THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



341 



y 



Kn7*filRE~ LAND-DRAINING ASSOCIA- 



-^^G^chTor^: or°from the Secretary, J. H. Chak- 

 MoCBjWtf EU rwHiTE GLASS MILK-PANS. 



a PQTEY PELLATT, Falcon Glass Works, Hoi- 



A FbLfc* , Rlark fri ar^ road, having: made further experi- 

 A ^^VS« "SfpriS of the Milk-Pans-as described 

 w «ti, £ % ^°y chronicle, of clear white flint glass, which is 

 fc2j£2?Su.« foreign gr'een ff la s s-to 5,. 6d. each, or 3/. per 



Z\)t ggrtcmtaraij^yjge- 



SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1844. 



WRETIN'GS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 

 *W.nIL,AY, M»y » Agrlcultura Society of England. 

 tYcmdat. M»y 30 Agricultural Imp. ;»oo of Ireland. 



Wmdnwdat, June & Agricultural Sociery of England. 

 I,S i, Jan. 6 Agricultural Imp. Soc. of Ireland. 



FARMERS' CLUBS. 



M« y 



fChe 



*1» 



Chepttovr. 

 UVnlock. 

 rford. 



H%r » Karlcigh. 



.- 30 Ktchmondthire. 

 7 Stoke Ferry. 



\ lUdleijfh. 

 M»J •* SWrentham. 

 M)fbeaham. 



June 1 Collumpton. 



fWcit Hereford. 

 Junt 3 .< W. Market. 



iYoxford. 

 June 5 H&rlestone- 



We referred the other week to the meeting which 

 was lately held at Cirencester, for the promotion of 

 Agricultural Education. The efforts of the 

 Cirencester Farmers' Club have been directed — 

 most praiseworthily directed— to the attainment of a 

 scientific and practical agricultural education for 

 farmers sons ; but we must not forget, when speaking 

 of education for the agricultural classes, that farmers' 

 sons are not the only parties to be referred to : the 

 labourers constitute by far the most numerous por- 

 tion of those classes, and the education of their 

 children is matter of as vast a personal and national 

 importance as is the education of those under whom 



they are to live. 



A difficulty, independently of what arises from 



the fact that, as soon as they are able, they are required 

 to contribute by their labour to their own support, 

 has often been suggested as existing in the way of 

 educating the children of the labouring classes,— and 

 that is, the absolute necessity which is said to exist 

 for accustoming them to labour at an early age, in 

 order that they may acquire the strength and apti- 

 tude for work which it is said those never acquire 

 who do not commence a life of labour till they have 

 grown up. Now, though this remark sounds very 

 ungraciously, there is, we believe, a great deal of 

 truth in it: it must be read, not as if it emanated 

 from a hard master, anxious or at least active to 

 make free labour amount to something as like 

 slavery as may be, but as if it came — for it most con- 

 sistently might come, from a real friend of the work- 

 man— one anxious to enable him to get through the 

 line of life to which he is called with as much ease 

 and happiness to himself as possible. It is under- 

 stood that this difficulty has been experienced to a 

 considerable extent in many districts of Scotland, 

 which as a whole is certainly a better educated 

 country than most counties of England. The difficulty 

 in these instances has been partially overcome by the 

 parish schoolmaster (every parish there has an 

 endowed school), opening a class for farm-servants in 

 the winter evenings; and this class is'generally eagerly 

 attended by them, in order that they may make up 

 previous deficiencies. 



It appears, then, that the kind of education wanted 

 ior the labouring classes is such as combines the 

 usual elements with that which may fit them for 



tin"" Slt , ua . tlon in l>fe ; just, in fact, such an educa- 



«on, relatively speaking, as is wanted for the sons 



. arrtler s. The complaint on their account, as 



■w«*l at the Cirencester meeting by the Earl of 



icie, is, that though at the present schools they 

 ;; an !' no doubt, much that is useful, yet it is not 

 specially so in reference to the line of life to which 

 th *h destined - So with agricultural labourers : 

 reach 6 access > on terms generally within their 

 c n .» . t0 schools at which they can learn what is 



that Vr k? 81 Useful ; but the y cannot learn there 

 tion th j! 8 . necessarv t0 fit them for tneir 0CCU P a - 



p u ow> we na ye made these observations for the 



notiof ° f brin & in g m ore prominently under the 



k^ e ot ° ur waders a system of schools which has 



established by a most benevolent landowner in 



thi* Vn-^ 0f Sussex - In these schools not only is 

 u* ^ d f \ tlonal -- an d, if we may make so humble a 



the laL l erm ~ Professional education offered, but 

 habit of Ur c the cnilciren > as tne y are acquiring the 

 the kpI ^ 8efullv a PP ] ying it, is turned to account by 

 fact a , olmaster > so that it is made to cheapen— in 

 dem*n7 108t r to P urchase — the knowledge of the usual 

 school ;• Ration, which, during one-half of 

 institm- Wle ' l ney are ^g tau 8ht. These public 



OI Self-supporting Industrial Schools." We 



cannot do better than quote from an excellent aiticle 

 in the Sussex Advertiser, the following account of a 

 visit to the Self- supporting Industrial Schools esta- 

 blished at Willingdon and Eastdean, near East- 

 bourne. The writer first states the principle on 

 which claim is laid to this title, viz. :— " That the 

 industrial occupation of a few hours in the afternoon 

 upon land, will nearly or entirely discharge the cost 

 of the school-tuition of a given number of pupils, 

 and superadd a branch of instruction not less valuable 

 to the scholars. 



** The Willingdon Self-supporting School is 

 a neat little cottage building, combining, in a very 

 small compass, the attributes of dwelling-house, 

 school, dairy, cowhouse, with thrashing floor above, 

 and various conveniences attached. The roof is sur- 

 rounded by gutters, that convey the rain-water into 

 a large tank, so that it is not only not wasted, but 

 prevented from running away on the land. The 

 cow-house, piggeries, &c, are so constructed, that all 

 the liquid manure runs into a large tank, sunk in the 

 ground and carefully covered over, so as to allow no 

 rain or water to enter. Our visit was made at half- 

 past one, in ignorance of the hours of the school, 

 which we afterwards found to be from nine till 

 twelve — the afternoon work commencing at two, and 

 continuing till five. We first entered the cow-house, 

 where we discovered two little fellows about seven 

 years of age, waiting to go to work. Their proper 

 hour was tw T o o'clock, but there they were, spade in 

 hand, ready for their afternoon's work. These 

 children were the picture of strong and ruddy health 

 and of thorough cheerfulness, and certainly quite 

 reversed the usual order of things by the evident 

 alacrity with which they came to their work before 

 their proper time. They were shortly joined by 

 some more playmates, for though it was work, in one 

 sense, it certainly was not in another, and they pro- 

 ceeded in a body and commenced digging on the 

 ground allotted for their afternoon's employment. 

 On questioning them we found that there was only 

 one boy above nine years old, and he was the 

 eldest son of the master. There were about a 

 dozen children in all, and they were chiefly under 

 eight, one even being but four years of age. We 

 were then joined by the master himself, who, 

 after putting his little band to work, readily replied 

 to several inquiries which we put as to the rent he 

 paid, the proceeds of his little farm, and the various 

 circumstances connected with it. He stated his 

 position to be as follows :— He rents five acres 

 of land, for which, including the house, he has 

 paid 251. a-year; and which latter he reckons at 10/. 

 Ho cultivated this land by the- help of his li.tle 

 scholars, who barter their labour of three lnw S in 

 the afternoon for three hours of his instruction in the 

 morning, they paying him in addition one penny 

 a-week. He finds himself able to cultivate these five 

 acres thoroughly, and to a good profit; to prove 

 which, he took us into the school-room, where he 

 produced his accounts for the previous year. He has 

 no other source of income than that which he de- 

 rives from this and from the weekly pence of his 

 scholars. He is perfectly happy, and is able to earn 

 a good living off these five acres for himself, wife, 

 and children. These are his comforts ; and now let 

 us see how his little scholars fare as to their share of 

 the bargain, and whether they get efficient instruc- 

 tion in return for their labour. We examined their 

 writing and their arithmetic books, and we may 

 honestly state that some of their work would shame 

 the attainments of many children of the same age in 

 a much higher walk of life. It seems that these 

 children are rarely with him after 11 or 12 years of 

 age, for they have been so well trained in agricul- 

 tural matters that they very readily find situations at 

 that age with the farmers in the neighbourhood. 

 They appear fond of their master, and their fondness 

 for their employment is sufficiently evidenced by 

 their alacrity in coming to their work before instead 

 of at the time appointed." 



This appears in every respect worthy of being imi- 

 tated in country districts : and we submit it to the 

 clergymen of rural parishes, that great good might be 

 done by the establishment of such schools in their 

 villages. We need only add, that should any one be 

 anxious to inquire further into this subject, we shall 

 be most happy to put him in the way of gaining 

 every information. 



It has been suggested that our last week's remarks 

 on air as a source of vegetable food are liable to 

 misconstruction by some of our readers. It is un- 

 questionably true, as was then stated, that the greater 

 part of the solid substance of every plant is obtained 

 by the decomposition of carbonic acid, which is taken 

 from the air by means of its leaves, as well as from the 

 soil by its roots. The farmer must not, however, on 

 that account think that scientific men believe his ma- 

 nuring the ground to be of comparatively little import- 

 ance to the crop he cultivates. If any one should be 

 found wild enough to insist upon this, he might be 



referred to an overwhelming amount of evidence 

 against him as to the facts of the matter; and if 

 scientific men generally thought so, their statements 

 would undoubtedly be unworthy of a moment's con- 

 sideration from the practical farmer ; but no : science 

 acknowledges the benefit of manuring land as much 

 as practice experiences it. 



Carbon is not the only component part of vege- 

 tables — earthy matters exist in plants ; whence, other- 

 wise, do Grass-fed sheep and oxen obtain the sub- 

 stance of their bones? These earthy matters per- 

 form a part in the vegetable, doubtless as essential 

 as that which they perform in the animal economy ; 

 and if plants are expected to grow vigorously, the 

 food supplied to them must contain all those sub- 

 stances which every part requires. Farmyard 

 manures, guano, &c, contain these substances, and 

 hence their value and influence as fertilisers. 



That part of the food of a vegetable which enters 

 at its root from the soil is as essential to the healthy 

 growth of the plant as that which enters it by its 

 leaves from the air . 



To continue our remarks on the the entry 

 clauses of agricultural leases: — We promised 

 to consider the subject in connection with the capital 

 required by the farmer. The system advocated in 

 our last article on this subject, was that which 

 renders it the interest of the out-going tenant to pre- 

 serve the fertility of the land unimpaired up to the 

 termination of his tenancy, by securing for him full 

 and fair value of all his property in the land. Give 

 him full value for his straw and his manure, &c, and 

 he will keep the land in good heart, so as to grow bulky 

 crops. His successor will require, in the long-run, 

 but very little more capital than if he had entered 

 on a farm without being required to pay the tenant 

 anything for what he may have left behind him. In 

 the latter case, knowing that nothing will be received 

 for straw, manure, &c, care will have been taken so 

 to run out the land, as far as the lease would permit, 

 that there is but little produce for the in-coming 

 tenant to receive, and still less is there for him of 

 that staple, or heart in the soil, which is far 

 more easily lost than acquired ; for this, too, 

 was converted into marketable produce before 

 the expiration of the lease. 



All this has been done by the out- going tenant 

 in perfect justice to himself, but with great in- 

 jury to his landlord, to his successor, and especially 

 to the nation at large. His land will not attain 

 its standard of fertility for several years, and its 

 owner must consent to a rental, smaller on that 

 account than he would otherwise have received ; and 

 the tenant of it must submit to several years of 

 giAtiual outlay before receiving the profits he has a 



right to expect from it- the sum lie lays out amounts 

 ultimately, probably to more than he would have 

 spent had he handed it over at once to his prede- 

 cessor, for cultivation, &c. in the land, when he 

 entered upon it, and then these years of unprofitable 

 outlay would have been as profitable as any of the 

 years of his tenancy ; and the fertility of the land 

 under this faulty system is, as we pointed out in a 

 former article, subject to periodical failures — for 

 four years at the beginning, and for four year ^t 

 the end of each lease it is only in a half-cultiv w * 

 state, for during the one period it is f merging from, 

 and in the other sinking into a stat& of comparative 

 sterility ; and unquestionably tm> -o a state of things 

 nationally injurious, converting it into a question of 

 space instead of time ; and supposing the average 

 duration of a lease to be 1 4 years, it is as if 8 out 

 of every 14 acres in the country were but half 



cultivated. 



But to return to the bearings of this subject on the 

 amount of capital required by the farmer, and see 

 what effect the system of paying the out-going tenant 

 a full value for all his produce and cultivation m the 

 land has on the purse of his successor :— 



We are happy to publish the following account of 

 an instance which has occurred this spring on a farm 

 situated in one of the western counties of England, in 

 which the arrangements between the outgoing tenant 

 and his successor have been conducted on this prin- 

 ciple by their representatives, who are experienced 

 farmers — not professional valuers. The farm consists 

 of 240 acres of arable, and about 30 acres of pasture- 

 land, including roads, buildings, &c. The out-going 

 tenant, as in the case specified some weeks ago by 

 "A Farmer and Land-valuer," left the farm unex- 

 pectedly, and it was in the highest possible state of 

 cultivation. The articles in the inventory, as it was 

 put into the hands of the valuers, were classified as 

 follows : — 



a. Working cattle, harness, &c. 



b. Live-stock. 



c. Implements. , 

 A portion of the stock under each of these heads 



was left to the in-coming tenant, at a valuation, as 

 agreed upon between him and his predecessor. 



