John Chalmers Morton
John Chalmers Morton was a Scottish agriculturist and writer.
Life
The son of John Morton and his wife Jean Chalmers, he was born on 1 July 1821. He was educated at Merchistoun Castle School, Edinburgh, under his famous uncle Charles Chalmers. He then attended university lectures, took the first prize for mathematics, and was a student in David Low's agricultural classes.In 1838 Morton went to assist his father on the Whitfield Example Farm, and shortly joined the newly formed Royal [Agricultural Society of England|Royal Agricultural Society]. He became editor of the Agricultural Gazette on its foundation in 1844; it took him to London, and the post continued for the rest of his life.
When David Low retired in 1854 from his chair at Edinburgh, Morton ran the classes till the appointment of John Wilson. He was inspector under the land commissioners, and also served for six years with Edward Frankland and Sir William Denison on the Royal Commission on pollution of rivers. The commission heard his concerns on abattoir waste.
Morton died at his Harrow residence on 3 May 1888.
Works
Morton edited and brought out:- A Cyclopædia of Agriculture in 1855.
- Morton's New Farmer's Almanac, London, 1856–70. Continued as Morton's Almanac for Farmers and Landowners, 1871.
- Handbook of Dairy Husbandry, London, 1860.
- Handbook of Farm Labour, London, 1861; new edit. 1868.
- The Prince Consort's Farms, London, 1863.
- An Abstract of the Agricultural Holdings... Act, 1875, for Bayldon's Art of Valuing Rents, 9th edit. London, 1876.