Those who were wise would at once set to work to drain, to purchase artificial manure, and set up steam power, and thereby to provide themselves with the means of stemming the tide of depression.  By these means they could maintain a head of stock that would be more than double what was now kept upon equal acreage.  He knew full well one of the objections that would be made against these statements.  It would be said that certain individuals had done all this, had deep ploughed, had manured, had kept a great head of valuable stock, had used every resource, and yet had suffered.  This was true.  He deeply regretted to say it was true.

But why had they suffered?  Not because of the steam, the machinery, the artificial manure, the improvements they had set on foot; but because of the folly of their neighbours, of the agricultural class generally.  The great mass of farmers had made no improvements; and, when the time of distress came, they were beaten down at every point.  It was through these men and their failures that the price of stock and of produce fell, and that so much stress was put upon the said individuals through no fault of their own.  He would go further, and he would say that had it not been for the noble efforts of such individuals—­the pioneers of agriculture and its main props and stays—­the condition of farming would have been simply fifty times worse than it was.  They, and they alone, had enabled it to bear up so long against calamity.  They had resources; the agricultural class, as a rule, had none.  Those resources were the manure they had put into the soil, the deep ploughing they had accomplished, the great head of stock they had got together, and so on.  These enabled them to weather the storm.

The cry for a reduction of rent was an irresistible proof of what he had put forth—­that it was the farmers themselves who were to blame.  This cry was a confession of their own incompetency.  If you analysed it—­if you traced the general cry home to particular people—­you always found that those people were incapables.  The fact was, farming, as a rule, was conducted on the hand-to-mouth principle, and the least stress or strain caused an outcry.  He must be forgiven if he seemed to speak with unusual acerbity.  He intended no offence.  But it was his duty.  In such a condition of things it would be folly to mince matters, to speak softly while everything was going to pieces.  He repeated, once for all, it was their own fault.  Science could supply the remedy, and science alone; if they would not call in the aid of science they must suffer, and their privations must be upon their own heads.  Science said, Drain, use artificial manure, plough deeply, keep the best breed of stock, put capital into the soil.  Call science to their aid, and they might defy the seasons.

The professor sat down and thrust his hand through his hair.  The president invited discussion.  For some few minutes no one rose; presently, after a whispered conversation with his friend, an elderly farmer stood up from the forms at the very back of the room.  He made no pretence to rounded periods, but spoke much better than might have been expected; he had a small piece of paper in his hand, on which he had made notes as the lecture proceeded.