GARDEN HUSBANDRY. 



GARDEN HUSBANDRY. 



straw must be used for Utter. If this be strictly attended to, the 

 greatest possible profit will be nude from the Und, without any danger 

 of Its being exhausted and losing it* fertility. Tbe rotation* will there- 

 fore be potatoes, with great quantity of manure ; then barley, then 

 peas, bean*. carrota, parsnips, and Swedish turnips, manured ; and 

 aftr these wheat. The application of the garden husbandry must be 

 in the preparation of the Boil by deep trenching and digging, carefully 

 drilling or dibbling all the seeds in rows, stirring the sou between the 

 growing plant*, and keeping the ground clear of weeds by the hand 

 and the hoe. These but are the most essential part of the cultivation, 

 and are to be performed by the wife and chil.lrvn. By daily attention 

 to the progress of the plants, and continual assistance at critical periods, 

 sometimes thinning out. and at other times transplanting to produce 

 an equal crop, and treating every plant as if it were a rare plant in a 

 garden, the ground may be made to produce more than double what 

 the most attentive farmer could expect on a larger scale. The addi- 

 tional labour, which is all light, costs the cottager nothing ; but the farmer 

 could not afford to pay for it at the usual rate of wages. If he could 

 find hands to do it, he could not insure the minute attention which is 

 naturally applied n-hen the labourer is to receive all the advantage 

 himself. The comfort which a well-managed allotment gives to a 

 labourer with a numerous family is hardly credible by those who have 

 not witnessed it ; and if there were less profit, it would still be highly 

 beneficial, in a moral and political point of view, that early habits of 

 industry should be encouraged, and th.it the temptations which arise 

 from want of employment should be taken away from the young by 

 the useful and healthy occupations of the garden. 



Let us add that on the garden culture of London neighbourhood, by 

 which vegetables are raised for the metropolitan markets, the reader 

 should consult Mr. Cuthill'a paper on market-gardening in Morton's 

 'Cyclopaedia of Agriculture.' And as to allotment culture; while 

 anything which shall distract the cottager from his hired labour as the 

 main source of his maintenance is bad, and while therefore large 

 allotments of one acre or more are generally mischievous in their 

 influence, there cannot be a doubt that, on a smaller scale, as Mr. 

 Morton states in the 'Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of 

 England' the so-called allotment system is beneficial both to the 

 labourer and his employer. If the possession of a store of field and 

 garden produce be, as is alleged, a temptation to dishonesty, by the 

 facilities which it affords for secreting the property of an employer, it 

 is even more powerfully and in a variety of ways a security for good 

 behaviour. The allotment of land which provides this store attaches a 

 man to the locality in which he lives it provides employment for 

 those hours both of his children and himself which would otherwise be 

 wasted it adds to thu comforts of his homeland it in generally a 

 subject of common interest to himself, his neighbour, and his supe- 

 riors. All these things tend to make him both contented and respect- 

 able. And if, as has been also said, the cultivation of an allotment 

 does prove a tax upon the powers of the labouring man, incapacitating 

 him in some degree by it* need of extra work for those ten hours' 

 labour which are due to his employer, it must be remembered, on the 

 other hand, that, by every addition to the comforts and the means of 

 home which it confers, his strength for those ten hours' labour is 

 increased. 



The following account of the way in which the allotment system 

 was established at Whitfield, in Gloucestershire, and of its influence 

 there, and the character of the population, is taken from Mr. Morton's 



lihood ; it was carried into operation as an addition to the comforts of 

 an already tolerably satisfactory condition of the agricultural labourer. 

 The Whitfield allotments were first let many years ago, and, after 

 twelve or fourteen years' cultivation, they are as fertile and productive 

 as ever. Lying near the hamlet where most of the tenants live, the 

 land U cultivated by them with the least possible waste of labour in 

 passing to and fro, and with the greatest facilities both for the con- 

 veyance of manure to the land and the removal of produce from it. 

 Host of the plots are 60 or 70 perches in extent, varying, however, 

 from less than a quarter of an acre to rather more than half an acre. 

 The way in which the land was let, and the whole scheme organised, 

 may be very shortly described. On application to the late Karl of 

 Ducie, an old pasture close to the village, about 11 acres in extent, was 

 set apart for the purpose. Twenty or thirty cottages stand around or 

 near the field, and to each a plot of ground was allotted. The field 

 was, in the first place, divided into pieces varying in size between the 

 extremes already named, according to the number of the cottagers and 

 their ability to manage it. Paths were made between certain clusters 

 of these plots, and a cart-way was left at either end of the land, for the 

 removal of the produce. Such portions of the field as needed it were 

 effectually under-drained. One-half of each plot was then dug up a 

 food spit deep with the grafting-tool All this was done during the 

 winter. Sheep were turned in during the following summer. The 

 grass of the halves left uudug was thus eaten bare, and the halves of 

 the several plots that had been dug were thus well trodden down. 

 The allotments were apportioned at Michaelmas by lot, each cottager 

 being told in what class, as to size, he was permitted to draw. To 

 those of less ability than the others, whether owing to greater distance 



from the field, to having fewer children able to assist), or to want of 

 strength or skill, the smaller plots were offered. To those of greater 

 ability, whether of greater Deed or not, the larger plots were offered. 

 It was urged that to allow these plot* as ft mere makeshift in aid of 

 the necessitous, would have a pauperising tendency. It was an oppor- 

 tunity to them, offered according to their ability, not according to 

 their need ; and it thus acted ss ft premium upon every good quality 

 they possessed or could acquire. 



The previous management of the land placed it in the hands of these 

 allotment tenants in first-rate order: the half which bod been dug 

 six months or more before, and trodden down all the summer by the 

 sheep, was in the best possible condition for receiving wheat ; and the 

 other half in grass was ready to be at once dug up for potatoes, beans, 

 or other vegetables, during the ensuing spring. The new rent de- 

 manded was determined by charging, in addition to the former agri- 

 cultural rent, 6 per cent, upon all that had been expended by the 

 landlord in carrying out the scheme. The drainage of the land, the 

 plotting and digging it, the loss of rent of the land half dug, 

 all these added together, constituted a principal sum, on which 6 per 

 cent, was charged in addition to the former rent. To this was added 

 the estimated rates and taxes, and the cost of keeping fences in repair, 

 together with It. from each of the allotments (about 3*. an acre on an 

 average) ; this last to constitute a price fund in furtherance of good 

 cultivation. The whole rent thus ascertained was allotted over the 

 several ploU in proportion to their size and the quality of the soil. 



The only conditions imposed upon the tenant, beyond the regular 

 payment of his half-yearly rent, were that he should cultivate the land 

 by manual labour, that he should not crop more than half his Und 

 with wheat or potatoes, and should give up the whole at the end of a 

 year if required to do BO. 



There can be no doubt that this eleven acre field has been a great 

 addition to the comforts of the village of Whitfield ; and any one who 

 sees the whole village population, young and old, at work upon it 

 during those evening and even moonlit hours of spring and autumn, 

 which would otherwise by many of them haVe been worse than wasted 

 in the beer-house, must feel that the good influence of these field- 

 gardens extends, beyond the mere material condition, to the cha- 

 racter as well. The latter consideration is less capable of definite 

 estimate or proof it is incapable of reference with certainty to its 

 causes ; but in valuation of the former, there is no doubt that many 

 a half-acre in the Whitfield allotment-field, which formerly contributed 

 perhaps one-sixth to the annual keep of a cow, now provides one- 

 fourth the bread-corn needed by a family, with more than that proportion 

 of the potatoes they consume. Thirteen or fourteen bushels of wheat, 

 and more than two tons of potatoes, are thus obtained from many a 

 half-acre of land. " I would rather have my plot and pay a heavy r.-nt 

 for it, than have a 5/.-note for nothing once a year," is the common 

 testimony. The rent does not exceed SI. an acre, and the land was 

 probably worth 50. as a pasture-field. It is punctually paid. 



The Michaelmas rent-day was signalised by the award of prizes, 

 namely, V. to the best cultivated allotment, and a return of the half- 

 year's rent to the second best ; and for this funds, as has been said, 

 were provided by the allottees themselves, in the additional rent taken 

 from them for this purpose. 



The influence of the allotment system has perhaps been better 

 shown at Silsoe (Bedfordshire) than in any other place. Mr. Trcthewy, 

 of that place, read a paper on it at a recent meeting of the London 

 Farmers' Club, and he declared it as his opinion, the result of a large 

 experience, that the subject involved the comfort and prosperity of the 

 occupier quite as much as of the owner of the land or of the labourer. 

 "Any system having a tendency to elevate the moral character of tho 

 labourer and improve his condition must be worthy of encouragement 

 by the farmer." Mr. Trcthewy alluded to the special fitness of this 

 system where labourers live in villages, and where sufficient garden- 

 ground cannot be obtained adjoining to the cottages. In choosing ft 

 field near the village, for the purpose of allotments, he says : " The 

 nature more than the quality of the soil should be considered, for it is 

 astonishing how much poor thin land is improvable by spade husbandry, 

 while strong and heavy clays are wholly unfit for the purpose of allot- 

 ments, no matter how well they may be drained." 



The following are his very sensible remarks on the importance of 

 confining the allotments to a manageable extent of mere garden 

 ground : 



" My experience convinces mo that a rood is sufficient under almost 

 any circumstances ; and the greatest error that has been committed 

 has been the allotting of too much land to one individual. To dwell 

 upon the evils arising from such a proceeding is scarcely necessary, as 

 it must be obvious that without sufficient capital the occupation of 

 land cannot be attended with profitable results. Some instances in 

 confirmation of this view have come under my own observation, and I 

 can confidently assert that, instead of the position of such men having 

 improved, it has retrograded. Occupied nearly the whole of their 

 time upon their own land, they can no longer be classed under the 

 head of labourers, and they actually injure regular workmen by throw- 

 ing their labour into the market at seasons of the year when the 

 demand for it is unusually depressed. If it bo argued that the 

 restriction of the system would have the effect of preventing a 

 labourer from improving his condition, and effectually debar him from 



