PARIS RED. 



PARISH. 



UMd on the farm, there could be little danger of 



WIT ttrtrimrf' to the land. even if it were pared and burnt once in 

 rvry Irn or twelve yean, provided it were judiciously treated in Hi. 

 iatamb. The farmer would be benefltod in many mtustioiw, and tli 

 pnotiee would Mad to keep up the value of the farms. 



In IWTuoshire, where UM Uod ha* been pared and burnt from time 

 rial, evw> here the aoil is rich, the practice has been often 

 . ^it any judgment Provided a crop of corn or 

 j wee obtained at little ouet. the consequences to the futurr 

 tau of the had wore not needed ; ami landlords, seeing their farm* 

 fanporerhhed. pat a etop to the practice. Thim many useful mode* of 

 rulunuua hare been reprobated from the abuse of them, which, 

 property applied, would hare been advantageous to all partiea. There 

 u no maxim more true than thin : that whatever injures the landlord, 

 injures the farmer who U not desirous of removing, and tux wtd ; 

 and all positive restriction* on cultivation, however necessary when 

 there is a fear of dishonest conduct, diminish the value of a farm and 

 leaean the rent which can be fairly afforded for it. Ignorance is often 

 a greater destroyer of the interest of both landlord and tenant than 

 wilful dishonesty ; and the spreading of useful information amongat 

 tenants, so that they may see their own advantage, is the surest means 

 of improving landed property. Many tracts of waste land might be 

 brought into cultivation by means of paring and bunting, which 

 without it would never repay the labour required. Where the soil in 

 inclined to peat, this operation and abundant liming are the indis- 

 pensable preliminaries of cultivation. The ashes and the lime will 

 produce vegetation and food for animals. These will produce dung 

 to supply what the vegetation abstracts, and to assist also in the 

 further decomposition of the peaty matter, converting it into vegetable 

 :.. 



The first crop after paring and burning, as was observed before, 

 should, if possible, be turnips, and these should be consumed on the 

 spot ; but there are exceptions to the rule. The soil may be a stiff 

 day of a considerable degree of natural fertility, only encumbered with 

 rank weeds and gi issrn In this case the surface is burnt to destroy 

 these, and a crop of corn may safely be taken after the paring and 

 burning, the land coming into a regular alternate rotation after it 

 For example, the next crop may be beans or tares, with a good pro- 

 portion of dung ; or clover may be sown with the first crop, if the 

 ground appears fit for it The effect of the ashes will be readily per- 

 ceived in the luxuriance of the clover. Such land may be afterwards 

 cultivated, according to its nature and quality, with the rest of the 

 farm ; or laid down to gran after a course of cleansing and ameliorating 

 crops. Thus old wet meadows, after having been well under-drained, 

 may be greatly improved, and either converted into arable fields or 

 laid down again with choice grasses. 



Did rough pastures have often been greatly improved by a very thin 

 paring and burning, so as not to destroy all the roots of the grass. 

 When the ashes are spread over the pared surface, some good grass- 

 sends are sown with them. The whole is well harrowed or seal-bed 

 and rolled, and the grass which will spring up after this will be greatly 

 improved, and will fully repay the expense of this simple mode of 

 renovating it This is the cheapest mode of improving coarse pastures 

 that we know, without breaking them up. 



The partial paring and burning of the headlands of fields, for the 

 purpose of mixing the ashes and burnt earth with dung in a compost, 

 is a most excellent practice, and often superior to that of using the 

 sods only, without burning them. These sods contain innumerable 

 seeds of weeds, and eggs or maggots of insects, which are not destroyed 

 by the fermentation of the heap, but on the contrary, are brought to 

 life. The loss of a portion of vegetable matter in the burning is 

 amply compensated by the destruction of these enemies of the future 

 crops. 



It now only remains to take notice of the soils and situations where 

 paring and burning cannot be recommended. Wherever the soil is 

 wry Lose " 



more porous than it was when held together by the roots. The only 

 way to bring such soils into cultivation is to put clay or marl on them, 

 and to force vegetation by means of liquid and other manures, con- 

 solidating them by every means applicable, so that they may retain 

 moisture, and that the manure may not be washed through by the 

 rains. Such soils may be improved, out they are the most ungrateful 

 of any ; and it in only necessity and indefatigable industry which can 

 make them produce any crops. 



On the whole, the operation of paring and burning, when judiciously 

 applied and properly performed, is a most excellent and cheap improve- 

 ment of dry soils, and it will never diminish their fertility, if they are 

 properly cultivated and manured, and a judicious succession of crops 

 is adopted ; but on the contrary it will improve their quality and tex- 

 ture, and make them more productive. 



, r .VJMJI.-KISU MATTEIIS.] 



I'Alii 'V. [COLOURUU MATTERS. J 



I ' A I U > 1 1 . This word is probably derived into the English language 



from the French parvute, and the Latin parocAia or pantcia, and 



(vufoutla). At the present day it 



ultimately from the Ureek i-armkia (v 



denote! a circumscribed territory, varying in extent and \->\., 

 but annexed to a single church, whose incumbent or minister \s< 

 by law to the tithes and spiritual offerings within the territory. In 

 the early ages of Christianity the term appears to have boon used in 

 some parts of Europe to signify the district or diocese of a bishop, as 

 distinguished from the ' provincia ' of the archbishop or metropolitan. 

 (l)u Cange, ' Oloas.,' ad verb. ' Parochia ; ' Selden's ' History of Tithes,' 

 chap, vi., sect 8.) These large ecclesiastical provinces were gradually 

 broken down into subdivisions, for which ministers were appointed, 

 either permanently or occasionally, who were under the rule of (i,<- 

 bisbop, were paid out of the common treasury of the bishopri< 

 had no particular interest in the oblations or profits of the church to 

 which their ministry applied. This was the state of thing* in the 

 primitive times, which probably continued till towards the end of che 

 3rd century. After that period proprietors of lands began, with the 

 licence of the higher ecclesiastical authorities, to build and endow 

 churches in their own possessions ; and in such cases the chaplain r 

 priest was not paid by the bishop, but was permitted to reci-i 

 his maintenance and to the particular use of his own church the profits 

 or the proportion of the profits of the lands with which the founder 

 had endowed it, as well as the offerings of such as repaired thither for 

 divine sen-ice. This appears to be a probable account of the origin 

 and gradual formation of parochial divisions in almost all countries 

 where Christianity prevailed ; and Selden has satisfactorily shown that 

 the history of parishes in England has followed the same . 

 Soon after the first introduction of Christianity into this country, the 

 heathen temples and other buildings were converted into churches or 

 places of assembly, to which the inhabitants of the surrounding dis- 

 trict came to receive religious instruction from the minister, and to 

 exercise the rites of Christian worship. As the members of the new 

 religion increased, a single or occasional minister was insufficient for 

 the purpose ; and a bishop, with subordinate priests, began to 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of the religious houses, having the 

 charge of districts of various extent, comprehending several towns and 

 villages, and assigned principally with a view to the conveni. 

 the inhabitants in assembling together at the church. Within these 

 districts, or circuit!, as they were called, which were precisely analogous 

 to the diocesan parith-.t in other parts of Europe, the ministering 

 priests itinerated for the purpose of exercising their thrum-/, l.ut they 

 always resided with the bishop. By degrees other churches were built 

 to meet the demands for public worship, but still at lirst wholly du- 

 pondiug upon the mother-church, and supplied by the bishop from his 

 family of clergy resident at the bishopric with ministers or curates, 

 who were supported by the common stock of the d F.T the 



fund or endowment in each of these districts was common ; and what- 

 soever was received from tithes or the oH'erings of devotees at thn 

 different altars, or by any other means given for religious uses, was 

 made into a general treasure or stock for the ecclesiastical purposes of 

 the whole diocese ; and was applied by the bishop in the first place to 

 the maintenance of himself and the college of priests resident with 

 him at the church, and afterwards for distribution in alms among the 

 poor and for the reparation of churches. 



This community of residence and interest between the bishop and 

 his attending clergy, who are often termed in the chronicles of those 

 days tjiitcojii clerut, constituted the notion of cathedral churches and 

 monasteries in their simplest form. How long this state of things 

 continued does not precisely appear, though Selden expresses an 

 opinion that it was in existence as late as the sth century. (' History 

 of Tithes,' chap, ix., sect. 2.) It has indeed been asserted by Camden 

 (' Britannia,' p. 180), and was formerly the commonly received opinion, 

 that Honorius, the first archbishop of Canterbury after Augu.-tiiu-, 

 divided his province into parishes about the year 6-30 ; but Seldeu \ 

 satisfactorily that Honorius could not have made a parochial division 

 in the sense in which we now understand the term ; an, I that n 

 at all, it must have been such a distribution into districts, then called 

 parishes, as is above described, and which was so far from originating 

 with Honorius, that it must have been nearly as ancient as bishoprics. 



It seems most probable that the creation of parishes in England 

 was not a simultaneous act,,but was the gradual result of circumstances, 

 and was not fully effected till near the time of the Conquest. (Hallam's 

 ' Middle Ages,' vol. ii.,c. 7, pt 1.) As Christianity became the uni 

 religion, and as population increased, the means of divine H,,I !,ij. 

 supplied by the bishoprics and monasteries became inadequate to the 

 wants of society, and lords of manors began to build upon tin i 

 demesnes churches and oratories for the religious purpose* of their 

 families and tenants. Each founder assigned a definite district, within 

 which the functions of the minister officiating at his church were to be 

 exercised, and expressly limited the burden as well as the advantages 

 of his ministry to tlic inhabitant* of that district. As these acts of 

 piety tended to the advancement of religion, and were in aid 

 common treasury of the diocese, they were encouraged by the bishops, 

 who readily consecrated the places of worship so established, anil run- 

 Rented that the minister or incumbent should be resident at 

 and receive for his maintenance, and for the use of that particular 

 church, the tithes and offerings of the inhabitants, as well as any 

 endowment or salary which the founder annexed to it. Tltis endow- 

 ment or salary usually consisted of a glebe, or a portion of laud appro- 

 priated to that purpose, which was indeed the only means of providing 



