The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-11 00:00:00

ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

The annual general meeting of the members of '
-the Royal Agricultural Society of England was '
held at the society's house in Hanover-square, yes-
terday ; Lord Berners, President of the society, in
the chair.
The following is the annual report of the
council :
" The society consists at the present time of 79 life gover-
nors 134 annual governors, 916 life members ; making a
total of 5,223 members, or an increase of :77 names on the
list since the last half-yearly meeting. The council have
filled up the vacancy in their body, occasioned by the de-
cease of Mr. Paine, of Farnham, by the election of Mr.
Thomas, of Lidlington. The funded property of the society
in the name of the trustees has been raised by further in-
vestment to the amount of £lO,OOO stock in the New Three
per Cents. Mr. Dyko Acland and Mr. Wren Hoskyns,
having found that that their own more immediately
personal engagements would not allow them conve-
niently to act longer as joint editors of the Journal,'
Mr. Thompson, their remaining colleague, has under-
taken the sole editorship on condition that the sum of £3OO
be placed annually at his disposal for the purpose of pro-
curing such subsidiary aid connected with the details of
the work as ho may find desirable. The council have ex-
pre4sed unanimously to Mr. Acland and Mr. Hoskyns their
sense of the high value they have attached to the services
rendered by them in their co-operation with Mr. Thompson
during the period of their voluntary engagement, and they
have gratefully accepted the offer of Mr. Thompson to con-
tinue his valuable services as the sole editor of the Journal.'
The council have adopted the following schedule of prizes
for essays and reports to be sent to the secretary by the Ist
of March next, namely :—Results of Microscopic Observa-
tion applied to the Vegetable Physiology of Agriculture,
£5O; Agriculture of the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Al-
derney, and Sark, £25 ; Steam Cultivation, £25 ; Extent to
which Tillage Operations act as a Substitute for Manure,
£2O ; Modification of Four-course Rotation consequent
upon Modern Improvements, £2O; Varieties of Wheat,
Barley, and Oats best adapted for High Farming, £2O ;
Causes of the Increasing Difficulties of Turnip Cultivation,
and the Remedies, £2O ; Comparative Cost of High-condi-
tion of Land Produced by purchased Cattle Food, or by
Purchased Manure, £2O; Any other Agricultural Subject,
£lO. Lectures have been delivered before the members by
Professor Henfrey on Vegetable Physiology, and by Pro-
fessor Simonds on the Composition of the Blood and the
diseases with which that fluid is connected in the animal
economy. Professor Voelcker, the consulting chemist of
the society, has made to the members, at the weekly coun-
cils, various communications on points of practical interest
connected with the adulteration of guano, and the feeding
properties of cotton seed cake. He has also recently pre-
sented
to the council, through the Chemical Committee, a
detailed statement of the works carried on by him as chemist
of the society, in his laboratory at Cirencester, and also a
plan of the various arrangements he has in contemplation
in order that he may be enabled more fully to carry out the
practical usefulness of his scientific labours. The council have
adopted an enlarged schedule of the privileges enjoyed by
members of the society in availing, themselves of Professor
Voelcker's professional aid. The Chester meeting proved
in every respect the most important one hitherto held by
the society ; the number of visitors exceeded by many
thousands the average amount of former years, and the
liveliest interest was exhibited throughout the district in
the proceedings of the occasion. The mayor and corpora-
tion, and the local committee acting under their authority,
spared no efforts to render the meeting successful, while
their hospitality and cordial reception to the members of
the society were on all sides gratefully acknowledged. The
show of Cheshire cheese, and of the animals competing for
the local prizes, added greatly to the interest which must,
under any circumstances, have been excited by the excel-
lent stock competing for the prizes of the society, and by
the trial and public working of the magnificent array of
steam engines and other agricultural implements and ma-
chinery sent to the meeting. The council have decided
that the Warwick meeting shall be held in the week com-
mencing Monday, the 11th of July next. Already the
several portions of land in that neighbourhood have been
placed under suitable management for the purposes of the
trial of implements, and the site of the show-yard has
been surveyed by the society's contractor of works, with a
view to its being duly prepared, under the instruction of
the Warwick committee, for the exhibition of the stock and
implements. The council have adopted a series of local
prizes, placed at their disposal by the local committee, and
to be competed for under the general regulations of the
society, and to be open to general competition, with the
exception of the prizes for cheese, which will, at the request
of the local committee, be restricted to cheese made within
the county of Warwick. The society's prizes for live stock
will exceed by £5B the total amount of prizes offered last
year in this department ; and third prizes have been added
to the great majority of the classes for cattle, sheep, and
pigs. The council have decided to adopt several arrange-
ments connected with the mode of distinguishing the prize
animals, the restriction of local prizes to competition in their
own classes, and the management of refreshmenis for the
public, which they hope will be found to be improvements
in their respective application. The council have also de-
cided on the following prizes, to be offered in the depart-
ment of implements at the Warwick meeting, namely:—
Class of ploughs, £4O; class of harrows, £2O ; class of cul-
tivatbrs, £2O; class of clod-crushers, £10; class of rollers,
£10; class of tile and brick machines, £2O; class of drain-
ing machines and implements, £2O ; special prize for the
best application of steam power to the cultivation of the
soil, £5O. The triennial system for the trial of implements,
which commenced in 1855, at the Carlisle meeting, has ter-
minated this year at Chester; and it has, therefore, been
necessary for the implement committee, at the request of
the council, to take into their deliberate consideration the
question of the renewal, discontinuance, or modification of
that system. The council have adopted the recommenda-
tion of the committee that, instead of three years, the trials
should in future be distributed over a period of four years,
the trial in the field and in the yard occurring every alter-
nate year, such special prizes, and medals for miscellaneous
improvements being also offered each year as the council
may determine. The following is the schedule of this
arrangement :-1. 1859—Ploughs, harrows, cultivators
clod-crushers, rollers, tile and brick machines. 2. 18602
Combined and other threshing machines, chaff-cutters,
mills, oilcalce breakers. 3. 1861—Drills, manure distri-
butors, horse-rakes, carts and waggons. 4. 1862—Fixed
and portable steam-engines, fixed and portable finishing
machines, hand dressing machines, barley hummelers.
They have also decided that in future specifications of
entry, 'the prices stated shall be the prices of the respective
articles of machinery entered for competition and trial at
the country meetings of the society, complete and in good
working order.' The council have the satisfaction of re-
cording the rapid advance of the society in carrying out
successfully the several objects for which it was esta-
blished.

" By order of the council,
" JAMES HUDSON, Secretary.
" London, December, 18,58."
The CHAIRMAN moved the adoption of the re-
port, simply observing that he hoped and believed
it would be considered full and satisfactory.
Colonel CHALLONER seconded the motion.
• Mr. SAMUEL SIDNEY remarked that at the last
meeting and at the meeting at Salisbury in the
summer, he made certain suggestions, and the re-
port showed that they were not altogether ill-
founded or uncalled for. Considerable improve-
ments had since been introduced into the manage-
ment of the society, though many others yet re-
mained to be carried out. It was, for instance,
perfectly notorious that the council of the society
(lid not contain so many working members as the
tenant farmers of England could dc. ire. No doubt
men of great intelligence and much.practical know-
ledge had recently been added to the council; but
he ventured to think the change had not been car-
ried far enough, as many of those who were sup-
posed to represent practical agriculture at the
board were little better than ciphers. That objec-
tion was made at Salisbury, but it was then urged
in answer to it that if tenant farmers were ap-
pointed they would not attend the meetings of the
council. One simple fact would dispose of that
answer. He happened to be a member of the Cen-
tral Farmers' Club, which met in London seven
times a year, and he knew, as others present did
also,-that none of the meetings took place without
a considerable attendance of practical farmers. At
nearly every meeting important discussions took
place, which were afterwards circulated by the
press through the length and breadth of the land,
thereby leading to vast changes and improvements
in the practice of agriculture. It was admitted at
a recent meeting of the Society of Arts that the
paper read at the Farmers' Club on steam plough-
ing for autumnal cultivation had tended more than
anything to induce the adoption throughout the
country of steam ploughing, and :considering the
increasing intelligence of the tenant farmers of Eng-
land, he did hope the council would seize the earliest
opportunity of adding to the number • of practical
members of their body. Another subject he
wished to refer to was the weekly meetings.
in consequence of the exclusion of reporters they
were little better than a farce. Practical men
would not bring forward useful and valuable papers
to be buried in pigeonholes or forgotten directly
they were delivered. Why not follow the example
of the Farmers' Club, and, allow the press to dis-
seminate the papers over the country, in order that
criticism might be provoked and the improvements
they proposed adopted, or their fallacies exposed
It was high time, too, that the society took stock
of the progress agriculture had made since its for-
mation, by circulating among tenant farmers ques-
tions for them to answer as to the changes they
had made in practical farming since 1838.
The CHAIRMAN bore his testimony to the uic-
fulness of the Farmers' Club, and promised that
the observations of Mr. Sidney should receive the
attention they desers.-ed at the hands of the council.
Lord FAvERSUAM did not concur in Mr. Sidney's
suggestion to admit the press
a
ess to the weekly. deliber-
ations of the council. Such step would create
great inconvenience, and be the means of sowing
council
the seeds of dissension in the and among
the members of the society generally.it had already As regardedb
Mr. Sidney's last suggestion,
carried out. Professor Voelcker had
beentlrongeeln
North and South Wales collecting such informa-
tion, and he intended to pursue hisatinquiries in
every locality throughout the kingdom, The result I
of the society's operations showed that agriculture
was in a state of continuous improvement. The in-
terest taken in its welfare was increasing from
year to year, as was conclusively established by the
crowded aspect of their meetings. Nor was this
growing interest confined to persons engaged in
agriculture; it was participated in by the general
public, who flocked in- thousands to the cattle-
shows, and in order to gratify the wishes of the
public the Smithfield Club had unanimously passed
a resolution, appointing a committee to ascertain
whether a more eligible situation than the Baker-
street Bazaar could not be found in the metropolis
within the next three years for holding their inte-
resting and highly popular exhibitions. Nobody
-would dispute that it was a step in the right direc-
tion. (Hear.) It was impossible for any one to

have attended the show this week without being
convinced that the present was wholly unsuitable
to the ptrposes for which it was used by the
Smithfield Club. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. SIDNEY explained that he did n, t wish the
deliberations of the council to be open to the press,
but simply that the press should be allowed to
publish the papers read at the weekly meetings.
The report was then unanimously adopted, after
which the auditors and other officers were elected
for the ensuing year, and thanks voted for their
past services.
The proceedings closed with a similar compli-
ment to the chairman.

AU?. SOTHEBON ESTCOURT, M.P., 02Q

REFORM.

The President of the Poor-law Board, the Right
Hon. Sotheron Estcourt, is President of the Wilts
Agricultural Society, which met at Devizes on
Wednesday, and in his speech after dinner he spoke
" about" the new Reform Bill. He compared him-
self to a friend of the artist who sees a picture
while being done, but whether it will be a "good
likeness," or pleasing" likeness he cannot vet
say. " Now, that is my case. I have been'to Lon-.
don, and may possibly have taken a glimpse at the
canvas ; but whether the Reform Bill, when it
comes out, will be a good likeness of what you ex-
pect, and will be satisfactory to you, depends not
upon one or two items, which may be let out before-
hand, but upon the whole measure as completed
by the great artist in whose hands it now rests."
(Cheers.) After saying that the present unexcited
time was the proper time to bring in the bill, Mr.
Estcourt said :—" I believe that the measure will
be conceived with an intention of placing
the representation of the people upon a broad,
a deep, good, and a stable foundation ; and that
it will be judged of by the people of Eng-
land with much less excitement than when a
Reform Bill was proposed 25 years ago." So much
for the future. Now, gentlemen. it is also said
—you Conservatives are not the proper people
to bring such a measure forward ; you Conserva-
tives have always been obstructing reform, and
you should, therefore, leave it to your opponents.
My answer is, that of the three great parties into
which the people of England are divided—the Con-
servatives, the Whigs, and the Radicals—l say
that the Conservatives are the parties that ought to
bring it forward. Observe the reason. Twenty-
five years ago a Reform Bill, which has formed the
constitution of this country since that time, was
brought forward by the Whigs. lam old enough
to have had a seat is Parliament at that time to
know what was said and thought of it. We spoke
of it in very disparaging terms—in terms which I
acknowledge was much more severe than the mea-
sure deserved. It was confessedly a measure
brought in by one party in the State. I will say
no more upon that, except that the same party
have twice put into the Queen's Speech a recom-
mendation to Parliament to consider that same
question with a view to remedy the defects which
experience has shown to exist in that measure.
Will you, then, leave them—the same people—to
attempt again to botch their own measure ? I say
nay. They have had their turn, and have had full
credit for their measure, which has turned out
better than I expected. But, if we are to have
another Reform Bill, it ought to be no longer en-
trusted to them, but ought to fall to one of tke
other two parties. (Cheers.) Well, that being the
case, speaking as a Conservative, but still giving
my honest opinion, I do believ• that throughout
the whole of England the strong majority will be
prepared to trust that delicate operation to the
hands of the Conservatives rather than to the
Radicals. According to my judgment, they would
rather that the operation should be performed by
an experienced surgeon than by a medical practi-
tioner, who, however, great his skill, has yet no
experience in the matter—that they would rather
trust the bringing in of a Reform Bill to Lord
Derby than to Mr. Bright.
Mr. DARBY GRIFFITHS, M.P., also made some
allusion to the subject, and said he believed the
country was not desirous to undertake the great
organic changes, or to ride upon the sea of popular
expectation as it did 25 years ago. He hoped that
whatever change might take place, there would be
a careful consideration of the claims of all classes ;
but, speaking in agricultural language, he believed
they would prefer to confide their prospects and
their interests to the old Derby plough rather than
to the Birmingham scarifier.