258 THE 
AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
[APRIL 18, 
for the public exchequer; but the fear is that 
they would disappear so rapidly under the hint, 
that the country would be divided by nothing but 
railroads, and the exchequer be none the richer, 
whatever the country might be, by such an acquisi- 
tion of new corn-growing territory. 
But, in sober earnest, what are the advantages 
held out to the farmer, of the abolition of the Malt- 
tax? Does the farmer pay it? The Flax-grower 
might as well assert that he pays the excise upon 
paper. It is the consumer, not the grower of an 
article, who pays the tax upon it ; and the object of 
an internal taz, or ‘excise, not being to diminish 
production or restrict consumption, but to collect 
subscriptions towards the national payment of what 
must be paid, by Englishmen, whether they drink 
beer or water. The question for the farmer’s con- 
sideration is narrowed to this,—would the increase 
in the growth of Barley, which a greater consump- 
tion of Malt would demand, confer upon him an 
advantage equivalent to his own interest in the 
national loss of five millions per annum now paid 
to the exchequer by that large and respectable 
average of the community who drink beer ; and 
which tax if not derived from them must be had 
from some other source? Whatever this source 
may be, the farmer will have his share to pay, and 
this he must. debit against that indeterminable and 
rather apocryphal advantage which he is to derive 
from growing more of Barley and less of something 
else; for it is clearly upon this difference alone 
that he can assess his proportion ofinjury by the 
excise upon the manufacture of Malt. Every agri- 
culturist must see that it is by a grain crop, not a 
green crop, that the land is now covered, which 
would, upon hypothesis, have grown Barley had 
the Malt-tax not existed. To this difference, if 
any,the question is narrowed, and upon this let a 
distinct calculation be made. 
But another question, and that, be it observed, a 
new one to the farmer, has been raised—namely, as 
to the possibility of employing Malt for the purpose 
of fattening stock with greater profit than the Bar- 
ley from which it is manufactured. As this is a 
scientific question, capable of a distinct and deter- 
minate solution, it deserves a deliberate and care- 
ful examination, and we shall return to it at the 
earliest opportunity.—C. W. H. 
ON THE STATE OF HUSBANDRY IN LOWER 
BRITTANY. 
WITH INCIDENTAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONDITION OP 
THE FARMIING POPULATION THERE, COMPARED WITH 
THE SOCIAL STATE OF THE ANALOGOUS CLASSES IN 
IRELAND. 
By MARTIN DOYLE, 
inued from p. 191.) 
The provincial parts of Ireland and Brittany resemble 
each other in the want of facturing establis} 
Ireland, however, possesses a much greater amount of 
marketable labour, and greater natural resources for 
arge manufaetories, and the Irish labourer is willing 
to transfer himself to any place where he may meet 
with a demand for his labour, and even to emigrate t 
distant countries for the sake of employment, and a fair 
prospect of ultimate independence. Now, the Breton 
will not leave his miserable cabin for work ; if it comes 
to his door, well and good, but he will not go in search 
of it, and this dislike to leave his own hearth and local 
associations has so powerful an influence on him that it 
is only under the severest pressure of poverty that he 
will go forth like the cottier of Connaught from the 
home which he loves; then, indeed, he will lock the 
door of his hut after he has sown his patch of land in 
the spring, and seek work, or go forth with his whole 
family as a beggar from the hills of his departement 
into the fertile plains, and return when it suits his con- 
venienee to do so: and the indisposition to a perma- 
nent change of locality operates also among the class of 
operative mechanics, who do not estimate as they ought 
the advantages they might gain by going from their 
native towns or villages to other places for instruction 
in their respective trades, for they are content with a 
very inferior state of industrial skill. 
The Breton peasant resembles the Celt of Ireland, 
causes, some important advantages possessed by the 
small farmer of Brittany which are not enjoyed by the 
bulk of those in Ireland. The Breton cultivator, for 
instance, is himself in numerous instances the proprietor 
of his farm, and therefore he feels at ease for the future, 
and is from self-interest and habitual respect for 
authority, obedient to the laws of the land. Unless he 
pays, in direct land taxes to the state, 200 fr. per annum, 
he does not possess the franchise ; and if he be thus a 
qualified elector he is really independent of all control; 
and, free from the heart-burnings which destroy the 
peace of the Irish freeholder of the same or a much 
lower grade, were it not for the terrible reflection that 
unless he can provide a substitute at a heavy expense 
he may be forced by the law of conseription to leave 
his home for seven years, and probably die in the 
unhealthy clime of Algeria, he would feel himself an 
indep nan. S ded by his family, and a 
suffieient number of labourers for his farm work, he 
leads a patriarchal sort of life, goes for pleasure or 
profit to every fair and market within 10 miles of him, 
dressed out in his full holiday suit, mounted on 
his stout-built nag, and comes home very tipsy and 
supremely happy. 
Like the small Irish farmer, the Breton of the same 
class has, however, sometimes more capital than he 
chooses to acknowledge. There are few local bankers, 
and the country people like to hoard up their cash, 
though, if placed at interest it would so largely fructify ; 
this is precisely the Irish temper of distrust, and 
certainly not without sufficient causes, and money is 
rought forth on occasions to an astonishing amount 
which had been long out of circulation to the manifest 
loss of the owner and the public. The Breton tenant, 
too, argues like the common Irish farmer when urged 
to expend his capital on draining or other works which 
would repay him to a certainty—Why should I? My 
father and grandfather were satisfied with things as 
they are, and if I make my ground better I may be 
charged a higher price for the land? So farmers have 
been known in Ireland not to till the ground in order 
to avoid the payment of tithes, by which resolution 
some may have lost the opportunity of realising con- 
siderable profits rather than put into the pocket ofa 
tithe owner, or of alandlord. We are acquainted with 
a gentleman who saw sums, in 6 franc pieces and gold, 
to the amount of some thousands of pounds sterling 
delivered to the departemental treasurer at. Quimperlé, 
some years ago, when an alteration in the currency took 
place. There is, indeed, more capital in the country 
or dueting land imp han is generally 
believed, as is unquestionably the case in Ireland. 
The Bretons acting on a false or narrow principle of 
economy will go to market like the Irish, not calcu- 
lating the value of their time, in order to sell something 
not worth half that time, for the pleasure of going, and 
for festive enjoyment in the tent or public-house, where 
cider and drams of brandy are copiously dealt out ; and 
they must have all their holiday observances. No 
servant will hire with any master who will not allow 
him to attend the fétes, pardons, or fairs of his districts, 
besides extras in abundance ; this is surely one of the 
obstacles to the general public improvement of the 
country. 
What would a British undertaker of publie works 
think of his men going away to hear a mass for the 
cattle, when an irruption of the sea, and the con- 
sequent destruction of an embankment were appre- 
hended? During the formation of the breakwater 
at Kurnie (in Finistérre), which was constructed, 
amidst great physical difficulties, to gain a tract of 
alluvial land from the sea, several hundred men were 
employed, and sometimes with the most disheartening 
results ; at length, after many months of extreme toil 
and difficulties the bank, which had been twice destroyed 
and repaired, was so far advanced that one day’s labour 
would have completed it; yet, though an equinoctial 
tide was to flow in 48 hours, because the féte of St. Gloi 
intervened, and the peasantry made it a point of con- 
science that their horses should be taken to hear mass 
at Landirneau, the undertaker of the work in vain 
supplicated his men to attend, and offered double, 
treble wages. They listened to his reasonings, but with 
their characteristic superstition and obstinacy, excused 
themselves, one and all, from compliance, on the plea 
that their horses would die within the year if they did 
not attend the mass. The next day the sea rushed on 
the devoted work and swept it away. That mass, said 
the contractor, lost me 30,000 franes. Ultimately the 
p ] i 
not only in disregard of comforts and cleanl in 
patience under severe privations, and physical hardi- 
hood, but also in his manner of enjoying social life. 
Though constitutionally grave in his general bearing, 
he is one of the merriest of men on all festive occasions, 
ihe piper aud fiddler seated on a eider-cask, and playing 
away aslong as he can keep his eyes open, while the 
rest of the company are footing it on an uneven earthen 
floor, is an exact impersonation of the Irish musician 
of the same calling, except as to the costume. There 
is the same love of drink, too, especially among the 
elder men ;— but no, not now, the Irishman may be con- 
gratulated on his present superiority in temperance. 
There is identity of religion in every particular, the 
same attachment to their clergy, observance of rituals, 
and similar habits and superstitions derived from a 
common souree—the ical worship—the same love 
of country, the same sl liness o g t an 
disinelination to spend any money unless the outlay 
rings immediate advantage. 
There are, however, owing to politieal and socia] 
poor in constructing a mole, by 
calculating the holidays and working accordingly.* 
Now,to do the lrish peasantry justiee, they would 
not have aeted thus foolishly in such an 
sults, the humourist, too, inhis grave dry way. This 
short dialogue, between the undertaker of the work and 
the peasant, is characteristic :— Well, John Carfor, 
you are looking at my pier; what do you think of it? is 
it not a promising child?” “It è large enough for its 
age ; but children that come too soon don’t live long.” 
“Ah! I think you were one of those who prophecied 
that I could not inclose the bog." <“ That's true, sir.” 
“ Well, you see that you're out in your judgment ; the 
sea herself has provided us with ammunition of stones 
and sand to resist her attacks, and has made her 
offspring stronger than herself. This breakwater, you 
see, puts out her tongue at her mother.” “But it is 
sinful, according to the commandment, in children to 
make faces at their parents.” “ And yet you see I have 
accomplished what I said.” The old man gave an in- 
credulous shrug, was silent for a moment, and then 
placing his hand on the shoulder of the gentleman, with 
a gesture that was respectful though familiar, said “You 
are a man of power, sir, but the Almighty God is 
mightier than you. He has said to the sea * go no fur- 
ther than that?” “ And how do you know,Carfor, that 
the bounteous Creator has not made a gift to me of this 
bog?" The old man bent his head. “Sir, the good 
God would not sell his gifts ; this is stolen from the 
sea, and that which is stolen never profits,” 
ow, though this work gave immense employment, 
and ultimately developed the resources of the locality, 
nd stimulated agricultural and ial industry, 
old John Carfor held the opinion that it would have been 
better for the people if the bog had remained as it was. 
FORM OF LEASE. 
A RESOLUTION having been passed at a meeting of 
members of the Vale of Evesham Agricultural Associa- 
tion, that security of tenure was essential for the pros- 
perity of the farmer, and would tend to the welfare of 
all other classes, a committee of landlords and tenants 
was subsequently appointed to draw up a form of lease 
under which a tenant might hold his farm with the 
2 
greatest advantage to himself, and with due justice to - 
his landlord. 
The committee having given due consideration to the 
answers they obtained from agriculturists in all parts of 
England to the “ Lease Circular” they last year issued, 
are now enabled to submit to the members for their 
consideration a form of lease, based upon the experience 
thus gained. It has been framed with a due regard to 
both landlord and tenant. The former has full security 
given him against deterioration of his property, from 
unskilful or careless husbandry ; the latter has as much 
liberty and freedom from restriction in cropping as it is 
possible to afford, with due regard to his landlord’s 
interests. The words in italics may be altered to suit 
local or personal ci 3 and the i 
believe that the form will be found capable of adoption 
upon any land, and in any part of England. If there 
be an objection to granting a lease, the same principles 
are still applicable to any agreement however short the 
term. — Ed. Holland. 
This Indenture made the day of. one thousand. 
eight hundred and forty in pursuance of an Act 
to facilitate the granting of certain Leases, between 
A. B. o of the one part, and C. D. of. 
of the other part, 
Witnesseth—that the said A. B. doth demise and let to 
farm unto the said C. D., his heirs, executors and ad- 
ini 1 lling-} , buildings, and seve- 
ral closes of land mentioned in the schedule hereunto 
annexed, an ining by ad E pers 
r. or thereabouts, to hold from the day of 
for the term of twenty years thence eusuing ; yieldin 
therefore during the said term the rents hereinafter 
mentioned, Except and always reserved out of this 
demise all coals, mines, minerals, quarries of stone and 
beds of gravel, timber, and trees likely to become 
timber, with full liberty for the said A. B., his agent or 
others by him authorised, with or without horses, carts 
or other carriages, to enter upon the said premises or 
any part thereof, for the purpose of working any of the 
said mines or quarries, or of falling or taking away the 
timber, or planting other trees, or for any purpose 
whatsoever; making reasonable satisfaction to the said 
C. D. for any injury or damage which the said A. B. 
may cause in so doing. 
And the said C. D. doth hereby for himself, his heirs, 
executors and administrators, and every of them, cove- 
nant, promise, and agree to and with the said A. B., his 
heirs and assigns, in manner following : that he the 
said C. D, will pay to the said A. B., by two equal half- 
yearly payments in every year (the first being made 
on the 25th day of March, and the other on the 29th 
from any religious causes. Their clergy would have 
urged them to break the holiday, or at least anticipate it 
by his placing the work in a state of safety during the 
day and night preceding the expected danger. 
The Bretons have infinitely more of that prejudice 
against innovation and improvement than is now to be 
met with in Ireland, where the advancement in scientific 
knowledge among the higher class, and of education 
among the lower, have tended to develop the intellectual 
powers. Yet, in M. Sousvestre's portraiture of an old 
farmer, mentally calculating the probable results of the 
strange work before him, we recognise the “ knowing” 
Trish Celt of but a few years ago, laughing in his sleeve 
at what he thinks an impracticable or a very foolish 
undertaking—the wise man, whom all the parish con- 
* M. Sousvestre. 
day of September in each year), the following rents, 
that is to say, in the first year the of sum £ » which 
sum constitutes the value of bushels of Wheat, ac- 
cording to the average price of Wheat for the seven 
years ending on the 1st of January next precediug the 
date of this demise, made up and published as required 
by law for the purpose of the Tithe Commutation Act ; 
and in every other year during the continuance of this 
demise the value of a like number of bushels of Wheat 
according to the average price, in like manner made up 
and published for the seven years next preceding ; the 
rent for each year varying with the average price of 
Wheat during the preceding seven years. 
And the said C, D. covenants with the said A. B. to 
pay all taxes chargeable upon the said premises during 
the said term, landlord's taxes excepted. 
And that the said C. D. will at his own proper cost 
and charge repair all the house and buildings hereby 
