The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-18 00:00:00

t 1 THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

Yesterday the ehow-yardof the society was thronged _
with visitors brought down to Windsor by excursion_
trains running every half hour, at reduced fares, from-
the Waterloo and Paddington stations. The prize ani—
mals were nil examined with immense interest, and the
display generally appeared to excel in attractiveness that
of any former year. Tao society's meeting has lost
nothing in palmier estimation from the absence of the
agricultural implements, and even the increased time
louting which the': took has remained open for inspection
has not been lound to exhaust public curiosity. Not-
withstanding the excellence of the situation chosen for
this annual fete, and the success with which it has been
attended, it may now be fairly regarded as a subject of
regret that it was not held more in the immediate
vicinity of London. Had such an arrangement been
made the inhabitants of the metropolis, and the im-
mense numbee of strangers at present sojourning
among us, would have been equally accommodated,
the funds of the society would have been greatly
benefited, and a more complete opportunity would
have been afforded for examining a display of
stock unprecedented both in its variety and its ex-
cellence. That display is now over, and all that remains
of it is the impression which it leaves upon the mind of
the bounty of nature in supplying to the agricultural
system of this country such extensive and admirable
breeds of stock. For each description of land, for each
diversity of vegetation and climate, we shall find an
adaptation distinctly provided. The Cotswold•hills and
the chalk downy, and the rich pastures of the midland
counties, and even the coarse grasses of our Welsh and
northern mountains, are all remembered in that wise
and beneficent variety of sheep stock which the show-
yard at Windsor illustrates. In cattle the same law is
more or less discernible. The North Devon., the Short-
horns, the Herefords, and all the other kinds exhibited,
develop severally a peculiar fitness for the districts
whence they chic fly come. Yet in none is the aptitude
for certain localities so stringent that it does not admit
of ample relaxation to meet the exigencies of markets
and the wants of a comprehensive system of agriculture.
In this remarkable year, when every branch of human
industry takes stock for the past and girds itself for
new efforts during the future, we earnestly trust that
the farmers of this country will direct their attention
more fully than they have hitherto done to the endless
diversities of practice,
tempered always with a due re-
gard to the circumstance, of soil and climate with which
Nature provides them. The display in the Home Park
at Windsor establishes with a force to which language
cannot do sufficient justice, the folly of obstinately
oper-
severing in any one course of agricultural management
which has ceased to be profitable when so many others
present themselves which, judiciously carried out, may
lead to satisfactory results. Farming, like every occn-
pation in life; has its lines of divergeao,, along which
men must choose with discretion their path, for there is
no royal road to success now which the uneducated and
1 the enlightened, the duped and the sagacious, the needy
r and the well-provided, can ail alike travel with confi-
dence. The repeal of the corn-laws has stopped up the
only thoroughfare which bad acquired that reputation,
and if, as a consequence of that great change, wheat has
ceased to be remunerative, our agricultural practice must
be modified and altered until the disturbed balance

of the markets is restored in our favour. It is not

within the province of the journalist to indicate what
course should be adopted, but looking at the varied fea-
tures of the cattle show just terminated, one cannot help
thinking that au occupation which presents so many
alternatives and choices in manufacturing the food of
the people must alone be dependent for its permanent
prosperity upon the independent energy and skill with
which each man pursues its acts. Impressed with this
conviction, we are anxious to see the Royal Agricultu-
ral Society extending its influence among the masa of
our practical farmers. It has outlived an infancy ren-
dered doubtful by the patronage of the great, whose ha.
niours and jealousies had to be conciliated in return. In
its council and management some of the ablest and most
enterprising of our agriculturists have gradually gained
a secure footing. Traces of toadyism and clique infix.
ence still remain, however; these will not be finally re-
moved until further steps are token to secure the co-
operation and sympathy of the tenantry as a body, and
to make them regard the society less as an association of
amateurs, and more as identified with their own interests
and progress.