470 THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY’S 
aware that it lias been frequently asserted that such improve- 
ments lessen the employments of the poor, and rob him of his 
birthright; but l have no hesitation in making the assertion, upon 
a more than commonly extended range of observation, that, with 
regard to agricultural machinery, I have never known an in- 
stance to the contrary but those who have most largely availed 
themselves of the advantages of machinery have invariably found 
their reward in the employment of a fuller complement of la- 
bourers to carry on other operations in the improvement of their 
means of production. Knowing this, I feel the value of my posi- 
tion as a manufacturer of agricultural implements, believing, as 
I do, that, through our means the cause of agriculture is ad- 
vanced, the cost of production lessened, and the greatest benefit 
that can result to a nation — a ready supply of food for its people 
— is secured. Ours, gentlemen, is a proud position. Not only 
do we number among our ranks the humble and ingenious artisan 
and the experienced engineer, — not only have we as coadjutors 
men of science and practical skill, but our aristocracy itself has 
condescended to honour us by enlisting in our ranks. Gentle- 
men, you have established a grand national society for the en- 
couragement of agriculture, and you have summoned us agricul- 
tural implement makers to come up to the help of the cause. 
Have we not to a man responded to the call ? Have we not brought 
our implements from the north, from the south, from the east, 
and the west ? Have we not braved for them perils by sea and 
perils by land, until, what with the delay and uncertainty occa- 
sioned by their transit by water, equalled only by the certainty of 
awful expenses by land — what with light carriages breaking down 
with implements which were too heavy, and heavy carriages 
jolting to pieces implements which were too light — after the sus- 
pense and anxiety attendant upon our getting them into your 
yard barely in time to be too late, we come to survey the idols, 
which at great cost of labour and of thought we had cherished as 
the means of our attaining the bubble reputation, and we find rents 
and patches, holes and fractures, far beyond the mysteries of 
paint and putty to cover or to hide. And what has been our 
reward ? After encountering these evils, time after time, under 
the promise from your Society that their merits shall be ade- 
