and cultivating an
agricultural spirit, and going forth to spend in the employment of
labourers, and I hope in the improvement of land, immense sums which
might otherwise have been lavished on hounds and horses, or squandered
on theatricals.'

Among the numerous subjects into which the board inquired was the
divining rod for finding water, which was tested in Hyde Park in 1801,
and successfully stood the test. In 1805, Davy the chemist reported on
a substance in South America called 'guana', which he had analysed and
found to contain one-third of ammoniacal salt with other salts and
carbon, but its use was not to come for another generation. From the
time of Sinclair's retirement in 1813 the board declined. Arthur
Young, its secretary, had become blind and his capacity therefore
impaired. One year its lack of energy was shown by the return of
L2,000 of the Government grant to the Treasury because it had nothing
to spend it on. The Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, was against it,
the clergy feared the commutation of tithe which the board advocated,
the legal profession was against the Enclosure Act, the landed
interest thought the surveys were intended for purposes of taxation;
and the grant being withdrawn, an effort to maintain the board by
voluntary subscription failed, so that it dissolved in 1822, after
doing much valuable work for English agriculture.

Before its extinction it had held in 1821, at Aldridge's Repository,
the first national agricultural show. L685 was given in prizes, and
the entries included 10 bulls, 9 cows and heifers, several fat steers
and cows, 7 pens of Leicester and Cotswold rams and ewes; 12 pens of
Down, and 9 or 10 pens of Merino rams and ewes.[509] Most of the
cattle shown were Shorthorn, or Durham, as they were then called, with
some Herefords, Devons, Longhorns, and Alderneys. There were also
exhibits of grass, turnip-seed, roots, and implements.

This first national show had been preceded by many local ones.[510]
The end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries
saw the establishment all over England of farmers' clubs, cattle
shows, and ploughing matches.

The period now before us is marked by the great work of the Collings,
who next to Bakewell did most to improve the cattle of the United
Kingdom. Charles Colling was born in 1751, and the scene of his famous
labours was Ketton near Darlington. He had learnt from Bakewell the
all-importance of quality in cattle,