( i" ) 
ilopal ^gn'rultural ^onet)) of encrlanli. 
GENERAL MEETING, 
12, Hanover Square, Friday, May 22, 1846. 
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 
The economy of remunerative farming is one of the great objects 
of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, and at the same 
time one of the principal means through which that science in- 
cluded in the terms of their motto is to be derived and regulated ; 
the observation of well established facts, and the results of actual 
experiments, being the only ground-work on which they admit 
that improvements in agriculture can be successfully based ; 
while a clear knowledge of cause and effect under given circum- 
stances, and a detail of the particular cases to which such know- 
ledge is applicable, is, in their opinion, the only safe science to 
be recommended to their members. The theories of chemical 
agency, physical forces, and organic action, under the varying 
conditions of local circumstance or the control of vital influence, 
are in themselves important objects of inquiry for the philosopher; 
but it is only when the practical application of their results 
becomes apparent, that they assume a form in which they can be 
submitted to the test of trial, or be rationally expected to lend 
any aid in promoting the improvement of practical agriculture. 
Accordinglj', whilst calling in the aid of science to agricultural 
practice, the Council have felt it their duty to discourage every 
attempt to introduce vague theories, especially when it has been 
found by experience that much steady progress may be made in 
the improvement of agriculture, by the obvious means of applying 
h 2 
