THE FARMER»S MAGAZINE. 



805 



case where lautUords keep the ahootin^ iu their own I 

 hands; but where the custom prevails of letting 

 the manor, the person who takes it of course feels 

 no interest in the tenant, having no rent to expect 

 of him. Such preservation spoils the temper, crip- 

 ples the energy, and destroys the pro(Uicc of the 

 farmer, demoralizes in many instances the labourer, 

 and increases the price of the working man's loaf : 

 but, in justice to the aristocracy, I am bound to 

 say there arc many among them (and it would be 

 well if more followed the same course), where they 

 cannot conveniently let the shooting to their tenants, 

 who give them tlie privilege to course the hares. 

 Amongst the number is his Grace the Duke of 

 Bedford, who worthily follows iu the track of his 

 noble ancestry, by doing all he can to promote the 

 best interests of British agriculture. 



A few words before I close, upon a subject that is 

 now exciting so much attention— the welfare of the 

 agricultural labourer. It is from this, I fear, in 

 some instances, deeply-injured class, those brave 

 men are found who light our battles both by sea 

 and land, and by whose daily toil we receive the 

 comforts of life. Too much cannot be done for his 

 amelioration. Education is said by some to be the 

 remedy for all his ills ; but, much as I value it, that 

 alone will not do. I often wish I could sec as much 

 zeal displayed for the welfare of the labourer, before 

 he commits crime, as we do, in many instances, 

 after he has fallen. We have our reformatories, 

 and our model prisons for his reception ; but where 

 are the well-ventilated comfortable cottages for 

 him to inhabit, in which he and his family might 

 take a pride, so that the attractions of the beer- 

 shop would no longer be a snare to him ? I admit 

 many landlords are alive to the importance of this ; 

 and we have noble examples in our small county, 

 but they are exceptions. The cottages (generally 

 throughout our land are a disgrace to it ; they pos- 

 sess but one or two bedrooms, consequeijtly there is 

 an indiscriminate huddling together of the sexes. 

 What then can be expected of our rural population 

 but that their morality must be at a very low ebb ? 

 There are large numbers of families iu this county 

 who are not half so comfortably housed as the pigs 

 and bullocks upon many farm homesteads it is my 

 pleasure to know. With such close, ill-ventilated, 

 miserable dwellings, the labourer too frequently, 

 amid his other privations, has to contend with sick- 

 ness and disease — fever generally being his visitor. 

 On many estates, too, there is not sufficient cottage 

 accommodation, and the poor man, if he marries, 

 and marry he will, and has a right to do at a suit- 



able age, must go to i ho nearest town for a resi- 

 dence, and slave backwards and forwards a distance 

 of many miles to his daily toil. Then let those who 

 have influence be up and doing; let the country 

 gentlemen of England resist the entreaties of then- 

 keepers to inx'serve large uundjcrs of hares, for it 

 leads to poaching, and this has been the first step 

 in the downward course of many a labourer ; it is 

 very little use expressing sympathy for him on the 

 one hand, and on the other setting a bait to ensnare 

 him, and which 1 contend is the case when these 

 animals are allowed to run about iu large numbers : 

 let them also prevent the increase of beer shops 

 upon their estates ; for 1 hesitate not to say, on ac- 

 count of their number, they are the curse of our 

 rural population. I make no allusion here to our 

 old respectable public houses ; for, holding the views 

 I do as to the necessity of beer to the working man, 

 there ought to bo one of these in every village, for 

 the accommodation of the labourer and his _ family. 

 Let them also see that he is supplied with his allot- 

 ment garden, on which he may profitably spend his 

 spare hours : and, above all, let them inspect and 

 take the same interest in their cottages^ as they do 

 in the prisons and other public institutions of our 

 country, for which they deserve our best thanks. 

 If all these matters be attended to, they will have 

 fewer cases on which to adjudicate in their capacity 

 as county magistrates. 



I have no wish to shift responsibility on to other 

 shoulders; to us, as employers of upwards of 

 800,000 agricultural families, a very great one is 

 attached. We can do very much in raising the 

 social condition of the labourer by assisting the 

 clergymen of our parishes in their endeavours to 

 form village libraries, and evening schools in the 

 winter months for those of our boys who go to 

 work during the day. Let not our interest in the 

 labourer cease when we pay him at the week's end, 

 but induce him, both by precept and example, to 

 attend some place of worship on the Sunday. Let 

 us, as far as practicable, employ no boys on that 

 day, but see they regularly attend the Sunday 

 school ; and then all parties uniting— landlord, cler- 

 gy, and tenant, and using their best exertions, I 

 am quite sure the condition of our labourers will 

 become very much improved, and in the words of 

 the song I will conclude— 



" And here's to those whose labour planned 

 The all which life endears : 

 God bless the English peasantry, 

 And grant them happy years." 



VARIETIES OF CATTLE FOOD. 



If the Englishman of the present day is better fed 

 than his ancestors, or than the native of any other 

 country, the same improvement is also extended to his 

 domestic slock ; for tho wisdom and economy of good 

 nutritious food for laying on fat and flesh are now tho- 

 roughly understood. Our cattle and horse kind are not 

 left, as iu some countries, to collect a scanty provender 



from rank grasses in steppes, savannahs, or prairies ; 

 to munch upon the sprouts or twigs of trees, or to luxu- 

 riate upon rank sea-weed or fish upon the sea-coast. 

 The best pastures of natural and artificial grasses are 

 prepared for their special behoof, hay is laid up for 

 their winter store, green crops and pulse are cultivated 

 to a large extent, and the choicest oleaginous food, 



