J40 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



and Canada than of the dietary of the rural labourers 

 of the South of England, and of that period when 

 it is on record in evidence given before the House 

 of Commons, that their dinner in some of the 

 southern counties consisted of cold potatoes carried 

 Into the field. Here is the carte : — For breakfast, hot 

 bread-and-milk ; dinner, hot meat, pies and puddings, 

 vegetables, and one pint of ale ; supper, hot 

 meat, bread-and-milk, or peas' soup. They pay for 

 their own washing (to the foreman's wife). If they 

 work hard they live well, and they are allowed a holi- 

 day of three or four days in the year. If there be any 

 fault to find with this mode of management, it is, that 

 it has the appearance of putting the men too much 

 in the power of the foreman and his wife. These per- 

 sonages have certainly a good time of it ; for, we are 

 told that, in addition to the above, "the foreman's 

 wife shares largely in the profits of the system/' inas- 

 much as she has tlie surplus milk and butter of two 

 cows to dispose of, valued at £20 to £2o per annum : 

 she has also the privilege of raising poultry and col- 

 lecting eggs. For these, we are told, she receives a 

 certain price per couple, out of which she pays lier 

 maid-servant and retains the residue for herself. 



As Lincolnshire holds a geographical position mid- 

 way between the north and south of England, it 

 may be considered as holding an intermediate position 

 in the management of its labourers between those points, 

 and its bill of fare is superior to both north and south. 

 Its moral influence is inferior to the hind system of 

 Northumberland, so well described by Mr. Grey, of 

 Dilston, and the late Canon of Noreham. The modi- 

 fication which the Lincolnshire system appears to 

 require is this — that for the one barrack-cottage the 

 farm should be provided with one for the foreman and 

 one for each of the ploughman ; that each of them 

 should have a quarter of an acre attached to this 

 cottage, and the privilege of keeping a cow, and also 

 the keep, summer and winter, of a cow purchased by 

 himself, according to the Northumberland system. It 

 would be bettr that the services of the foreman 

 should be paid in a different way than by an addition 

 to his wages of what he and his wife can make by 

 boarding the men. Let us put this as an argument; 

 and as such we should very much like to hear what 

 our Lincolnshire friends have to say against this modi- 

 fication of their svstem. 



THE VARIOUS EFFECTS OF CLIMATIC INFLUENCE UPON CULTIVATION. 



Very few agriculturists, horticulturists, or gardeners 

 duly appreciate the effects of atmospheric influence 

 upon the cultivation of cereals and vegetables. The 

 majority of them, from carrying out their operations on 

 the same spot during the greater portion of their lives, 

 have but little opportunity of comparing their own with 

 other districts. Even those removing from one locality 

 to another attribute any differences rather to a change 

 in season than to the laws that govern such diversity 

 of effect. 



Within a veryshortdistance, climaticinfluencesofvery 

 different character may be found to exist. Take, for ex- 

 ample, a farm or garden lying close upon the borders of 

 a large river, and another upon a hill-side or upon its 

 summit. If a careful register be kept of the day and 

 night temperature throughout the year, especially of 

 the spring and autumnal months, a much larger differ- 

 ence will be found to exist than could possibly have been 

 imagined without the test of such an accurate investiga- 

 tion. In a valley, the excess of moisture arising from 

 evaporation becoming suddenly condensed at night, or 

 under sudden changes of temperature, so much di- 

 minishes heat that plants are frequently cut down by 

 the early or late frosts ; whilst upon the hill sides or sum- 

 mit they escape altogether. During the severe winter 

 of 1839, scarcely an evergreen of the Laurustinus or of 

 the common Italian laurel survived in sheltered situ- 

 ations in the valley ; although upon the summit and the 

 sides of the hill, even in a north-easterly aspect, they 

 escaped unscathed. The same with fruit trees in the 

 present season, and, indeed, in almost every preceding 

 one. Fruit is found abundant upon the upper portion 



and sides of the hill, especially upon the south-western 

 side ; but in the valley below, near to the river, scarcely 

 any is found to exist. What there is has been obtained 

 only by carefully protecting the trees throughout the 

 months of March and April. The hardy gooseberry 

 and currant are not exempt from this rule, being al- 

 ways an abundant crop in the one situation, whilst in 

 the other they are invariably deficient. 



Upon lands adjacent to the sea-coast of the eastern 

 portion of this island, the general effects of the winter 

 act less injuriously upon plants and evergreens than at 

 a farther distance inland. Within but few days, we 

 have seen myrtles of a large size growing vigorously ; 

 the wheat was also fully a week more forward in 

 the ear than we afterwards found it twenty miles 

 further up the country. And root crops, such as the 

 swede and common turnip, invariably suffer less in- 

 jury here, tlian in upland situation:-. This difference, 

 no doubt, arises from the temperature or the air, during 

 the winter and spring months, being raised by the in- 

 creased temperature of the sea-water. On the other 

 hand, inland, the temperature of the air is reduced by 

 the contiguity of rivers and by the continuous and suc- 

 cessive evaporation always rising from the adjacent 

 meadow lands by which they are bounded. 



Our attention has been directed to the effects of this 

 difference of atmospheric influence upon two gardens 

 little more than half-a-mile apart, both having a 

 northern aspect, and about equally protected by sur- 

 rounding timber and plantations. For several years past 

 the dahlias and chrysantliemums continue in full flower, 

 in one garden, for two or three weeks later than in the 



