1850. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



275 



one of pork ; and for our eating-, we much prefer the 

 former to the latter. Sheep ought to have quite a 

 \-ariety in their daily food. When fed exclusively 

 on one plant, like clover or turnips, their flesh 

 always lacks its finest flavor. English mutton- 

 srrowers cultivate many kinds of grasses in the same 

 field or sheep walk, for the benefit of their flocks. 



LETTER FROM HOLLAND. 



Agricultural Colonies for Paupers. — A system 

 or giving employment to persons who are willing, but 

 Jnable to obtain work, has for several years been in 

 -uccessful practice at Fredericksvord and Willems- 

 inrd, in Holland. A description of the practical 

 )peration of this plan will, I think, be new and inter- 

 ;sting to your readers. These colonies were estab- 

 ished when, after two years of great scarcity, a large 

 )roportion of the population were reduced to absolute 

 itarvalion, and were dependent entirely for subsis- 

 ence on the charities of their more fortunate coun- 

 rymen. So prevalent did the practice of begging 

 lecome, that it was found necessary to do something 

 o relieve these unfortunate men, and a Society was 

 brmed by a few benevolent individuals, the object of 

 vhich was to find employment for such persons as 

 vere disposed to work. In carrying out their pur- 

 Kjse, they not only conferred an immediate and lasting 

 lenefit upon these unfortunate men, but effected great 

 lational advantages by stemming the spread of vice, 

 iliicli would have been the natural consequence of 

 uch destitution, and also increased the resources of 

 he country by converting into available land a waste 

 pon which not even a sprig of heath could be met 

 /itli before. 



Such was the origin of these colonies about eight 

 ears ago. And no one can now travel the road 

 long which they are situated, without noticing the 

 real change that has been effected on the face of 

 le country by their establishment ; and this change 

 i doubly observed as we pass from the unimproved 

 ;aste to the neat cottages which line the road. — 

 'rom a wild, barren country we enter at once upon 

 little oasis, which bears every mark of prosperity : 

 eat cottages betraying the DulchiiarCs taste in their 

 lean appearance ; crops as luxuriant as if nurtured 

 y a better soil, and gardens stocked with useful 

 egetables and adorned with a variety of flowers. — 

 lach house is placed by the roadside, in the middle 

 f the tract of land belonging to it, which consists of 

 bout seven acres. These cottages contain two 

 )oms ; one of them large, which answers the pur- 

 ose of kitchen, dining-room, and bed-room for some 

 f the family ; the other small, with a bed at one end, 

 nd at the other a roomy closet, anwering the purpose 

 r a milk room or dairy. The colonists are all sup- 

 lied with implements, on entering upon their plats, 

 lid also with a cow and pig. The only crops grown 

 re rye, potatoes, and grass. All the produce of their 

 inds are taken to the general magazine, and a regular 

 jbtor and creditor account is kept with each colo- 

 ist from the time of his first entering the colony, 

 verything they receive on entering is set down 

 Tainst them, and whenever they are enabled to pay 

 f their debts, fron. economy in living, they are 

 lowed to become tenants and to rent their land as 

 [dependent farmers. The wages and rations allowed 

 lem, are as follows : — Suppose a family of eight 

 arsons, husband, wife, and eight children, three of 

 hoai with their father work, the other three go to 



school, and the wife stays at home. The sums set 

 down as wages, fcc, when reduced to our currency, 

 amount to about the following : 



Man at 25 ots. per day, $1 50 



Son Qt 20 cts. per day. and the otlier two at 60 eis. 



per week, _ | gg 



Wages earned by tlie whole family, per week S:i 30 



From which is deducted — 



Winkel geld, i... _.. ^105 



Hread, potatoes, and clothing for eight, '' 1 8.") 3 10 



,.„ ... $020 



W hich 13 put down to their credit for fu-ture emergencies. 



By trinket geld is meant money for buying little 

 necessaries, such as coffee, tobacco, he', and the 

 allowance for each person is about 15 cts. per week. 

 The allowance for bread, potatoes, and clothing, is 

 about 23 cts per week to each. There are several 

 overseers who superintend the work done in the 

 colonies. There are also .schools for the gratuitous 

 education of the children, and workshops in which 

 they are taught some useful trade. At Willemsvnrd, 

 which is the smaller of the two colonies, there are 

 170 soperate cottages and tracts of land, all oLwhich 

 ^re occupied by families who were once paupers, 

 begging their bread from door to door. This scheme 

 was never looked upon as a matter of speculation, 

 for as such it was never designed. But it has suc- 

 ceeded in the object for which it was intended, vi?;.: 

 the relieving of the poor and destitute, who have only 

 the strong arms that God has given them, and are 

 ready to sell their labor, but can find no man to buy. 



Is the establishment of such colonies impracticable 

 in OUT own country ? Are tliere not thousands of 

 unimproved acres, that have been condemned as u.se- 

 less, many of which exceed in fertility the barren 

 wastes in which the Dutch colonies are situated ? 

 Are there not hundreds of unemployed hands who 

 crowd our poor houses, haunt the streets and lanes 

 of our large cities, who furnish three-fourths of the 

 inmates of our jails and prison.s, and who plead pov- 

 erti/ in palliation of their vices anl crimes 1 Money 

 is raised to relieve the destitute, and it cannot be 

 denied that many benevolent individuals, by the inju- 

 dicious bestowment of their charities, encourage 

 idleness and foster vice. Lot some generous indi- 

 vidual, who, like Gerrett S.mitu, has the means 

 and the disposition to help the honest and deserving 

 poor, or let a society of men, less able but equally 

 benevolent, set the example, and put in operation an 

 establishment like that which I have de^;cribed, and 

 if it succeed*, as I think it would, the benefits result- 

 ing would be incalculable. F. — Amsterdam, Hol- 

 land, August, 1850. 



I 



THE Dtma OF SEA BIRDS. 



The following is the analysis, by Coi.ndet, of tlic 

 dung of a .=;ea-eagle : 



Uric acid, 8 J.(i5 



Ammonia, _ _ I). 2 1 



I'hosphate of hiuc, ii.l3 



W.:i.) 

 The 84. G per cent, of nric acid is equal to 36.3 of 

 ammonia. It is remarkable that this guano contains 

 no carbon, e-xcept the little in uric acid. Recently 

 formed guano, at the island of Ifliaboe, is found to 

 be richer in ammonia or uric acid, than tlio ol I stock 

 which was exhausted a few years ago. 



