266 Agricultural Revolutions and Change
of several hundred in the early days, rising later to a few thousand. The most suc-
cessful book was Young’s Farmers’ Kalendar, which was issued in ten editions in his
lifetime, the fifth selling out of 2000 copies within a few weeks of its issue in 1804
(Gazley, 1973). The best agricultural newspapers, though, had larger audiences,
selling 4000–6000 issues weekly (Goddard, 1989). Local newspapers rarely covered
innovations in detail, though the Newcastle Courant, for example, did record the
release of ducks into turnip crops to control caterpillar pests, mint in haystacks to
keep out mice, and intercropping radishes with turnips to reduce the impact of
turnip fly, and carried advertisements for new machinery, new seeds and new
drainage techniques (MacDonald, 1977).
Farmers’ groups
Farmers’ groups that transferred knowledge by word of mouth or by direct obser-
vation were even better than the printed word. These were first established in the
1720s, growing more common over the next century. Some were small with a local
focus, others larger and acting at a national level. Most held regular meetings and
occasional shows and fairs, and sought to encourage innovation by offering prizes.
But the turnover was considerable. Those that tended to succeed were established
by groups of local farmers themselves, rather than imposed by outsiders, or had
access to outside financial or patronage support.
The earliest agricultural society in Europe was the Society of Improvers in the
Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland, established in 1723 (Ramsay, 1879; Hand-
ley, 1963). It distributed advice to members, such as on types of manures best
suited to their soils, new crops and deep ploughing, but more importantly it
encouraged each member to form small associations in their own districts for ‘the
diffusion of better methods of farming’ (Handley, 1963). The East Lothian Soci-
ety, for example, met monthly in a village inn, and grew to have 122 farmer mem-
bers. The poet Allan Ramsay celebrated the vision of farmers’ clubs by suggesting
that improvements would lead to such an increase in productivity that rents could
be tripled, ‘without the purches of one acre more’ (Withers, 1989). But the society
closed after 20 years when a key figure in its success, Mr Maxwell, died. In 1754
the Edinburgh Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Sciences, Manufactures and
Agriculture was established to offer premiums, or prizes, for good practice. In
1756 Mr Walker won the prize for ‘the tenant who should produce the greatest
variety of marls and other manures, with a short account of the places where they
were found, and the uses to which they were applied’ (Ramsay, 1879). But it closed
in the mid 1760s. Societies were most insecure following the ill health, departure
or death of a leading figure.
Two societies of national importance that did survive were the Society for the
Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (later the Royal Society of
Arts) and the Highland and Agriculture Society (HAS), established in 1754 and
1763 respectively. Both offered premiums for innovations, and took a systematic
view of farming, in which the context of production and the circumstances of each