378 On Public Institutions for the 



mangel-wurzel, till green food came on in the spring. My hay is the 

 clover I sowed with the grain crop last year. I have experienced a 

 great deal of good from the liquid manure from the two tanks, one from 

 the cows, and one from the pigs. 



" The quantity of land I rent is five acres, on the side of the South 

 Downs, at 3/. per acre, and 10/. for the house, making in the whole 

 25/. per annum. I might have taken off my crops, and lived rent free 

 at Michaelmas ; hut I preferred staying and teaching, though I have no 

 salary, and so I think would many others. 



(Signed) "George Cruttenden." 



The letter just read enumerates some other of her projected 

 improvements, respecting which I am about to speak more in de- 

 tail. Thus I may mention, in the second place, the system of 

 allotments adopted by her; from which, though the primary 

 object is to better the condition of the poor themselves, yet hints 

 may be gleaned with respect to the general improvement (jf agri- 

 culture. The land is let out in parcels, varying in general from 

 J to J an acre each — in some cases, however, amounting to 3 acres 

 for one individual — and though the general condition of the occu- 

 pants is greatly improved, and the poor-rates proportionately re- 

 duced, yet the rent paid is more than double that which a farmer 

 on a large scale would be willing to offer. Thus, for land of the 

 same quality as that which commonly lets for ISi". per acre, Mrs. 

 Gilbert obtains, when it is parcelled out into allotments, not less 

 than 40^. But the means by which this ability to pay an in- 

 creased rent is represented as having been brought about, consti- 

 tutes the third, and perhaps the most interesting, part of the 

 system she inculcates. These are, first, the entire prohibition of 

 the plough, and the substitution of spade-husbandry ; secondly, 

 stall-feeding, both of the cows and cattle, by which the dung re- 

 tains all its virtue, instead of being dissipated by being scattered 

 irregularly over the land ; thirdly, the saving of the expense of 

 horses and of human labour, by making the cows, and even heifers 

 of less than a year old, belonging to the little tenants, work in 

 harness, as is practised in some parts of Germany ; fourthly, and 

 lastly, the studious care taken to preserve every particle of animal 

 manure of all descriptions that can be obtained on the premises, 

 collecting the liquid portion in tanks made contiguous to the 

 house, and mixing up the solid portions with earthy and other 

 matters calculated to prevent the escape of their volatile ingre- 

 dients. 



Another improvement adopted by Mrs. Gilbert deserves a 

 short mention, although it has in view rather the health of the 

 peasantry than the direct improvement of the agriculture of the 

 country. It appears that the low land about Eastbourne, lying 

 upon the chalk marl, is subject to damp ; whereas the higher 



