240 JS''ew Publications. [April, 



One of" the best examples, an instance of success as it would be 

 termed, in this sphere, is given by Mr. Coleman, which we con- 

 sider well worthy of particular notice. 



" I visited one laborer's cottage, to which I was carried by the 

 farmer himself, who was desirous of shewing me, as he said, one 

 of the best examples, within his knowledge, of that condition of 

 life. The house, though very small, was extremely neat and tidy; 

 the Bible lay upon the shelf without an unbroken cobweb upon 

 its covers; the dressers were covered with an unusual quantity of 

 crockery, sufficient to furnish a table for a large party — a kind of 

 accumulation which, I w^as told, was very common; and their 

 pardonable vanity runs in this way, as, in higher conditions of 

 life, we see the same passion exhibiting itself in the accumulation 

 of family plate. The man and woman were laborers, greatly es- 

 teemed lor their good conduct, and had both of them been in the 

 service more than forty years. I asked them if, in the course of 

 that time, they had not been able to lay by some small store of 

 money to make them comfortable in their old age? I could not 

 have surprised them more by any question which I could have 

 proposed. They replied that it had been a constant struggle for 

 them to sustain themselves, but any surplus was beyond their reach. 

 I cannot help thinking that the condition is a hard one in which 

 incessant and faithful labor, for so many years, will not enable 

 the frugal and industrious to make some small provision for the 

 period of helplessness and decay, in a country where the accumu- 

 lations of W' ealth in some hands, giowing out of this same labor, 

 are enormous." 



We should be glad to follow Mr. Coleman still further in his 

 account of the condition of the laboring class in England, and 

 especially go into a minute statement of the wages which they 

 receive, and of the allotment system which is designed to amelio- 

 rate their condition, but we must refer the reader to the work 

 itself for information upon these subjects. We may say without 

 fear of contradiction, that the evils w^hich attend English hus- 

 bandry, when taken in connection with entails, patents and mort- 

 mains are sufficiently great to stifle any complaints of our condi- 

 tion, though princely fortunes here were as distant as the polar 

 star. 



In the second part, several subjects practically important to 

 farmers in this country are discussed with ability. First, the 

 quantity of seed proper to be sown is one of great interest. The 



