The Agricultural Lessons of " The Eighties." 277 
however, called upon to take a wide view of the position, and 
therefore note that, while many have suffered, there are others 
who, by taking land cheaply and stocking their farms in a time 
of low prices, have seen their capital rise in value, and have 
had no reason to repent embarking in farming business. I 
find during the first half of the decade evidence of extreme 
discouragement, while since 1885 there has been an increasing 
hopefulness, as, for example, is to be seen in a series of articles 
written in 188G at the invitation of the late Mr. John Chalmers 
Morton, entitled " Saved by Hope," contributed by Sir John 
Lawes, Sir James Caird, the late Mr. James Howard, Mr. W. J. 
Edmonds, Mr. Bernard Dyer, and other representative men. 
Disaster is to Englishmen the trumpet-call to action. Ac- 
cordingly, no sooner had farmers begun to realise the gravity of 
their position than they commenced to exert themselves with a 
will. Increased interest in dairying, in live-stock, and in grass- 
land, are the principal directions in which we have been moving. 
The high price of mutton, and the improved price of wool, have 
also been features of an encouraging nature. Neither must we 
ignore the importance of the rapid return of commercial pros- 
perity to this country, which must react favourably upon agri- 
culture, by stimulating the demand for agricultural produce. 
We have heard a good deal of bi-metallism, but probably nothing 
will be more likely to damp down and take the life out of 
this question than a general return of prosperity to the great 
industries of the country. 
What lessons may be gathered from the events of the ten 
years now closed ? Never has there been a time of greater 
instruction, chiefly because farmers have been induced to read 
and compare notes by meeting each other, more than at any 
former period. I shall therefore take, as the first lesson of the 
past decade, the importance of united effort. 
1. Combination and Association. 
The depression in agriculture has taught us the value of 
combination and association, and the agricultural press has 
been found to be the principal means by which exchange of 
ideas could be maintained. The demand for membership of 
societies and for agricultural periodicals has increased amaz- 
ingly. New societies have sprung up in large numbers since 
the first rumours of acute agricultural depression were bruited 
abroad. The activity of the older standard societies has been 
greatly stimulated, and the Chambers of Agriculture have been 
