2-982-227 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Lord Berners, President of the Royal Agricultural Society of England - from a photograph by Mayall, 1858. 'In the Norfolk local shows, while resident on the paternal estates at Didlington, in Norfolk, Lord Berners carried out extensive improvements - reclaiming wastes, inclosing open fields, making plantations, doubling, and in many instances tripling, the produce of corn and the number of sheep and cattle on his farm. Lord Berners, on coming into possession of the Keythorpe estate, on which he at present resides, set vigorously to work to improve the agriculture of a district which was in a very backward condition - to drain thoroughly, to grow root crops, to encourage straight instead of crooked ploughing...Like most country gentlemen and eminent agriculturists, Lord Berners is a thorough sportsman. At Didlington, thirty years ago, he managed the falcons of his uncle, and is one of the last who has practised heron-hawking. As a foxhunter he was long a first-flight man in the pasture counties, and still maintains the reputation of a Norfolk man as a shot. His coverts establish the oft-disputed facts that plenty of foxes may always be found with plenty of pheasants for sport'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.