( S5'.) = 593 ) 
THE EOYAL AGEICULTUEAL SOCIETY 
OF ENGLAND. 
Inteoduction. 
T has been thought desirable to add to the foregoing series of 
lemoirs on English Agriculture, a brief account of the Royal 
Agricultural Society of England, — the institution under whose 
irection this book has been written, and upon whose model 
le Societe des Agriculteurs de France was framed. Mr. Caird 
as already mentioned the absence of a ^Ministry of Agriculture 
om our executive government, and the distribution of certain 
atistical, sanitary, and judicial functions between the Board 
f Trade, the Privy Council, and the Inclosure Commission, 
he other duties which usually devolve upon Ministries of 
.griculture, such as stimulating improvement in the various 
reeds of live stock, in the cultivation of the land, in the 
lucation of the agricultural classes, and generally in what has 
een termed " the propaganda of agriculture " are in England 
^ored by the Government, and therefore left to the " private 
litiative " of individuals or Societies. The Royal Agricul- 
iral Society of England is the largest and the most influential 
f the Societies which have been established in the three king- 
3ms for the advancement of agriculture. Owing to its national 
laracter and the extent of its operations it has obtained the 
ipport of a large number of leading landowners and tenant- 
rmers in England and Wales, besides not a few in Scotland 
id Ireland, which portions of the United Kingdom also possess 
eir own national Societies. Nearly every county and even 
any smaller districts in England can also boast of their 
gricultural Society, each one having its independent manage- 
ent and its own annual Exhibition, except when the " Royal " 
•mes their way, at which time the county Society generally 
spends its Show for the year, and makes a contribution from 
> funds towards the expenses of the national Exhibition, most 
^quently in the form of special prizes having a local interest, 
need scarcely be added that the Society receives no subsidy 
jm the Government in aid of any of its operations. 
