94 
MEMOIR OF THE LATE JOHN SCALES. 
line woods there, and are a leading feature of that part of the 
country. His stay at Battle was not, however, of long duration ; 
for, in 1844, the lioyal Agricultural College was founded at 
Cirencester, and on the 24th of December in that year Scales was 
unanimously elected its first Principal — the Council of the College, 
from whom he received the appointment, consisting of the leading 
agriculturists of the country. He forthwith entered with energy 
upon the duties of his office, among the first of which was that of 
delivering an introductory address to the supporters and students 
of the new institution. The notes of this address have survived 
the lamentable destruction that has swept away almost all the other 
documents illustrating his life, and shew that, as might have been 
expected, it was prepared with much pains ; but they are hardly in 
a condition that would justify their reproduction here, even if the 
subject of them were sufficiently germane to the present occasion. 
It will be sufficient to state that it i.-s plain that he entered upon 
his new career with a deep sense of the importance and responsi- 
bility of his position. After a rapid historical sketch of the 
progress of agriculture from early times, he came to the practical 
part of his theme, and dwelt forcibly — the experience of his own 
training adding strength to his words — on the necessity of a 
special education for those whose business it was to become 
cultivators of the soil, and to make the most of its products — 
vegetable or animal — and did not omit reference to the various 
foundations of similar character which already existed in almost 
every civilized country, for it must be remembered that the college 
at Cirencester was the first agricultural school that was established 
in England.*' 
In the very opening sentence of his address he uses the pregnant 
phrase “ Science with Practice,” that has become proverbial as 
indicating the method of modern agriculture ; but one passage may 
be quoted in full : — 
“ Husbandry is an occupation of boundless variety, extending to 
more objects, and fettered by fewer positive regulations than any 
other. Not only do different systems prevail in different countries, 
but in different provinces of the same country. In some they arc 
dictated by peculiarity of soil or climate, while in others they have 
* The College was incorporated by lioyal Charter granted by the Queen 
in Council, March 2Vth, 1845. 
