VOL. X\U. NO. a. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



11 



Little remains for you but to guide the rising 

 generation to tho imprnvenient of these facilities, 

 nor will that task- be difficult. Science, though re- 

 pulsive to the ignorant, is attractive lo the initia- 

 ted, and its attraction increases just in proportion 

 as truths are presented ivhicii are adapted to the 

 comprehension and satisfying to the curiosity of 

 the young mind. • The desire for knowledge 

 once e.vcited, will incriiase, and will find ways to 

 continue its pursuit. Then the youth destined lo 

 agricultural occupations, instead of being employ- 

 ed in perpetual labor, will be allowed to acquire 

 the knowledge which renders those occupations 

 cheerful, dignified, and succes.iful ; and parents, 

 instead of hoarding their gains, to be divided among 

 their offspring, to relieve them from the necessity 

 of enterprise, will devote tijeir wealth freely in be- 

 stowing that better patrimony which cannot be 

 lost. » • » 



WAGES OF F.VRM LABORERS LM ENG- 

 LAND. 



The " Notes on the Agricultural Districts," pub- 

 lished in the London Chronicle, represent the wa- 

 ges of laborers as e.xtremely low — lower, in fact, 

 than the operatives in the fiictories. Tlio writer 

 says : 



"I find that on the most of ihe farms in this 

 listrict, [Berkshire] two out of three plows, and 

 wo out of three wagons and horses, are manai'od 

 )y young men under twenty years of age, whose 

 •vages vary from three to five shillings per week, 

 lever e.vceeding, and seldom reaching six, but 

 lometimes for boys, who are hired by the year, 

 ind who are at work sixteen hours a day, as low 

 is two shillings a week. And by these youths 

 ind young men, two-thirds of all the plowing and 

 ;arting on the farm is done. They provide them- 

 ielves with food and clothing out of their wages, 

 leep in a stable loft, have no fire-side to go to, no 

 lot dinners — but everlasting bread and lard, bread 

 ind lard, bread and lard. 



Here is a conversation with one of them, on a 

 arge farm near Abingdon: 



' Vou hold the plow, you sny ; how old are you .-' 

 I bes si.\teen a'niost.' 



' What wages have you .=' ' Three sliillin' a 

 veek.' 



' Three shillings ! Have you nothing else ? 

 3o n't you get your victuals, or part of them, from 

 our master.'' 'No: I buys them all.' 



' All out of three shillings .-' ' Ees, and buys 

 ny clothes out o' that.' 



'And what do you buy to eat.'' 'I buys bread 

 nd lard.' 



'Do you eat bread and lard always? What 

 ave you for breakfast ?' ' Bread and lard.' 



'And what for dinner." 'Bread and lard.' 



' What for supper : the same .=' ' Ees, the 

 ame — bread and lard.' 



' It seems to be always bread and lard: hive 

 ou no boiled bacon and vegetables ?' ' No ; 

 lere be no place to boil 'em ; no time to boil 'em ; 

 ione to boil.' 



' Have you never a hot dinner nor supper.' don't 

 ou get potatoes ?' • Ees, once a week, and we 

 ay master for 'em.' 



'And what do you eat with them; bacon" 

 No.' 



'What then?' 'Lard; never has nothin'' but 

 ird.' 



^ ' Can't you boil potatoes or cook your victuals 

 ■ you choose ." ' No ; has no fire.' 



' Have you no fire in cold weather?' ' No; we 

 never has fire.' 



' Where do you go in the winter evenings ?' 

 ' To bed, when it be time ; an' it be n't time, we 

 goes to some of the liousen as be round about.' 



'To the fireside of some of the cottagers, I sup- 

 pose?' 'Ees; nn where we can get.' 



'What if you cannot get ; do you go into the 

 farm-house." ' No, must n't ; never goes nowhere 

 but to bed, an it be very cold.' 



' Where is your bed?' 'In the tollit,' (stable 

 loft.) 



'How many of you sleep there ." ' All on us as 

 be hired.' 



'How many are hired?' ' Four last year ; five 

 this.' 



' Does any one make your beds for you ?' ' No, 

 we makes 'em ourself.' 



'Who washes your sheets?' 'Who washes 

 'em ?' 



' Yes ; they ure washed, I suppose ?' ' No, they 

 be n't.' 



' What ! never washed ? Do you mean to say 

 you do n't have your sheets washed V ' No, never 

 since I comed.' 



' When did you come." 'Last Michaelmas.' 

 ' Were your bedclothes clean then ?' ' I dare 

 say they was.' 



'And do n't you know how long they are to 

 serve until they are changed again." 'To Mi- 

 chaelmas, I hear tell.' 



' So one change of bed-clothes serves a year! 

 Do n't you find your bed disagreeable ?' ' Do I ? 

 I be too sleepy. I never knows nought of it, only 

 that I has to get up afore I be awake, and never 

 get into it afore I be a'niost a sleep. I be up at 

 four, and be n't done work afore eight at night.' 



' You do n't go so long at the plow as that ?' 

 ' No; but master be always having summat for me 

 to do ; we be always at summat.' 



THE BARBERRY. 



Avery singular circumstance has been stated 

 respecting the barberry shrub, viz : that grain sown 

 near it becomes mildewed, and proves abortive, the 

 ears being in general destitute of grain ; and that 

 this influence is sometimes extended to a distance 

 of .300 or 400 yards across a field. 



I will cite a few instances which have been 

 brought forward in proof of the injurious effects 

 of this plant upon standing grain. Mr Macro, a 

 very respectable farmer at Barrow, in Suffolk, 

 planted a barberry bush in his garden, on purpose 

 to ascertain the disputed fact. He set wheat 

 round it three successive years, and it was all so 

 completely mildewed, that the best of the little 

 grain it produced was only about the size of thin 

 rice, and that without any flour. The Rev. Dr. 

 Ringer, in the Trans. High. Soc, says : " On one 

 farm alone, the tenant lost about £100 in his oat 

 crops yearly, by the mildew produced by the bar- 

 berry shrub; and the annual damage in the coun- 

 ty from the same cause, was considerably above 

 £1000. Tho views of Sir Joseph Banks, and of 

 some intelligent practical farmers relative to the 

 evil inlluence of the Bcrberis vulgaris, induced the 

 late Admiral Sir William Johnstone Hope, to give 

 orders for the total extirpation of the barberry 

 bushes which grew intermixed with thorns in his 

 hedges; and since that was done, and for above 

 twenty years, no such distemper has appeared in 

 his fields. The same thing has been done in some 

 parts of Ayrshire, and the like result has followed." 



The celebrated Duhamol and M. Boussonnet, 

 who have paid such particular attention to agricul- 

 ture, assure us that there is no just reason for as- 

 cribing this baneful effect to the barberry bush. 

 On the other hand, we have it affirmed to be the 

 most destructive and injurious to all kinds of grain, 

 as proved by various experiments in Brandenburg, 

 Hanover, Prussia and Germany. Phillips inquires 

 whether the blighting effects of this shrub may not 

 in some degree be accounted for by its May flow- 

 ers alluring insects, which breed on the branches, 

 and then feed their progeny on the nutritious juices 



of the surrounding blades of young grain ? Far. 



Encyclup. 



Cliinese Customs. — Our writing ben-ins at the 

 left, and goes horizontally ; theirs at the right, and 

 runs perpendicularly. All their books begin' just 

 where ours arid, (on tho last leaf.) The points of 

 the compass they reverse, beginning at the south, 

 and say W. S. instead of S. W., &c. For mourn- 

 ing they wear white : and in following a corpse to 

 the burial, they run or walk very fast, and make all 

 sorts of noises. The Chinese puts on his hat to be 

 polite. We have our shoes well blacked: the Chi- 

 nese keeps the leather part perfectly u-hile. We 

 ring bells by striking the inside ; they the outside. 

 Thatching a house, they begin at the lop of the 

 roof instead of the cuws. They carve their meat 

 before they cook it. They drink their wines and 



their water warm. Priests are in low estimation 



and of lawyers there are none. — A". Y. Amtr. 



The Buttonwoods. — The cause of the sad decay 

 of the magnificent sycamore has been ascertained 

 by a correspondent of the Philadelphia North Amer- 

 ican, he thinks, but the remedij is yet to be discov- 

 ered. That the one will lead to the other, is most 

 sincerely hoped. The writer above referred to 

 says : " Early in the spring, when those trees are 

 putting forth in leaf, take your knife and cut out 

 the protuberance caused by the sap flowing to gen- 

 erate the foliage, and you will find that protube- 

 rance, underneath the bark, full of a small white 

 worm, which destroys the sap, and of course, the 

 first foliage drops. Can any of your numerous 

 readers, now they know the cause, propose a reme- 

 dy to save those noble trees?" 



Belladonna — in botany, the Deadly Nightshade. 

 It is an acro-narcotic poison. The belladonna, al- 

 though perennial in reference to the root, is annual 

 in its herbage. The leaves are lateral, generally 

 two together, ovate, acute, smooth and clammy. 

 The flowers are solitary, stalked, bell-shaped, and 

 of a lurid purple color. The fruit is a shining, 

 black, sweetish berry, about the size of a cherrv. 

 The plant is poisonous, having a peculiar alkafi, 

 named atropia, which, in combination with malic 

 acid, is found in every part of the plant. The 

 beauty of the berries frequently entices children 

 to eat them ; and, although not often fatal, they 

 cause very distressing pains. In such cases, the 

 stomach should be quickly emptied by an emetic 

 and afterwards vegetable acids and decoction of 

 nut-galls should be given. Buchanan informs us, 

 that the Scots under Macbeth intoxicated tho 

 Danes under Sweno, by mixing wine with the 

 juice of the berries of belladona, during a truce, 

 which enabled Macbeth readily to overcome them. 

 — Far. Encyclop. 



" Are you fond of tongue, sir ?" " Yes, ma'am, 

 I was always fond of it, and I like it still." 



