672 Domestic Notices : — England, 



wall in front to keep up the soil to a level. The growth of the vine is rapid, 

 producing fruit the third year. 



From the abuse of spirits, the president is very desirous of encouraging 

 the brewing of beer from the malt and hops of the colony ; and it seems 

 that there is an increasing taste for colonial beer. 



Rewards for the year 1832 are offered for the culture of tobacco, vines, 

 olives, the castoi*-oiI plant, rapeseed, mustard, and poppy. 



A drought of three years and a half, we were informed, " which has hap- 

 pily passed away, in its effects killed more forest trees, and rent asunder the 

 surface of the earth to a greater extent, than has been witnessed at any former 

 period by the oldest colonists. Had we been accustomed to such droughts, 

 we must, like the population of Sicily, Italy, Egj-pt, and other tropical cli- 

 mates, have irrigated our corn fields from rivers, brooks, and creeks, or from 

 water-holes and tanks, and by such means have insured the growth of our 

 crops. Fuel being everywhere in the greatest plenty, steam-engines erected 

 on rich alluvial flats, where abundance of water can always be had, would 

 pay well, by irrigating the crops to a necessary extent while growing, and 

 afterwards grinding the grain when threshed." (p. GQ.^ 



Of live stock we shall only observe that the Australian fleece, since the 

 general use of Saxon rams, is yearly improving in value with the British 

 clothiers, and that it can be grown much cheaper than in Europe. Mutton 

 has fallen under 2d. a pound. 



The horticultural committee report favourably of the progressive im- 

 provements of the Society's garden ; all the young forest trees were rapidly 

 purchased by the members, and the committee expect to be able to offer 

 8000 for sale next year. The sweet potato of New Zealand, though planted 

 in light soil without manure, and during the prevalence of drought, pro- 

 duced a prolific crop of large size. The committee represented most 

 favourably the skill and success of Mr. Dawson, the gardener, in grafting 

 and budding, and in propagating the olive from cuttings. 



Art. III. Domestic Notices. 

 ENGLAND. 



The Allotment of Portions of Land to poor Families in Northamptonshire. — 

 Sir, The beneficial application and result of the system of allotting por- 

 tions of land to industrious poor families in this parish, although as yet 

 upon a small scale, are of a most gratifying nature. About two years ago, 

 a piece of land, about eight acres, belonging to the church, and within a 

 hundred and fifty yards of the end of the village, was allotted in portions 

 of roods, half roods, &c, to such industrious poor men as were desirous of 

 obtaining such small portions of land, at a fair price per pole. The prices 

 were fixed according to the different situations in the field: spade culture 

 was insisted upon, and the rents made payable half-yearly. To prevent any 

 appearance of partiality in the apportionment of the ground, the number 

 of each allotment, with the price affixed, was written upon a slip of paper ; 

 and the slips being rolled up, were placed upon a table, for the candidates 

 to choose. All were thus perfectly satisfied. They commenced digging as 

 early in the spring as the weather would permit ; and last autumn their 

 crops were so highly productive, as to make several poor men, whose pre- 

 judices led them at first to decline portions, now anxious to become occu- 

 piers. Others, who are now occupiers, are anxious to augment their portions 

 of land; and, if by any chance a piece of land becomes untenanted, it is 

 instantly an object of anxious solicitude. This was the case a few weeks 



