ABSTRACT
There is no Minister of Agriculture in Great Britain, and no attempt is made by Government to interfere with the cultivation of the soil, or between the landowners, the tenants, and the labourers. There are no State flocks, or herds, or horse-breeding establishments, nor any State schools of agriculture. In Ireland such schools, and several experimental farms, were established at the cost of the Government, at the time of the potato famine. In the disorganised state in which that country then was, some benefit ensued. But the general principle of our political system is that every trade and business should be self-supporting, subordinate only to the general laws, and controlled by the rule of free competition. The political influence possessed by the landed interests insures for them adequate representation in the Government, and their great wealth endows them with the means of promoting all objects of general interest to them as a class. The Royal Agricultural Societies in England and Ireland, and the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, are the self-supporting national institutions of each kingdom for the promotion of agriculture. And, besides great provincial societies in various parts of the country, there are in every county one or more local Agricultural Societies for the same object These are all self-supporting, having neither stipend from the State, nor being subject to its control. The good result of this principle is seen in the successful manner in which they have evoked friendly competition amongst all classes connected with the land, and disseminated in every part of the country a knowledge of the best breeds of live-stock, and of the most improved instruments and processes of agricultural development.
