The  late  Lord  Vernon. 
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the  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  and  from  that  time  forward  his 
interest  in  the  Society  and  work  for  it  were  unremitting.  He 
acted  as  Steward  of  Implements  at  Canterbury  in  1860,  at  Leeds 
in  1861 — where  the  senior  Steward  especially  called  attention  to 
how  much  the  Society  was  indebted  to  the  exertions  of  the  Hon. 
A.  Vernon  in  superintending  the  trials  of  Steam-ploughs — and 
again  at  Battersea  in  1862.  He  was  elected  President  of  the 
Society  in  1871.  His  devotion  to  his  three  years’  duties  as  Steward 
of  Implements  had  given  him  a taste  for  agricultural  machinery, 
and  a considerable  insight  into  their  merits  and  defects,  while  his^ 
management  of  the  Widdrington  estate  had  included  the  intro- 
duction of  the  use  of  the  steam-plough  ; so  that  on  his  accession 
to  the  Presidency  of  the  Society,  he  offered  at  the  Show  at 
Wolverhampton  a Prize  of  100/.  “ for  the  best  combination  of 
machinery  for  the  Cultivation  of  the  Soil  by  Steam-power,  the 
cost  of  which  shall  not  exceed  700/.”  Those  who  were  in  office 
with  him,  will  well  remember  his  unflagging  watchfulness  over 
the  very  important  trials  of  implements  that  were  conducted 
in  that  year,  which  embraced  Traction-Engines,  besides  Steam- 
cultivating  Machinery — the  former  quite  a new  feature  in  con- 
nection with  the  Society’s  Shows. 
One  result  of  Lord  Vernon’s  Presidency  was  the  conviction 
he  at  that  time  arrived  at — a conviction  in  which  he  was  sup- 
ported by  the  opinion  of  others  in  the  Council — that  the  whole 
question  of  the  receipts  and  expenditure  of  the  Society  should 
be  considered,  with  a view  of  securing,  if  possible,  “ equal 
results  at  less  cost.”  To  this  end  a Special  Committee,  known 
by  the  name  of  Lord  Vernon’s  Committee,  was  appointed  in 
November  1871,  which,  receiving  suggestions  from  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  several  departments  of  the  Society,  was  enabled 
to  present  a report  that  laid  the  foundation  for  many  changes, 
combining  efficiency  and  economy  in  the  working  of  the  Society. 
In  the  Chemical  Department,  from  the  first,  Lord  Vernon  took 
an  active  interest.  Placed  on  the  Chemical  Committee  the 
year  after  he  joined  the  Council,  he  brought  to  it  a certain 
amount  of  useful  knowledge,  having  learned  under  Professor 
W.  Allen  Miller,  of  King’s  College,  the  rudiments  of  Analytical 
Chemistry. 
Those  were  the  days  when  probably  the  consciences  of  the 
vendors  of  artificial  manures  and  feeding-stuff’s  were  at  their  lowest 
level,  and  when  it  seemed  to  several  members  of  the  Council  that 
the  good  old  rule  of  caveat  emptor  was  hardly  a sufficient  pro- 
tection to  many  members  of  the  Society.  No  one  was  more 
impressed  with  the  magnitude  of  the  evil,  and  with  a desire  to- 
find  a remedy,  than  Lord  Vernon;  and,  with  others  specially 
interested  in  the  work  of  the  Chemical  Department,  he  warmly 
