THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



401 



afford, but who deny the same boon to the child of the 

 labourer. It is but a few days since I met one of this 

 class. He did not like the present order of things at 

 all. ' There was too great a tendency in society now- 

 a-days to upheave that which was below to the top. 

 Labourers were anxious to become masters, and so on. 

 To educate the labourer was only to enhance the evil. 

 The child should succeed his father at the toil.' Ilis 

 own son was then at the University, and was studying 

 for the Church." 



The fearful extent to which this disregard of the 

 moral and physical welfare of the farm-labourers is 

 carried, is forcibly shown by the writer of the letter, 

 and well commented upon by the author of the address. 

 An awful case of one parish in Berkshire is too graphic 

 and striking- to be omitted by us. " Perhaps the most 

 striking instance of the demoralization of a whole com- 

 munity from overcrowding and other unpropitious cir- 

 cumstances, is that furnished by Sutton Courtney in 

 Berkshire. When England was first divided into 

 unions, that of Abingdon was about the first to be 

 marked off. The people of Abingdon were willing that 

 the commissioners should draw any line they please, 

 provided they only excluded Sutton Courtney from the 

 union. Its character was then so bad, that the people 

 of the neighbouring parishes recoiled from the idea of 

 being comprehended v.'ithin the same division with it. 

 The commissioner's having acquainted themselves with 

 the grounds on which the request was made, complied 

 with it, and Sutton Courtney was erected into a union 

 of itself; on the understanding, however, that when- 

 ever it amended its character, it should merge into the 

 Abingdon union. It is now part and parcel of that 

 union ; from which it is to be inferred that its charac- 

 ter is somewhat improved. It was therefore in its 

 amended state that I found it. Judging from its pre- 

 sent condition, it must formerly have been inconceiv- 

 ably bad ; or the people of Abingdon have been satis- 

 fied with very slight tokens of amendment — the place 

 is, to this day, a focus of intemperance and debauchery 

 of every kind." 



Reference is made by Mr. Tucker to the admirable 

 and praiseworthy proceedings of the " County of Kent 

 Labourers' Friond Society, for improving the dwellings 

 of the Labouring Classes," in which all ranks of per- 

 sons, from the peer to the farmer, have united their 

 efforts, having come to the conclusiim that one of the 

 first steps in the work of moral improvement is the 

 providing of dwellings for the labourers, in which the 

 sexes of the children can be lodged in separate rooms. 

 Carrying out the principle involved in this conclusion, 

 they have built cottages with three separate sleeping 

 rooms, at the small cost of ^170 the pair— that is, two 

 cottages with three bed-rooms and one sitting-room 

 each, for that sum. Models of these buildings, includ- 

 ing plan, elevation, and interior fittings, in lithographic 

 drawings, are now to bo had for .Os. each, on applica- 

 tion to Mr. C. J. Cooke, 2, Middle-row, Maidstone ; 

 Mr. Martin, 18, Adam-street, Adelphi ; or Mr. Deben- 

 ham, 80, Cheapside. 



We have copied these addresses for the benefit of 

 those of our readers who may wish to adopt a plan of 

 the kind, but do not know how to set about it in the 

 most economic manner. We also hope that by giving 

 this additional publicity to the admirable Kentish in- 

 stitution, we may stimulate other districts to follow the 

 example, or at any rate lead them to make inquiry into 

 the working ol the system, which we are sure will 

 prove satisfactory. 



The time is come when the subject of the moral, in- 

 tellectual, and physical condition of the rural popula- 

 tion will force itself upon the people of England, That 

 class is half a century behind the corresponding 

 classes of operatives in our cities and towns, in all these 

 respects, and must be elevated sooner or later. The 

 spirit of the age demands it, and the changes now in 

 progress in the mode of cultivating the soil will render 

 the education of the labourer a matter of necessity, and 

 the physical improvement of their condition one of 

 prudence. We offer these hints to our agricultural 

 readers in the hope that they will take the subject into 

 their serious consideration, and act accordingly. 



THE PROGRESS OF OUR WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES, 



Early last year wo called attention to the increased 

 production of wool, home and foreign, and examined 

 in detail some of the generally received estimates of 

 the annual produce of British wool. The subject is of 

 itself so important, and the difficulties in arriving with 

 any precision at the full particulars are so great, that 

 we are always glad to find the subject occupying the 

 attention of men capable of arriving at a sound judg- 

 ment. The last number of the " Quarterly Journal of 

 the Statistical Society" contains a very important paper 

 " On the Woollen Manufacture of England," as read 

 to the British Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, last year at Leeds. Mr. Baines is so 

 competent an authority, from the facilities of inves- 

 tigation he possesses in Leeds, the ancient seat of this 

 great branch of manufacturing industry, that we are 



induced to examine closely his details, and to furnish 

 an abstract of tlie very important statistics and deduc- 

 tions he arrives at. Largely as the cotton manufacture 

 has increased, the woollen manufacture approximates 

 more closely to it in aggregate value than is generally 

 supposed. The processes through which wool has to 

 pass are greatly more numerous than those required by 

 any other textile manufacture ; and they are performed 

 by a much greater variety of machines and of work- 

 people. 



Another fact which retards the advance of the woollen 

 as compared with other textile manufactures, is the 

 higher price of the raw material. The average value 

 of "the sheep's wool imported in the three years ending 

 with 1856 was Is. 4d. per lb., and the average price of 

 English wool in the same years was about Is. Sd. per lb. ; 



