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XXII. — On  the  Progress  of  Agricultural  Knowledge  during  the  last 
Eight  Years.  By  Ph.  Pusey,  M.P. 
It  is  a custom  of  many  societies  that  the  president  should  yearly 
review  the  progress  made  by  them  in  their  chosen  field  of  research, 
recording  any  new  facts  which  have  been  established,  and  pointing 
out  those  matters  which  appear  to  deserve  and  seem  likely  to 
reward  their  members’  attention.  Such  a survey  was  attempted 
by  me  in  1842,  when  our  Society  had  counted  but  four  years  from 
its  outset;  and  now  in  1850,  when  our  labours  have  lasted  eight 
more  years,  the  time  seems  again  arrived  for  rendering  some 
account  of  what  we  have  done.  If  one  were  otherwise  disposed 
to  shrink  from  the  task,  the  present  state  of  English  farmers 
would  render  it  doubly  incumbent.  But  the  task  is  no  easy  one. 
Other  scientific  societies  deal  chiefly  either  with  facts,  as  the 
existence  of  some  hitherto  unknown  insect,  or  bird,  or  mineral, 
or  even  planet,  or  else  with  some  supposed  new  law  of  nature, 
electrical  or  astronomical.  Those  facts  are  simple  : those  laws 
single.  If  the  speculator  fall  into  error,  no  harm  ensues.  But 
not  so  in  agriculture.  Our  facts  are  not  simple,  nor  our  laws 
single.  They  vary  with  the  climate,  the  soil,  the  seasons.  What 
is  true  in  Kent  is  not  true  in  Sutherland.  While,  too,  there  is  so 
much  more  exposure  to  error,  the  consequences  of  error  are  also 
more  serious  ; for  a reader  will  easily  forgive  a mistake  as  to  the 
supposed  site  of  some  Roman  temple,  but  may  not  so  readily 
forget  the  expenditure  of  twenty  pounds  on  a useless  manure. 
Besides  this  variation  in  facts  and  in  rules,  another  difficulty 
arises  from  the  difference  in  the  knowledge  and  skill  of  farmers. 
You  need  not  recommend  a turnip-cutter  to  a Norfolk  farmer 
who  has  used  it  for  years,  and  you  will  recommend  it  vainly  to  a 
Welsh  farmer  who  has  never  seen  the  instrument  or  even  per- 
haps had  a turnip  to  slice.  What  is  a truism  here  will  be  derided 
there  as  a crotchet.  The  experience  however  of  our  best  farmers 
is  the  safest  source  of  improvement,  and  cannot  be  passed  over, 
though  for  such  readers  there  may  be  nothing  new  in  the  state- 
ment. Lastly,  at  this  particular  time  other  feelings  bias  men’s 
judgments  : but  however  the  cause  of  present  distress  may  be 
viewed,  the  need  for  exertion  to  cope  with  it  cannot  be  doubted ; 
and  agricultural  improvement,  which  might  hitherto  be  looked 
on  as  a hobby  for  a few  country  gentlemen,  is  now  become  the 
unavoidable  business  of  landowners  generally.  These  difficulties 
have  been  stated  in  order  to  obtain  indulgence  for  the  writer  in 
his  attempt  to  sum  up  the  principal  points  of  English  agri- 
culture. Such  an  account  should  clearly  aim  at  containing  what  is 
true,  not  what  is  new,  and  avoid  the  blame  of  being  fanciful  rather 
than  of  being  commonplace.  I wish  to  embody  in  a short  report 
VOL.  xi.  ' 2 c 
