Genre:

Introduction, Drollery; Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Societies, Machinery, Invention, Entomology, Display

    Possibly an allusion to the Agricultural Association. Begins by noting the 'gratifying' result of a recent meeting of the association. Notes that one of the objects of the association is the 'invention of implements of agriculture; the decision on different soils, and the cultivation of cattle', and notes that the 'Secretary' presented a machine for 'extracting butter from butterflies'. The rest of the spoof proceedings ridicule the apparently misguided and fruitless activities of the association. The members, for example, cannot distinguish between a 'natural' and a cooked potato; the 'Cultivation of Cattle Section' sees a bull tossing some wine glasses off a table; a member discussed the possibility of 'bringing up a flea entirely by hand'. The proceedings also describe the 'Great Blue-bottle Show', a paper on the 'Civilisation of Wasps, with a view to inducing them to regulate the use of their stings upon equitable principles', and the display of a 'patent harrow' on which a 'well-dressed member' fell.