The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1866-12-18 00:00:00

of the subject keel( as well as of the object It is
Intended to secure. Now if we are to jedge by the
treatment which farmers have ri.ceived from the
Board of Trade, we can come to no other conclusion
than that they penmen nel•her the one nor the other.
As an ''ustesithn of the judgment that they bete not
understood the subject itself. I weuld Pimply ,for to
the retains coiled for by them in the •Toio: of tl,i • year,
in which thy ie mired the nineher of neat cattle,
calves, sheep, .',d lambs kept on farm. Niter tide
return, be It observed, •••• to 111•41,. at loon, s.srtionler
time of the year, tr:n., the wince rind I tinhiii4 'mown,
when a farmer might posse.. ten, or te• nty t•or
sent, more live stook ,rt tire evening than be did in lire
morning. That they an lioneatly ignorant of, Or
wilfully Ind decent to, the object mintel at by accurate
statistics, has been already eufliciently illustritted by the
manner in which the coin •verages are taken. Is it
woederful then that the agricultural hotly slowl.l
have so little confidence in that aerial- went r.f
Cloverninent which managed these aff.irs '•
powers of labour and of the other inatrunienie
which produce wealth may be almeret Ind, finitely in-
ereased by fling their product, as the means of further
production." Anyone eon see with what force 'hie
observation applies to manufacture. The multi •f
agricalture are not susceptible of the same unlimited
Mercies. The truth of this proposition is men In the
extensive advance oi the rganufactunng interest of this
kingdom as compared with the agricultural ; and yet
mob Is the nature of agriculture that it 1.., not one
iota of ite importance, even c inparatively, towards the
body politic. But tire details of the working of the too
interests are so dimimilar that it would be almost im-
passible to find a man equally qualified for the auperin-
tendence of the one and of the other. The beneficial
offices of • Beard of Trade no one would attempt to
deny ;but we may well question Its utility wh, ra trans-
posed into a Board of Agriculture. The latter is needed
as much as the other, but they cannot be blended
into one department without the suffering of
either the one or the other. Now we think
we have good reason to complain that is recant
legislation the intimate of agriculture have been
too touch disregarded, while thee, of commerce ma
manufacture have been treated with favour, The
Board of Trade may be in truth and In efficiency what
Its name imports as a Board of Agriculture also, we
deny its qnalifications. It has been said that it was
rather the province of • Farmer's Club to p dot oat a
irriev"" thin to suggest a remedy, but in fiats came the
comes is so plain that it would be niers affectation it
we did not state at once what we require, via.—That •
Bari of Agriculture should be formed, separate and
&steal from the Board of Trade, with it, President
taking part in the Councils of Parliament as well as in
the Counoileof her Majesty. To suckle !lard we might
unhesitatingly gonads out Interests. My puttees nowt
gentlemen, is to shadow forth to you what I conceive to
be the proper plan of collecting agricultural •tatislice.
I have before stated that it Ls necessary for those ern-
' ployed in collecting etatisties to have &competent know-
ledge of the subject on which it is proposed to soil •ct
facts. For my purpose I will take it for granted that
Board of Agriculture is formed pommeled of the nivel.
sary qualifications for its °Mee. Locil knowledge and
authority are requisite also for the completion of the
scheme. Pe-haps we could not find more ocespeteet
bodies for this purpose than Boarded Overdraw, sinoe
they are generally aeleoted aa mien of business, and
represent every pariah in the kingdom. Their impera-
tive duty would be to collect from every farmer is the
union the acreage of his corn sown. Let the Boards id
Guardians elect an appraiser of quantities, who should
proceed to estimate the per acreage growth from a
genetal survey of crepe. The former returns he would
have to make up and send to the Board of Agriculture
a week before the hirvest. Be it observed that under
the proposed arrengement private affairs would not lb
ezposed to iodividual members of the Boards id
Guardians, they would be known only to the appraiser,
who might be sworn to /secrecy. As it regard, live
stock, each farmer should be requested to fill out, re-
turn of all that is on his fans at Miehaelme• lurch
year. and send it to the Board of Guardians, and with
regard to these returns it should be the duty of the
appraiser to sort and arrange them so that they
may be promotable to the Board of Agriculture.
We now come to the question of the *ern actually
grows in the country and its mound market valeta I
propose that every farmer should keep an **curate
scornint of all ecru be has disposed of throughout the
year, and at a specified time make a return thereof to
the appraiser. It may poseibly be thought that the
farmer would consider this duty too onerous, but it most
be remembered on the other hand that he would scarcely
neglect it wean he considers that his interest is so deeply
Involved in the correctness of his armrest. Then, as
to the corn consumed at home, which Ii generally of SD
inferior quality, • mixed sample might be furnished to
the seemlier, that it might appear at his valuation is
the return to the Government. I would now °odes-
your to oomisely sum up the advantages which would
accrue If agricultural statistic.' could be collected in an
amarste and popular manner. First of all then it would
tend to ensure correct legislative action on the chief
questions of the day affecting the farming Lute/mete.
suilh as the Malt Tax, that:44a on which our rates are
collected, and the rules and precautions to be adopted
with regard to the Importation of live stock.
It would tend to equalise prim* and prevent incentive
importation or exportation of grain. It would afford
meet valuable information on what is becomine • most
important question, the demand for and supply of
agricultural labour, and would open the eyes of land-
owners as to the Imperative necemity of providing more
and better habitations for the labourers. It would
assist at arriving at correct conclusions ea to how far
machinery may be peofitably exchanged for muscular
labour, and one rotation of mope substituted for another.
It would afford correct data on which rent charges
might be assemed, corn rents paid, and corps be taken
by valuation. Lastly, and above all in • political
point of view, it would furnish Governuient with the
means of estimating and supplying the want. of the
people, and thus go far to secure plenty, peace, sad
prosperity to the.natimi at large.

•
A rlonised animated discuss"—ion followed, of which
Vs give the salient points.
Mr. G. J. A 2113111W8, after indicating some of the
difficulties attending the collection of honest and re-
liable statistics, attributed the neglect of the agri-
cultural interest by the Government to the evils sowing
from a want of unanimity &incept farmers themselves,
and he intend the origin of that want of unanimity to
the uncertain tenure they bad of their farms, which
prevented many of them expressing their real opinions.
Until farmers had the same amount of independence as
was enjoyed and displayed by the trading eommunity,
the real character s f their •iews could not be known.
Therefore, it seemed to him Unit whatever might be
said about "good landlords, under whom • farm could be
held from generation to generation," the matter of
first importance to farmers wits getting long leases of
their farms. His agreed with the lecttirer that they
could not expect the President ot the Board IA Trade to
know much about the requirements of agleulturists,
though he remarked everybody thought they could give
a fanner good advice, and he urged that at was • duty
agriculturists owed to themselves to give attention to
all questions affecting thous, and then openly and fear-
Insaly to express their opinions. Referring to Per.
liaatentary representatives, he thought fanners should
support those who gave nttention to agricultural topics,
not oaring what they were in politics, so long as they
were reepeetahle men.

The eIIIIAN suggested that they should consider
the subject under three heads :-1, the desirability of
establishing • Hoard of Agrieulture • 2, corn averages;
mid :1, the necessity of getting s good system of collect-
ing agricultural statistic*, He moved the first resolu-
tion. "That it is desirables Word of Agriculture should
be established by Government, which should undeitthe
the management of all business connected with that
branch of national induatsy." hr. Homer luul shown
the way in which propositions °insulating from them
were received by Government, sail he thought their
powerlessness arose from their being but &small pontion
of the agricultural community, end having no special
Government department to appeal to. H. suggested
that they should get other farmers' elate in the county
and elffiewheso to join them in this movement, and then,
through their members, press it on she notices of the
Governmeht.
_

Mr. J. GALPIN seconded flat motion. Re thonght
the Hosed of Trillo wan hardly the body to which they
as farmers should took for the rtdres.ing of their
griavacces. There was a spirit now abroad for .r.stab.
lishing Chambers of Agriculture, and he thought in the
end they would get • Government Hoard of Agriculture,
as they bad in several fomign countries, where he
behoved, it worked admirably. It was only • matter
surprim to him that in a country like England,
depending so mush upon agriculture, and wham agri-
culture had made such rapid strides in the hut few years,
the Imbjlet had not been brought before the logi.lature
don earlier periml...

Mr. H. Ilhoota said be quite coincided with Pre pro-
position, which was no new opinion of hi.. The Board
of Trade neglected agricultural Nubjects, and Govern-
ment paid very little attention to them, except for
taxation. Of late years trade and mender:Anne had
increasingly engrossed the attention of Parliament.
There was • time when the agricultural members were
supposed to have • predominant influence in the House
of Commons. but that had passed away, and it became
the duty of the agricultural members to bratir them-
wives and see that agriculture was not entirely ignored.
Ile believed that agriceltnral grievances would not be
properly autrnained till they had a Board of Agri.
culture or agricultural minister. France had such a
minister, and why should not • country like England?
The resolution was carried unanimously.
11r. DAMS:4 moved "That the present system of
obtaining corn averages is altogether objectionable and
most irregular." At the present time there was only
about one-fourth of the wheat returned at all. There
were 75,000 gra returnsl per week as sold in 150
markets, giving in round number, 3,750,000 qrs. • year,
and it was a well-known fact that the quantity grown
was something like 12,000,000 quarters per annum.
They knew that the consumption of 30.000,000 of people
was at least 20,000,000 quarters of wheat per year, and
he ealenlated it in this way : be bad made many
inquiriea and found that the average consumption of the
people war llb. of bread per day, which would amount
to on bushels of wheat a year, for that quantity would
praluee &sack of flour, which would make 90 loaves, and
that multiplied by 1 would give the bib per day ;6 bushels
a year for each person would be 2.21 millions for the
country, but calculating the Indian corn and oatmeal
used iii some parts, Ile reckoned the coesumption at 20
million quarters. Well, during the last ten years
7i milliou quarters had been irupJrted annually
into the country, eo there was a deficiency never
returned of about 8.17,10,000 qu.utera every year.
Consequently, their statistics as regarded wheat were
not in the least degree reliab'e. He knew that many
people contended agricultural statistics would not he
Useful, but he thought that for an Englishman to ssy
that they should he kept in the dark as to how the
country as to be fed from year to year was roost extra-
ordinary. France, Prairie and other countries had
gaud COM returns. Immediately after harvest France
knew how many Webber of vilest would he required,
".wil.aihttilhaerowneedr,prited:i.niLndenedtb"thi.atekntwmolywlw.dhw.egen, wthheersenyagthiednadEntobogkulazghdt
bread in France et, low pries., and have nothing to fearP
respeeting the feeding of the people. Hut in England, the lack of ouch information, had been a loss both the farmers and the country, and had ineeltad in t:
panics, and 10r9 biome out of the countrylloseil
brought back again. He contended that fair remunearna-
tile prices were bast for the farmer as well as for th'
nation. High prices made things bad foe the poor
stopped trade, Increased poor-rates and other laneF, alba
wet. Grio" in 9/0Y 557- But no ohm sofforost