338 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. - 



immediate poriod, with a fine and dry state of atmos- 

 l)iiei'e, but little danger need bo apprelieuded of a good 

 yield. The subsequent weather throughout July being 

 of the same character, an abundant crop may be cal- 

 culated upon. 



The injury sustained from insects is also almost 

 superseded in such state of auspicious weather, as it 

 has been found that the wheat-midge can effect but 

 little mischief, and that mildew is not extensively pro- 

 duced in such seasons. 



So far as we are enabled to trace effects, we find 

 that the productiveness of our cereals is mainly de- 

 pendent upon a warm and dry atmosphere ; but that 

 such a state of weather can be foretold or be calculated 

 upon from the average of preceding years, wo could 

 hardly venture to say. There is, stdl, a prevailing 

 notion of good and bad seasons following each other 

 in cycles of years. 



The temperature undoubtedly is little changed for 

 several years in continuation, but not with such a 

 degree of uniform regularity as to establish any rule 

 therefrom. It has been observed that whenever the 

 general temperature is lower than ordinary, such 

 seasons are most generally rainy j and although we 

 cannot trace the immediate cause of rain prevailing 



for long periods together, atmospheric phenomena 

 are undergoing such investigations as will probably 

 ensure an approximation to this. Certain known laws 

 affecting the cause and amount of rainfall in various 

 countries and districts have been already ascertained 

 and established. Rain is found to decrease in quantity 

 from the equator to the poles, and to increase in 

 quantity from the coast to the interior of Europe, 

 especially as we advance to the table-lands. But this 

 law is reversed in ascending steep and rugged moun- 

 tains. At Keswick, in Cumberland, it amounts to 67J 

 inches, while in Essex it is only 19^ inches. Also upon 

 our western shores the quantity of rain is treble in 

 quantity to that which is found to prevail upon our 

 eastern coast. This arises from the westerly winds 

 traversing the Atlantic, whilst the easterly winds come 

 over large inland tracts of the continents of both Eu- 

 rope and Asia ; consequently whenever strong easterly 

 winds prevail in the spring months, the weather is 

 generally cold but dry; but as dryness is suitable to 

 cereals, they advance with far greater rapidity as soon 

 as the weather becomes mild, with showers from the 

 west. It frequently happens, however, tiiat but little 

 rain accompanies the westerly winds in the earlj por- 

 tion of June; and whenever such is the case, the season 

 is invariably auspicious and congenial to production. 



f ARM-SERVANTS AND FARM-HORSES-TWO RECENT CASES. 



Few men achieve any great success in an occupation 

 that they have not some pride and pleasure in pur- 

 suing. It is a feeling that witii us all should be espe- 

 cially encouraged. From the day a lad joins a class 

 at school, to the time he sets up for himself, there should 

 never be wanting such an ambition to excel. It is not 

 only our children, however, we should endeavour to 

 imbue with this becoming spirit of emulation and im- 

 provement. There are others under our control, who 

 may profit both them and ourselves, equally by this 

 same inward prompting. A servant who does not pride 

 himself on his work and his tools is seldom worth much. 

 It is in suchwise, in fact, that you gather the best evi- 

 dence of his character. The gardener shows his flowers 

 and fruit. The butler plumes himself on the condition 

 of his wine and the arrangement of his cellar. The cook 

 sends up a soup that will not even submit to another 

 pinch of salt ; while neat-handed Phyllis' plate looks 

 as well as if you kept forty servants'instead of four. 

 But, if there be one who, above all others, has a real 

 gratification in doing well what he does at all, it is the 

 horse-keeper. No matter whether it is the be-wigged 

 and be-plushed coachman of " the great people," the 

 hobby-de-hoy who look after his first four-wheeler, or 

 the carter who brings his team to market— as a rule, 



"No mothers or nurses 

 Take more care of their babes than they do of their horses." 



It is rarely indeed that such a man forgets his charge. 

 The groom at the covert side daintily wisps his horse 

 over with his own silk handkerchief; the drayman's 

 'filler" would seem to get more stout even than 

 f/f <^i'iver; and the veriest man-of- all-work thinks of 



the nag" long before ho does of himself. 



It is a pardonable and almost a national pride we 

 have. But it may be carried too far ; in instance of 

 which we may briefly tell two histories that have 

 been brought especially under our notice. They may 

 -let as something of a caution with the one class, 



and at the same time as something of a plea with the 

 other. There farms, then, at Westdean, in Sussex, one 

 Mr. Thomas Newman, who, until very recently, had in 

 his employment two men of the name of Gabriel. The 

 elder of these had been in this same service for so long 

 a period as fifteen years, and never, according to his 

 master's testimony, had he in that time robbed Mr. 

 Newman " of a sixpence." This is something of a 

 character at any rate. The other man, a son 

 or brother most probably, does not appear to 

 have been settled here so long; but we will as- 

 sume that he did not disgrace his relative or 

 his place. In an unhappy moment, however, these 

 two men have sacrificed every thing. They stand as 

 convicted thieves. The constables are sent for. They 

 are taken to prison, and in due course before the Bench 

 of Magistrates. The prosecutor would seem at last to 

 have even pleaded for them — for the elder particu- 

 larly, " who had been fifteen years in his service; 

 never robbed him of sixpence ; had a large family, and 

 a wife very ill." The Chairman of the Bench himself 

 admitted that " they had erred more from ignorance 

 than any dishonest intention ; they had not, it was 

 clear, appropriated anything to their own advantage." 

 Still the law must be enforced, and the two Gabriels 

 are sentenced accordingly to three weeks' imprison- 

 ment each in the Petworth House of Correction. 



And what have these unfortunates, who erred more 

 from ignorance than intention, been doing ? Stealing 

 tail corn for their pigs ? Or getting a few apples out of 

 the orchard for their children ? Or making love to 

 Betty the maid, and getting beer and bacon for them- 

 selves ? No. A man with fifteen years' character is 

 scarcely as selfish or as culpable as this. The Gabriels 

 had been robbing Mr. Newman of his oats— to feed his 

 own horses with ; or, as it is written in the local report 

 of the case, " it came out that the nien had taken the 

 oats without tlieir master's permission, to give to their 

 horses." 



