The Board of Agriculture was dissolved in 1813.
The Smithfield Cattle Club, which has been in existence half a century, and some of the provincial agricultural societies, especially the Bath and West of England Society, which commenced the publication of its Transac tions' nearly seventy years ago, have been very useful in promoting agricultural improve ment.
With the establishment of the 'Royal Agri cultural Society of England,' a new ce r a com menced in the history of institutions for the improvement of English agriculture.. The objects of this society, as set forth in the char ter of incorporation, are :-1. To embody such information contained in agricultural publica tions and other scientific works as has been proved by practical experience to be useful to the cultivators of the soil. 2. To correspond with agricultural, horticultural, and other scientific societies, both at home and abroad, and to select from such correspondence all information which, according to the opinion of the society, may be likely to lead to prac tical benefit in the cultivation of the soil. 3. To pay to any occupier of land or other person, who shall undertake, at the request of the society, to ascertain by any experiment how far such information leads to useful re sults in practice, a remuneration for any loss which he may incur by so doing. 4. To en courage men of science in their attention to the improvement of agricultural implements, the construction of farm-buildings and cot tages, the application of chemistry to the general purposes of agriculture, the destruc tion of insects injurious to vegetable life, and the eradication of weeds. 5. To promote the discovery of new varieties of grain and other vegetables useful to roan, or for the food of domestic animals. 0. To collect information with regard to the management of woods, plantations, and fences, and on every other subject connected with rural improvement. 7. To take measures for the improvement of the education of those who depend upon the cultivation of the soil for their support. 8. To take measures for improving the veterinary art, as applied to cattle, sheep, and pigs.
9. At the meetings of the society in the country, by the distribution of prizes and by other means, to encourage the best mode of farm cultivation and the breed of live stock.
10. To promote the comfort and welfare of labourers, and to encourage the improved management of their cottages and gardens. The country meetings take place annually in July. England and Wales are divided into nine great districts, and a place of meeting a each is fixed upon about a year before :and.
The success of the Royal Agricultural So iety has revived the spirit of existing associ tions, or led to the formation of new ones. L'here are now about four hundred agricul ural societies in various parts of England. ['here are also a hundred and fifty farmers' dubs, which are eminently practical; and the ocal results which they collect and discuss nay become applicable to other parts of the :ountry placed under similar circumstances of Lspect, soil, and situation.
The agriculture of Scotland has been largely ndebted to the societies which have been established at different periods for its im provement. A Society of Improvers in the Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland,' was established in 1723, and some of its transac tions were published. The society becoming extinct, was succeeded by another in 1755; and the societywhich now stands in the same relation to Scotland as the Royal Agricultural Society to England was established in 1784. It is entitled the 'Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland.' The constitution and proceedings of the society are as nearly as possible similar to the English society.
In 1841 the 'Royal Agricultural Improve ment Society of Ireland' was established on the plan of the Royal Agricultural Society of England.
In England there are no institutions of a public nature which combine scientific with practical instruction in agriculture. The ad vantage of establishing such an institution was suggested by the poet Cowley ; and in 1709 Marshall published ' Proposals for a Royal Institute or College of Agriculture and other branches of Rural Economy.' There is the Sibthorpian Professorship of Rural Economy in the University of Oxford; at the University of Edinburgh there are professor ships of agriculture and agricultural che mistry; and at the university of Aberdeen there are lectures on agriculture. The bota nical, geological, and chemical professorships and lectures in the different universities are, however, to a certain extent auxiliary to the science of agriculture. The Earl of Dude has established a model example farm on his estate in Gloucestershire ; and farms of this description are of considerable local advan tage. There is one on a very complete scale at Harpenden, near St. Alban's, replete with all the apparatus for the chemical analysis of soils, fodder, products, &c. In 1839, the late B. F. Duppa, Esq., published a short pam phlet entitled 'Agricultural Colleges, or Schools, for the Sons of Farmers,' which con.