THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



543 



tenant occupiers'. Mr. Darby had said that accord- 

 ing to the opinion of the old school of farmers the 

 morals of the working class had degenerated. He 

 did not think such was the case, but still he could 

 not say that they had improved to the extent which 

 might have been anticipated. Proi)ably the educa- 

 tion at present given was calculated in some degree 

 to improve the morals of the poor ; but when they 

 were sent home to sleep with the whole family in 

 the one solitary sleeping apartment, what became 

 of the morality in which they had been trained in 

 the school ? If any man deserved a good home it 

 was the agricultural labourer. He fully agreed 

 with Mr. Randall as to the kind of education which 

 the poor required. After the good plain tuition 

 which had been described, the teaching should be 

 adapted to the peculiar wants of the station which 

 they would probably fdl in after-life, but the educa- 

 tion given at the present day was not founded on 

 right principles. 



Mr. Darby considered that the main line of 

 argument which he had endeavoured to establish 

 had not been shaken by anything that had been 

 advanced, inasmuch as none of the speakers had 

 taken exception to the fact that the extensive intro- 

 duction of machinery for different purposes of the 

 farm in modern times caused a large and rapidly 

 increasing demand for skilled labour. In reference 

 to the comments which had been made on the 

 character of the present instruction afforded, he 

 quite agreed with them that it was in many re- 

 spects unsuitable. It was too fastidious, and there 

 was much of the fantastic about it ; but that the 

 children of the poor were too highly educated in 

 any useful branch of learning he totally denied ! 

 No possible harm could arise from the reception of 

 sound knowledge. It was not education that oc- 

 casioned the undesirable characteristics in the lower 

 orders of the present day, for the really educated 

 would always be found to be the most humble and 

 unpretentious. The renowned Sir Isaac Newton, 

 when dying, described himself as having been 

 enabled but to pick up a few pebbles on the beach, 

 where an entire ocean of unexplored truth lay be- 

 yond him, and all who saw the farthest, and had 

 learnt the most, would, like him, know their own 

 littleness. Learning was not calculated to produce 

 those imperfections in the conduct of the poor 

 which were so manifest at the present day ; but 

 what did occasion them ? It was the weak and 

 silly feeling that labour entailed a degradation on 

 the individual, a feehng which was but too common 

 in English society, and was handed down to the 

 poorer classes from those above them. There were 

 many farmers for instance who would never soil 

 their hands with any work, because their sense of 

 their own dignity was above it, and they deemed it 

 degrading; but such an example was not lost on 

 the labourers, and did much to instil into their 

 minds false notions of things. He quite agreed 

 with what had been said as to the necessity of fixing 

 the education of the children of the poor principally 

 on the common rudiments of a sound English 

 education ; but when these had been mastered, he 

 would allow them to proceed to something else ; a 

 knowledge of history was most desirable, and he 

 for one would not object to have them instructed 



in geography, and in the use of the globes (No, no). 

 He would say yes, for such knowledge was of ser- 

 vice and was of a different character to the fancy 

 work of girls, which they had so generally and he 

 would say rightly condemned. As it was probable 

 that the labourers of the next generation would 

 have the care and management of very intricate 

 machinery entrusted to them, then it was obvious 

 that the boys of the present should receive a really 

 good education in order to befit them for their after 

 duties in life. The principles of mechanics should 

 be made known to them, and also the laws of matter 

 and motion ; in fact he for one was of opinion that 

 they should be taught anything and everything 

 that they had the capacity to attain. Every child 

 in the kingdom should be allowed opportunity fully 

 to develope his or her faculties, and the state was 

 a very bad parent if it did not allow them this 

 opportunity. 



Mr. Reader — Who is to bear the expense ? 



Mr. Darby— The State of course. If but a 

 tenth part of the amount now expended on the ex- 

 tensive armaments that were going on were applied 

 to the education of the people, it would be amply 

 sufhcient, and all classes would derive the most 

 salutary benefit from it. It appeared that some of 

 them were of opinion that all the poor required was 

 a little more rehgious education; but they had every 

 facility for the attainment of that at present, having 

 religious instructors of every sect on every side, and 

 an abundance of sacred literature. It was com- 

 prehensive secular knowledge that was wanting ; 

 and until that was supplied in the public school 

 the labouring classes would still evince a want of 

 intelligence and skill, disaffection to the interests 

 of their master and to the welfare of society in 

 general, and that general ill-conduct and want of 

 morality which had been so much deprecated. 



The proceedings then terminated. 



PLANTED BY NATURE.— Some seeds when ripe are 

 provided with hooks made to catch hold of passing animals, 

 whicli, after a time, get rid of them by rolling on tlie ground. 

 Tliose seeds which are surrounded by a succulent pulp, and 

 are swallowed by birds and quadrupeds, arc generally 

 favourably consigned to the earth. Blost seeds pass unin- 

 jured through the stomach and intestines of all animals, 

 with the exception of gallinaceous fowls. Currant seeds, 

 after having been eaten by man, can germinate. Foxes sow 

 the seeds of the cranberry (,vaccinum) after eating its red 

 berries. Apple and pear trees are often found in ditches 

 and under hedges, proceeding, it is said, from fruit which 

 has been devoured by peasants. Farmers arc often as- 

 tonished when, after having, as they think, perfectly pre- 

 pared their fields, and sown excellent corn, on reaping they 

 lind some places covered only with useless oats. In other 

 cases, raammifers and birds devour only a portion of seeds, 

 while the rest fall and become productive. When the squirrel 

 shakes the cone of the pine-tree to obtain the seeds, a great 

 number fall to the ground and are lost to him. The 

 inhabitants of Iceland call a partichlar sort of nut " rats' 

 nut," from the circumstance that the rats gather them in 

 great numbers, and hide them in the ground. But as the 

 rats arc very often killed by one or other of their numerous 

 enemies, the nuts are left to germinate. Seeds falling into 

 worm-holes are sure to germinate, as well as seeds which 

 drop into the subtorraiieons passages made by the moles to 

 ensnare worms and insects The hog, by tearing up the 

 earth as with a ploughshare, preparesyit for the reception of 

 seeds. The hedgehog passes his life in doing the same 

 veryico. — Dickens's All (lie. Fear Round, 



