143 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER 



Vol. 



Condition of the English Farmers. 



Dear Sir- In my commimicaiioii published in the 

 July number of the farmer, I atlempted to establish 

 two points, viz : that the climate of England is more 

 favorable for Bgricultiual purposed than that of this 

 country ; nnd that the farmers of England do not fare 

 60 poorly aa the letter of S. W. would lead lis to sup- 

 pose. In proof of the latter position, I quoted from a 

 recent publication of Wm. Howitt. You are quite 

 correct in supposing that he is not describing the every 

 day life of farmers, for 1 gave ano her quotation in 

 which he says " such is a specimen of lliefcsiicilies ol 

 what may be called the niiddlo and eubi^tantial class 

 of iarmers ; and the ^ame thing holds in degree to the 

 very lowest grade of them." As this description 

 holds good, in degree, from the highest to the lowest 

 class, I mean of farmers, so does it, in degree, from 

 their days of festivity to their ever? day fare. Now 

 you must not suppose, that, in giving Howill's spirit- 

 ed description of the good Cheer of an English farm 

 house, I was advocating the introduction of similar 

 extravagance amongst our farmers, I was only attempt- 

 ing to prove that the English farmsrs were not reduced 

 to that miserable diet described by S. W. The far- 

 mers alluded to are, I grant you, many of them mere- 

 ly tenants, not Iilt.6 durs, freeholders, owning from 

 one to two or three hundred acres of land, but surely 

 this makes my case stronger. At any rate, I cannot 

 agree with you that it is fair to draw a comparison 

 between the substantial freeholders of this country and 

 the laborers of England, Whose btily vl-ealth consists 

 o( their daily labor. It is neither the climate nor |ioor 

 liviuf, which induces the English iarmerto leave the 

 land of bis birth, and his early associations, to seek a 

 home in a strange land. I artl satisfied that in no 

 other climate can man and beast endure an edual de- 

 gree of labor and exertion with so little fdtigne ; and I 

 am equally satisfied that no clasO Of meri need to live 

 on better fare than the English fatmero. There are 

 many other circumstances too, in AVhich the English 

 farmer has a decided advantage over Us; he has at all 

 times a market at hand, where he can get cash for his 

 produce. Every farmer lives within feaCh of two or 

 three towns where weekly markets are held ; if he 

 wants to buy stock he knows where to go for it, and 

 if he wants to sell grain or produce of any description 

 he knows where to take it j and is eiire to meet with 

 competitors ready to pay the value in cash, so that 

 when lie has payments to make, he can provide for 

 them without any sacrifice of property. 



I have said so much in favor of England as «n agri- 

 cultural country, thai I fancy I hear you exclaim, " if 

 this be a true picture, why leave it 7" Wait, and I 

 will tell you. You have, as yet, only seen the bright 

 side of the picture, let us reverse it, and what are alj 

 the advantages nnd conveniences above enumerated, 

 when we 6nd on the opposite side the tithcman, the 

 exciseman and the tax gatherer ? The last named 

 functionary has hie hands constantly in your pocket; 

 the other is peeping about to see that you do not con- 

 vert your tallow into candles, your barley into malt, or 

 gather the hops which are growing wild on your fen- 

 ces. But the visits of these gentlemen are as nothing 

 in point of injustice and vexation whoa compared to 

 the visit of the tilhcman. To give you some idea of 

 the working of the tithe system, I will instance the 

 parish in which I lived. It was the custom to take 

 the tithes on a seven years lease, the rector appointed 

 the valuer, and we had the option of taking them at 

 his valuation, or suffering them to be collected in kind. 

 We always chose the former as the leas vexatious ot 

 the two. You will perceive that on this plan the best 

 armers had to pay the highest tithe. On one occa- 

 sion, we were rated at 9s. 3d, Htg. per acre ; produce 

 was high when the valuation was mnde^ but it kept 



ng, fo that wc h^d a very hard bargain. We pre- 

 sented n remonstrance to our rector and petitioned for 

 a rediiction, but his cool answer was, "No, when I 

 consult a physician, I take his prescription." Mean 

 ing, that having employed a person to value the tithes, 

 he would abide by his judgment. Wp certainly Could 

 not complain of any injustice in this decision, because 

 if prices had risen in the same proportion we should 

 not have been called upon to pay any more. But the 

 hardest feature of our ease was, that we had to pay 

 him whether we went to bio chop for physic or not. 

 He drew between two and three thousand pounds per 

 annum from the pariah, and had all the duty done by 

 curates for about £200 per annum. We never saw 

 the rector e«cfept for a month, which period he was 

 compelled by law to reside on his living, but he made 

 it a month of Sundays, for he came on the Saturday 

 night and left us again on the Monday morning after 

 the fourth Sunday. Is not auch a system as this 

 enough of itself lo drive a man from his country, let 

 that country, iii other respects^ be ever so desirable lo 

 live in ? 



I recollect seeing a letter from an English farmer 

 who had emigrated to this country. Did he express 

 his joy at finding a climate and fare superior to what 

 he had left ? No! he commenced his letter by thank 

 ing God that he had found a spot of ground where 

 priest hod never set his foot, and showed all through 

 his I tter a spirit ol exultation at escaping from the 

 grasping rapacity of the titheman. 



Yours, &c. B. M. 



Climate and Productions of England compar- 

 ed with the United [States. 



Mr. Colman — Your correspondent B. M. comes 

 down upon me with a wet sailj for giving the prefer- 

 ence to the climate and agricultliral products of the 

 United States over those of Great Britain, 



As he very gravely asserts that " English horse 

 beans are equal to our Indian corn for all (ceding pur- 

 poses," I shall leave him alone in the glory of bis 

 argument, and confess that ! was in "error" when I 

 gave the preference to the agricultural productions of 

 the United States over those of Enghind. But to 

 shew that I did not speak without bobk, and that I 

 had some authority for my " errors," I quote the 

 opinion of an English maeter in rural economy. 

 Capt. fearclay, in his agricultural toiir through our 

 country in 1841, invariably extols our sol! and climate 

 in the most elaborate and even extravagant terms, 

 while he is very general and unsparing in condemn- 

 ing our want of skill, and slovenly neglected system 

 of agricnhiire. To account philosophically for our 

 defects, he charges them directly to the overflowing 

 bounties of our superior soil and climate ; he says 

 " where nature is bountiful man is invariably indo- 

 lent." In England, where natiire gives less, man is 

 more provident and industrious. Struck with admi- 

 ration at the luxuriant Indian corn in the neighbor- 

 hood of Philadelphia, where it was grown for toiling 

 cattle and horSes, Capt. B. fralikly admits thilt the cul- 

 tivation of our " corn entirely supercedee the culture 

 and use of other greisn crops as food for slock.'' 



In equinoctial America, where the cereal grains 

 and tropical fruits alike abound, Indian corn is almost 

 the only bread stuff of the country. Humbolt tells 

 us that there is but one plant, growing from the earth, 

 which yields as much food to man ; the plantain 

 (Musa panidisaica) is si'pposed to yield more nutri- 

 ment off a given space of ground ; but its various 

 adaptation ns food for man and beast, bears no compar- 

 ison to the Indian corn. 



In Spain, Portugal and Italy, Indian corn is culti- 

 vated to a great extent as food f.jr the poorer classes, 

 md 1 here once more venture to repeat, that if Great 

 Britain, by some inversion of nature's laws, could be 



favored with our warm, stimulating sun, so that 1$ 

 soil would grow Indian corn, we should hear no mc 

 of her hungry popiilation feeding on bread made 

 " damp mouldy grain." 



B. M. takes a narrow view of eur extended co 

 growing region, wheti he says " that in a good Co 

 season other crops suffer;"* large crop of corn 

 common with other grain is very general in Oh 

 Indiana, and in other states south and west, "it 

 present season with ue, is called favorable for all crc 

 except corn, and yet at this time, 20th July, we be 

 here on the " Seneca level" the Dtilton corn in I 

 blootn, with tin the cereil grains oh the eve of a 

 dundaiit harvest. 8. W, 



Condition of Ireland. 



The subjoined interesting letter should have b( 

 given sometime since ; but was accidentally oveflo; 

 ed. It will not fail, however, now to be read w 

 pleasure ; and v?e have strong hopes that it may 

 followed by otters. . . . , 



Dubrm, December 14ih, ISii, 

 M B. Bateham, — 



Dear Sir — I little dreamed two months ago thisiJi 

 when we were at the Fair in Alexander, that 1 sto' 

 be in so short a tims iii the old world. But so it 

 ajthdugh I (lahnot realize that I am so far from hbn 

 Steam has almost bridged the Atlantic, and brou; 

 the two worlds to be near neighbors. Three weeks 

 day I was in New York, and I have been nearlj 

 week in Ireland. 



My visit to this country is one of business as W 

 as pleasure, and t shall see alt that can be of use or 

 terest to a practical man. I shall make myself fan 

 inr with their methods of putting up their beef t 

 pork, OS well as butter. I shall examine their cati 

 hogs, sheep ond horsesi and see their mode of foi 

 Ing, and If bo that I ani blessed with i safe return 

 my own dear Counfry; 1 shall be able to tell oiir f 

 mers all that is worth knowing upon these subjectf 

 I have already filled many pages with notes uj 

 these points, which at a more leisure period may 

 condensed or olaboroted for the public. 1 troiible i 

 self very little ivith viewing old castles or rcmarki 

 ruins. They do well for the tourist who want 

 spend his time Und make a book. The liVirg p 

 suit now is my object, nnd lb that I mainly lenc 

 my elTorts. Although 1 have been so short a tim< 

 the country; yet I have not been an idle spectnier. 

 have steh sotne of theit best fafmihg Country, 

 their best slock. 



Some of the country is very fine, especially a i 

 tion of that passed through on the route from Corl 

 Dubliii. To me it has a Very odd looking, thoi 

 pleasant oppcoronce. The fields ore generally sm 

 the greater part being from three to five English oc 

 divided by hedges and ditches, which at this seoj 

 do not present a very cleanly or snug appearance, 

 suppose in summer they look much better, though 

 proprietors complain very much that the poor pee 

 will cut down the trees and brush during the wii 

 for fubl. The soil is good generally, and the cliir 

 line, though varied. 



Winter wheat for the lost three years has bee 

 very uncertain crop, and the prospect now is the 

 will be shorter next year than was ever known heft 

 All grain or spring crops grow remarkably well, i 

 give an abundant return. At one time Ireland u 

 to export large quantities of wheat and flour to E 

 land, but now she imports more wheat than she e 

 exported. The corn factors account for it, by the 

 creased production at home, owing to the great i 

 attending its culiivaiion, and the formers turning tl 

 attention more to grazing, which is very profital 

 owing to the immense demand for all kinds of st< 

 for export, and an increased demand at home, gre 

 ing outt)f the improved condiilon of the people ; 



