336 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



and work the year through with scarcely any respite. 

 You may count up their holidays, and often times they 

 will not together amount to one weeli out of the fifty- 

 two. How seldom is it that they go forth to meet the 

 gun upon the grassy kuoU ! What know they of the ever- 

 changeful sky ; of the ever-beuutiful variity of light and 

 shade ? They are not acquainted with the different flights 

 of birds, nor with the mysterious language of the wind ; 

 they are entirely ignorant of the thousand delights that 

 minister to the pleasure of the farmer. And this arises 

 from no disinclination to enjoy them ; no, nothing of 

 the kind ; but from a deep sense of duty, that keeps 

 them plodding on, in the race of competition, until they 

 secure the prize and the leisure to enjoy it. 



Well, it should be the same with the farmer. It is 

 absurd for him to expect success, nnd yet to take one or 

 two or three days' holiday out of the week ; quite ab- 

 surd. An exact and constant supervision needs the de- 

 votion of a man's whole energies. And who will con- 

 tend that a less amount of attention is sufficient? Many 

 a man who has failed in England has gone abroad, and 

 sent home wonderful accounts of a farm bought and 

 paid for and well stocked in an incredibly short space of 

 time. And those who read these reports generally fail 

 to extract from them the lesson they contnin. The man 

 thrown upon his last resources puts forth as it were 

 almost the energy of despair upon the materials befure 

 him ; and that indomitable perseverance which demands, 

 nay creates success, receives it. Had the same effort 

 been employed at home, the same result would have 

 followed, though perhaps, from certain accidental cir- 

 cumstances, in a limited degree. The same measures 

 that will succeed in Australia, depend upon it, will 

 succeed in England. And were we disposed to establish 

 our households upon the same dimensions as our emi- 

 grant brothers e-ttablish theirs in the backwoods of 

 America, or the bush of New Zealand, we should find a 

 more considerable balance on the right side than is now 

 frequently the case. 



And while upon this subject, it may be well to say 

 that amongst us there does e\ist too great a disposition 

 to depute our authority as masters to the hands of farm- 

 ing bailiffs, and to enjoy the leisure that results to us 

 from the practice. This course we have in many cases 

 observed to arise out of positive indolence, or disincli- 

 nation to attend to practical pursuits, ^^ometimes it is 

 downriglit cowardice that prompts the step. We had 

 rather that another hand excited the pressure on the 

 labourers than our own ; we lack the courage (o exact 

 the tale of work, or to enforce the reduced wage. 

 But while the master thus saves himself, he is called 

 upon to pay a sufficiently heavy tax in another direction, 

 for thosa who have tried it do not give a very satisfac- 

 tory account of the dvpu'y system. Where a man's bu- 

 siness is so extensive th.it he absolutely needs help, the 

 Cise is quite dilFerent. We all remember the fable of the 



Stag in the Ox-stall — intended to convey the moral that 

 no eye is like the master's eye. Sir Charles Napier, 

 writing from Cephalonia, understood it well enough. 

 He said, " My predecessor thought, as half the world 

 always thinks, that a man in command has only to or- 

 der, and obedience will follow. Hence they are baffled, 

 not from want of talent, but from inactivity ; vainly 

 thinking that while they spare themselves, every one 

 under them will work like horses.'' 



There can be no question as to the necessity that 

 does exist, and will yet further exist, for retrenchment. 

 Live stock has already fallen from 20 to 30 per cent, in 

 value ; and the average price of wheat last year shows 

 a reduction on tliat of the year previous, of 12s, 6d. per 

 quarter. But while we acknowledge this necessity, it is 

 quite possible for us to take a course that will not be 

 fraught with desirable effect. We may, for instance, 

 follow the example of people in high places, who, when re- 

 trenchment is demanded by the nation, make a vigorous 

 reduction in the artizans employed at the arsenals, fall 

 upon the laborious postmen, and lower the salaries of 

 inferior officials. IMy Lord High Treasurer still retains 

 his saliry as Chief Snuffer to her Majesty, and no one 

 would think of disturbing the Most Noble Marquis ia 

 the hereditary possession of the title and fees pertaining 

 to the Chief Falconer to the Crown. And the farmer, 

 we fear, commences his retrenchment in like manner, 

 at the wrong end. Not until he has scrutinised the 

 labourers' list ; not until ho has dismissed as many work- 

 men as he possibly can, and reduced those that remain 

 to the lowest pinch, does he generally give a thought to 

 the curtailment of personal expenses, the abandonment 

 of costly field sports, and a more undeviating attention 

 to business. 



We are not going to say that there is no reason in 

 reducing wages at certain times, or in dismissing work- 

 men at certain seasons ; but we do say, that when men 

 rush to this course as the first and only means of avert- 

 ing calamity, their selfish policy carries the seed within 

 it of a great retribution. Depend upon it, the letters 

 that are flowing into this country from fathers, brothers, 

 and friends, who are successfully carrying out their 

 plans in our thriving colonies, will not bj as seed falling 

 on intractable soil. The ill-paid and the unemployed 

 will not turn a deaf ear to the solicitations to " come," 

 and an increased exodus may be expected, the effects 

 of which will not be fully realized until the grain is 

 shaking in the field. 



While, therefore, we endeavour very properly to 

 meet the pressure of the times, let us not begin at the 

 wrong end. When we have lopped oft' our luxuries ; 

 when we have put into play all our energy, and dis- 

 covered all the secret resources within our land, it will 

 then be time to let the pressure of hard times be a little 

 more felt by the labourer. 



