THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



Ul 



living." We tlo not sec any note of how tliis picture was re- 

 ceived — whether with cries of" Oh, oh !" or " Hear, hear "; 

 hut it is one of those statements that are not answered hy 

 those who descriho this or tliat improvement or the 

 excellent cottages on Sr^uire A. or Lord B.'s estate — the 

 favoiuite mode of reply — which is no more sufficient than 

 if, when attention was called to a plague of typhus fever in 

 a nest of labourers' cottages, it were answered by a descrip- 

 tion of the healthy state of the hall, the home farm, home- 

 stead, or the gamekeeper's lodge. 



Mr. MacLagan argued, that if the rule adopted by 

 farm architects, of providing stabling for one pair of horses 

 for eveiy fifty acres of land, was correct, surely provision 

 ought also to be made for housing the man who drove the 

 horses ! The speaker who followed him thought " that 

 each man should have a separate detached, not semi- 

 detached, house, and an eighth of an acre of land ; each 

 house to contain two rooms 12 by 14. feet, with a porch out- 

 side. The roof to be a pavilion roof, thatched with straw 

 — " the warmest roof in winter and coolest in summer, 

 and a room in the roof." But it seems as if building 

 must be much cheaper, or cottage accommodation much 

 rougher, than in England ; for this farmer calculates that 

 such a cottage could be built for £40. " The cartage of 

 materials not charged, and the wood from the estate to be 

 at wholesale j)rices." In England few profess to build a 

 pair of cottages for less than £150 ; and the Eev. H. 

 Stuail calciilates that a single cottage will cost £110. Mr. 

 George Hope, of Fenton Barns — a name known in Eng- 

 land — described the hiring arrangements of his district, 

 which are by the j'ear; the wages paid chiefly in kind, 

 and including a cottage, a garden, a pigsty, and keep for 

 a cow, ivhich is the man's oion propsrty. And he concluded 

 hy laying down an axiom as true in England as in Scot- 

 land : " It is true that the poorer classes can do far more 

 for themselves than can be done for them. But this build- 

 ing of comfortable Jiotiscs is a ihiny they cannot do ; it de- 

 pends on the will of the wealthy; it is the interest of both 

 proprietors and tenants that it should be done; it is 

 also their duty." 



As to the bothies or hovels in which Scotchmen and 

 women are often herded, they were unanimously con- 

 demned by the most eminent tenant-farmers ; but defended 

 by Lord Kinnau'd, one of a family of liberal politics, and 

 great religious and philanthropic professions, in a letter 

 which confii-med the opinion expressed at the last meeting 

 of the Central Farmers' Club, as to the low tone of pubUc 

 opiniou on the subject of laboiu'ers' dwellings amongst 



certain Scotch landlords. There may he another oppor- 

 tunity of referring to the interesting statement made by 

 the steward of the Annandale Estate on the beneficial 

 effects there of gi-anting small holdings on lease to worthy 

 frugal fai-m-servants, and the discussion that arose on this 

 vexed question. 



A Mr. Cadell, a landowner in East Lothian, in a very 

 temperate speech described the fearful immoral results of 

 men and women being crowded together in lodging-houses 

 in his own parish of Tranent, in consequence of " the 

 system pursued of knocking doA\ai cottages wherever it could 

 be done ;" the result being, that the sons of the more 

 respectable class of farm servants emigrated ; the daugh- 

 ters took service in town ; and the inferior class, who took 

 their places and pigged together promiscuously in 

 lodging-houses, shovred ten per cent, of illegitimate chil. 

 dren on the whole births for the year 1860." He said, 

 " It is a tale that ought to be known, because he was con- 

 vinced that it was want of information which prevented 

 the proprietors from taking means for curing these evils." 

 '' Property had its duties as well as its rights ; and while 

 the rights of property had been sufficiently attended to, its duties 

 had, in many instances, been grossly neglected." 



In reply to these very proper observations, Councillor 

 John Hope had the imprudence to inquire " whether 

 the gentleman who had attacked the landlords had 

 any connexion with public-houses ?" and Mr. Scott Skir- 

 vuig, in the same spirit, threw the blame on Mr. Cadell, 

 for not putting down the indiscriminate lodging-houses. 

 There was a fling at Englishmen, too. Mr. Simpson 

 showed his ignorance| by praising that undoubtedly gal- 

 lant regiment the 9.3rd Highlanders, for routing the Rus- 

 sian cavah-y at Balaclava, and suggesting that the Eedan 

 would have been taken had a Scotch regiment formed the 

 attacking force. For his information, we may state, on 

 the authority of one who saw both fights, that the Prussian 

 cavalry never really charged the 93rd ; no horse fell on their 

 bayonets, and no Highlander under the Eussian sabres. 

 The Great Eedan, all military authorities agi-ee to have 

 been impregnable — theinterior an open space, swept by bat- 

 teries. The attack was a diversion for the French attack on 

 Sebastopol. There was a little Eedan, from which the 

 French were beaten back, and some of the French soldiers 

 then expressed a regi-et that they had not had a Scotch regi* 

 ment instead of the French Marines "ces sacres marine." 



However, the Edinbitrgh meeting was a good one ; it 

 prepared for fairly opening and probing a social sore, and 

 that's the sure road to a cure. 



BEANS* 



The leguminous plants are of great importance to the 

 agriculturist, and occupy a prominent place in the crops 

 grown in many districts of the kingdom. They are used to 

 some extent as human food, but much more so in feeding 

 live stock, for which their exceedingly nutritive qualities 

 render them especially suitable. 



Beans are divided into two classes : (1), those varieties 

 which are best adapted for field culture; and (2) those 

 which belong more particularly to the garden. At the same 

 time, some of the latter may be profitably grown in the field. 

 The following are the generally cultivated varieties of field 

 beans :— 



The common Scotch, or horse-bean, is extensively grown 

 in Scotland, is hardy and prolific, and well suited for feed- 

 ing purposes. " In a warm, dry summer, the sample is 

 always more plump, and white in colour, particularly if fol- 

 lowed by a dry harvest, and more so when cultivated on a 

 strong, rich clay, than on a light soil, and when drilled than 

 when sown broadcast" (Lawson). The colour of the seed is 

 brownish- white ; but much wet weather at harvest renders it 

 nearly black. The height of the straw varies from three to 

 five feet; and the weight of the seed, per bushel, from 60 to 

 67 lbs. The tick bean is chiefly cultivated in England ; is 

 rather more prolific than the Scotch bean, whilst it produces 



