90 AGKICULTURE OX THE KH1>E. 



all the quantities commonly brought. The feeling of 

 security conveyed by the power of doing without ex- 

 traneous help, a relic perhaps of the times when commu- 

 nications were liable to constant interruption, and bad 

 roads made carriage difficult or impossible, still gives 

 value to these mills. We have known instances of large 

 sums being refused for mills that were sought for manu- 

 facturing purposes ; the ground assigned being that the 

 village could not do without its mill. 



A public baking-oven is another appendage to a Ger- 

 man village, although every rich peasant has his own. 

 The oven is heated in succession by. those who use it. 

 -each person bringing his own wood. In autumn the flax, 

 after steeping or dew-rotting, is dried in tiiis oven. The 

 tendency of modern times is to dispense with these efforts 

 to attain, by association, what was difficult or expensive 

 for individuals to establish. We cannot help thinking 

 that more may be said in defence of these common insti- 

 .tutions than in praise of much that has superseded them. 

 The great article of consumption, bread, is, for instance, 

 enjoyed at least in purity by the aid of the village mill. 

 Cheapness of course is at present not attained by the 

 ])easant, who never calculates the value of the time he 

 spends in procuring food, and who certainly does not rank 

 the exemption of the females of his family from drudgery 

 amongst his luxuries. They are allotted their full shai*e of 

 outdoor vi'ork, as well as all the care of the household. 



The expense incurred by labour lost, or inefficiently 

 applied, is, however, no result of the institutions which 

 demand the sacririce under their present management. 

 It would only be necessary to place the mill, for 

 instance, on the footing of a private trading concern, 



