346 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



themselves, always subject to his approbation, and, after once 

 approved, always rigidly enforced. They inquire, of their own 

 accord, into the best methods of doing what is to be done ; they 

 point out mistakes which have been committed, and improve 

 ments which may be made, subject always to his judgment. If 

 men are found unskilful or incompetent in the particular branch 

 of duty assigned them, he is adyised of it, and persons more 

 suitable are selected by their judgment who best understand the 

 capacities of their fellow-laborers for the work. They are held 

 jointly responsible for any injury to the property, unless the 

 offending person is found. An individual guilty of any neglect 

 of duty, or any improper conduct, or any violation of the estab 

 lished rules, is mulcted in a pecuniary fine. The names of the 

 offenders are always announced at the close of the year ; and 

 these fines go towards a general entertainment and festivity. 

 The proprietor himself hears all complaints, and a laborer, whose 

 bad habits are judged incorrigible, is discharged. 



I have been somewhat amused by his telling me that the 

 great evil which he has to contend with is the use of tobacco. 

 Smoking upon his premises he absolutely forbids, for three good 

 reasons first, the danger of fire ; secondly, for the time which 

 it occupies, and the lazy habits which it induces ; and thirdly, 

 because he deems its effects upon the stomach extremely per 

 nicious to health, and incapacitating men in a degree for labor. 

 In other words, he views it as a poison. So do I. I wish it 

 was as quick and fatal in its operation as arsenic, or prussic acid, 

 always premising, however, that those who now use it in any 

 form should be fully and reasonably forewarned. 



4. SCOTCH CUSTOMS A DIGRESSION. My readers will, I 

 hope, be indulgent to my infirmity, which has been, even in 

 this country, sometimes put to a severe test. In Scotland, for 

 example, they take snuff with a spoon. A small silver spoon, or 

 one made of bone, is filled from the horn, and then thrust up the 

 nose. To complete the refinement, there is also a small brush to 

 clean the upper lip, and edges of the nostrils. The reader may 

 judge of my sensations when the spoon and the horn were both 

 actually offered to me in church. There may, however, in this 

 case be some claims to indulgence, for in one of the Scotch 

 meetings which I attended, the extempore prayer was actually 



