86 



HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part I. 



53+. The cuttings take place periodically with respect to small trees and fire-wood, so as to secure an 

 annual produce ; but reserves are always letl to become, eventually, large and valuable timber. 



53.5. The cutting of the taillis or coppice, chiefly used as fire- wood, takes place every eleventh year ; 

 that of the high and grosser coppice, every twenty-fifth year ; the felling of the half-grown forest trees, 

 every sixtieth year ; and that of the full-grown forest trees, once in a hundred years. 



536. Tn the management of coppices, it is considered essential to preserve tlie roots from 

 stagnant water ; the trenches originally formed for that purpose are from time to time 

 cleared out ; and the sediment and manure from the falling leaves, which have accumulated 

 in them, are carefully spread upon the ridge, or rounded set, which the wood occupies. A 

 second branch of regular attention is to remove all brambles and briars ; a third, to 

 replace the old and fading stocks by new plantations j a fourth, to thin the stems with 

 regularity and care. 



537. The sorts of trees are birch, oak, service, ash, maple, elm, beech, poplar, aspen, wild pine, Wey- 

 mouth pine, plane, lime, larch, Spanish chestnut, and alder. A variety of pine, called the Pinus mari- 

 tima, but not the plant of that name which is known on the coast of Italy and Greece, has been tried on 

 the sea-coast, and found to resist the sea-breeze. It is said extensive plantations have been made of this 

 tree on the coast of France, at Bourdeaux, and that it produces excellent timber ; but whether it is 

 a distinct species, or a variety possessing any particular qualities, or merely the common wild or Scotch 

 pine, in a favourable situation, does not appear. Most probably the last circumstance is the case. The 

 ^-r pine is liable to the attacks of the Bostrichus joinip^rdus {fig. 63.), 



oo v^fe-/ on the wood of the old branches, and of the larva of a species of moth 

 on the leading young shoots. The moth deposits its eggs among the 

 buds at their extremities : the turpentine or resin which oozes from 

 the buds, protects the eggs till the insect is brought out by the 

 warmth of the atmosphere, when vegetation commences ; it then 

 inserts itself into one of the young shoots, about five or six inches below the 

 end {fig. 64. a), and works upwards till it finds its way out at the extremity (6), 

 which at this time begins to shoot, and lodging itself in the centre of it, perforates 

 the young shoot up and down, till it either breaks off", or withers. 



538. The domestic circumstances of the Flemish fai-mer and his 

 servants are depicted by RadclifF in a favourable point of view. 

 " Nothing," he says, " tends more to the uniform advancement of good^ 

 fanning, than a certain degree of ease and comfort in those who occupy 

 the soil, and in the labouring classes whom they employ. Without it, 

 an irregular, speculative, and anticipatory extraction of produce, always 

 followed by eventual loss, is resorted to, in order to meet the emergen- 

 cies and diflSculties of the moment ; whereas, under different circum- 

 stances, the successive returns of a well regulated course become the 

 farmer's object, rather than the forced profit of a single year ; and whilst 

 he himself is thus intrinsically served, his landlord is secured, and 

 his ground ameliorated. 



539. The laborious industry of the Flemish farmer is recruited by intervals of decent 

 and comfortable refreshment; and the farm -servants are treated with kindness and 

 respect. They uniformly dine with the fanner and his family, at a clean tablecloth, well 

 supplied with spoons, with four-pronged forks, and every thing necessary for their 

 convenience. In Flanders, the gentlemen are all farmers ; but the farmers do not aspire 

 to be gentlemen, and their servants feel the benefit. They partake with them of a plen- 

 tiful and orderly meal, which varies according to circumstances. One standing dish, 

 however, is universal, a soup, composed of buttermilk, boiled and thickened with flour or 

 rye-bread. Potatoes, salt pork, salt fish, various vegetables, and eggs are common ; fresh 

 meat and fresh fish occur occasionally, though not for daily consumption : add to these, 

 a plentiful supply of butter, or rendered lard, which is sometimes substituted ; and when 

 it is recollected that these articles of provision are always made palatable by very tolerable 

 cookery, it will be allowed that the farmer's table is comfortably supplied. The potatoes 

 are always peeled, and are generally stewed in milk ; a particular kind of kidneybean, 

 as mentioned before, the feve haricot, sliced and stewed in milk also, is a frequent dish. 

 No farmer is without a well cultivated garden, full of the best vegetables, which all 

 appear at his own table ; and apples are also introduced into their cookery. The great 

 fruit and vegetable markets of the towns are supplied by gardeners who make it tlieir 

 means of subsistence ; but the gardens of the farmers, unless in case of redundance, are 

 cultivated wholly for their own consumption." 



540. The farm-servants partake of their master's fare, except in his refreshments of tea, coffee, and 



541. The day-labourers are not so well provided : they have, however, rye-bread, potatoes, buttermilk, 

 and occasionally some salt pork. The labourer is, in general, very well able to support himself by his 

 work : in a countrv where so much manual labour is required in weeding, the labourer s family is 

 occupied pretty constantly in summer ; and in winter they spin. Each day-labourer has, in most cases, a 

 small quantity of land, from a rood to half an acre, for his own cultivation. . v, * ^ *i, t 



542. Beegars in common times are scarcely to be seen, except in the towns, and but lew there, in 

 the country, habits of industry are kept up till health fails ; and to meet the infirmities of age, the poor 

 possess a revenue from pious donations, regulated by the government, and vested by them in coimnissions, 

 of which the mayors of the different communes are presidents, respectively, m right of their othce. 



543. The clothing of the peasantrtj is warm and comfortable, good shoes, stockings, and frequently 

 gaiters of leather or strong linen, which are sold very cheap ; their innate frugality leads thein, however, 

 to economise in those articles, substituting on many occasions coarse flannel socks and wooden sabots, 

 both of which are supplied in all the public markets at about eightpence cost. Their comtortable supply 



