impart, and from others whose desire for 
information would induce them to be present, but it would excite a deep 
interest in the proceedings amongst a large class of resident yeomanry, who 
