1844.] 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



377 



mn HE SOLD BY PRIVATE CONTRACT.-A 



T^Win TITHE-FREE FARM, of 120 Acres, ma ring- 

 X S ^ A H n ntinidon*hire, in first-rate condition, with a neat 

 fence, in """^COTTAGE, and ample Barn and Farm Build- 

 Fanmoj »*" . th centre of the Farm. 



inf «, 8t8n ^ for an investment, it shall be sold to pay net four 

 If ^ V.tPrest from a responsible Tenant ; if for occupation, 

 ** r WD ;i mar oe had previous to harvest, if desired.-Further 

 ^Ifc'ularsmaybehad from Mr. Laweance, Solicitor, Peter- 

 borough. 



Zfy glflrfcttltttral ffiajette 



SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 1844. 



u' eD smi>at, June 19 Agricultural Socieiyof England. 

 K,, June 20 Agric ultural Im p. Soc. of Ireland. 



« There is death in the fot !" exclaimed the 

 ingenious Mr. Accum, some thirty years ago, and 

 he straightway frightened half the nation into the 

 belief that all the good things they had been eating for 

 years were poison. Would that a new Accum would 

 arise and warn the farmers that " there is a thief in 

 the sack ; " for, they may depend upon it, a mon- 

 strous deal of what they buy is roguery in disguise. 

 When we touched upon this matter a few weeks 

 since, we showed that in the opinion of some of the 

 worthy gentlemen who deal in manures, anything is 

 good enough for a farmer, who is considered by them 

 to be fit for nothing but for plucking. 



We did not anticipate another flagrant case of 

 fraud so soon; but a known correspondent has 

 •warned us (seep. 364) that people are at this moment 

 selling at Hull, under the name of pure and unadul- 

 terated Bone Ash, a villanous preparation of pounded 

 limestone. Farmers are urged to buy this stuff for 

 drilling with their Turnip-seed ; for Bone Ash is 

 admitted on all hands to be invaluable as a means of 

 starting the young Turnip quickly into growth ; and 

 the honest gentlemen at Hull are so kind as to pre- 

 pare it specially for use. We know nothing more 

 remarkable than the patriotism of these dealers. 

 Not contented with offering Bone Ash for sale at 

 the moderate price of 905. per ton, they particularly 

 warn their customers that what they sell is pure and 

 unadulterated. Five bushels of Bone Ash to ninety- 

 five bushels of pounded limestone is what consti- 

 tutes a pure article, according to the conscience of a 

 dealer at Hull. We are curious to know what, in 

 such honest people's minds, adulteration really is. 

 Perhaps they claim credit for putting any Bone Ash 

 at all into their mixture; and think the limestone 

 the better substance of the two. To be sure 90s. per 

 ton for limestone is rather dear, but what does that 

 signify to a farmer ? 



We cannot but congratulate our Yorkshire friends 

 upon the advantageous market at which they make 

 their purchases. 



We heartily wish we could add that the above is 

 the only case of scandalous fraud that has lately 

 -come within our knowledge. A young friend, how- 

 ever, well known for his zeal and scientific acquire- 

 ments, has just put into our hands the following 

 details, which we do hope will open the eyes of 

 farmers to their true interests, and assist in prevent- 

 ing them from being any longer swindled out of 

 their money and their crops. 



A Cheshire farmer, who was recommended to use 

 only a cwt. of ground bones per acre, exclaimed, 

 . A hundred weight ! why the least that I can dress 

 jny land with is a ton and a half; and that only 



for four years." 

 correspondent, "such 

 last for twenty years ; 

 «f yours." A sample 



" My good friend," said our 

 a dressing as that ought to 

 let me look at this bone-dust 



« - r «w was produced, analysed, and 



jound to contain eighty-Jive per cent, of carbonate of 

 time, or chalk. And this, too, in Cheshire, where 

 Dones are the salvation of the old pastures. Here 



?y armer had been Paying 10/. for every thirty 

 snuiings worth of his manure ; and perhaps seven 



Fh t* nt mterest u P on the 10/. What can the 



R ,l gentlemen be about t0 stand this? 

 tve ♦ tone-dust is also mixed with gypsum, 



Mm i y i ? er cent - of w, uch has been found in 

 weTihTk i 80 from Cheshire. In other cases the 

 to th een in creased by soaking bones in water, 



It i« ^L* e ^\ ent of fift een to thirty-five per cent. 

 We% rn 1 ! Y I ery obli ging of the dealers to give the 

 urifh 1 P farm ers seven hundred weight of water 



*hich » «""" ".'\ taa - Here is the analysis of some, 

 ton it 1 T: Slg lted gentleman purchased at 1'2/. a 

 tr *ce of u ° ne hal J'per cent, of ammonia, not a 



*nd phosnW m * ule W<™tities of alkaline sulphates 



that could £ i e ; in short ' the lar S est estima te 



sampleamnnL , e of the real guano present in the 



*nich hn» t0 three per ***** including feathers, 



* JOWe ver, appeared to have belonged to spar. 



rows and pheasants. On the other hand, there were 

 fifty per cent, of stones and yellow earth. In this 

 case the buyer was near-sighted indeed, for his guano 

 cost him nearly four hundred pounds a ton. These 

 must be famous times for farmers, when manure can 

 be bought at such a price. 



And these are not solitary cases. A guano sold at 

 Manchester has been found to contain seventy-five per 

 cent, of brickdust ; another sort from Derbyshire con- 

 tained ten per cent, of sawdust and six per cent, of clay; 

 and another Derbyshire specimen was doctored with 

 ground bark to the extent of twelve per cent. 



Really, with such facts staring us in the face at 

 every turn of the road, it is most incomprehen- 

 sible why farmers will not throw themselves into 

 the arms of the chemists, who alone can help them. 

 We are urged to publish the names of the people who 

 are swindling the country in this manner. Perhaps 

 we may. But that will never abate such enormous 

 evils as we have now described. Farmers must look 

 to themselves, and get their manures analysed 

 before they buy them, or they must purchase under 

 warranty, as they do with their horses. 



ON THE TENDENCIES OF THE ALLOTMENT 



SYSTEM. 



I cannot help thinking that the sentence which has 

 been of late much before the public — u Property has its 

 duties as well as its rights'' — conveys a sentiment which, 

 while it is true of all stations in life, is especially so in 

 its reference to occupiers of land ; they, as well as their 

 landlords, have very important duties to discharge as well 

 as rights to enjoy. It appears to me, that among the 

 former is the fulfilment of a claim which is naturally pre- 

 ferred by all who have been bred to an agricultural life — 

 a claim to live by agricultural labour. 



Though I do not mean to encumber your columns 

 with a proof of the fact, yet it is certainly demonstrable 

 that land under the plough will yield a profitable return 

 for a much higher degree of cultivation than what a great 

 deal of it now receives ; and, in such districts, were the 

 sums now paid as poor-rates spent in the employment 

 of labourers in the ordinary acts of cultivation, or in 

 drainage, &c, that which is now paid away as a dead 

 loss to the country would be amongst the most profitable 

 items of the farmer's invested capital. There are many 

 who differ with me on this head, but to them as well as 

 to others the labourers of our parishes look for support ; 

 the law countenances them in this claim, and the alter- 

 native which is placed before farmers is thus a very 

 simple one — they must support paupers in the work- 

 house, or grant them the means of supporting themselves 

 out of it. Of what great national consequence it is that 

 a right choice should here be made, we can hardly con- 

 ceive. The adoption of either of these systems as a 

 commencement tends to strengthen and increase the 

 chance of its continuance ; the action of each is con- 

 servative of the principles on which the continuance of 

 each depends. The tendency of a system which pro- 

 vides labour for all is to beget an independent spirit in 

 the labouring classes— a pride above being dependent on 

 others for support; and that of a pauper system is 

 necessarily to beget a listless acquiescence in a state of 



dependent idleness. 



Besides the door which the evident profitableness in 

 many districts of a higher degree of cultivation opens for 

 agricultural labour, and thus for diminishing an expen- 

 sive and most injurious pauperism, there is for those 

 with whom the present outlay of capital in cultivation is 

 a maximum, either from necessity or from an opinion 

 of expediency — there is for such, another means of dimi- 

 nishing poor- rates, and of imparting the healthful spirit 

 of independence to our labourers, which follows sufficient 

 employment. I allude to the allotment system, which, 

 as a mode of bettering the condition of the Agricultural 

 labourer, is now occupying so much of public attention. 

 The county of Worcester has been the first to take up 

 this subject in a public manner. At a large meeting of 

 the county gentlemeD, lately held, a committee was named 

 who are busily engaged in arranging a course of 

 operation, by which it is proposed to bring the whole of 

 the county under the influence of this system. Worces- 

 tershire is being divided into districts, in which sub- 

 committees are being formed for the purpose of supply- 

 ing information, &c, which may enable the central com- 

 mittee to direct their efforts efficiently. 



As an instance of the influence of allotting small por- 

 tions of land for spade culture to Agricultural labourers, 

 allow me to bring under the notice of your readers the 

 following extract from the Worcester Journal, being a 

 portion of a letter from the Rev. H. P. Jeston to J. Far- 

 don, Esq., of Bromsgrove : — 



II Cholesbury is a very small parish, containing 112 

 acres of cultivated and 44 of uninclosed common land. 

 The population is under 150. My acquaintance with it 

 began in 1830, at which time it was almost exclusively a 

 parish of paupers. The poor rates for the 10 years pre- 

 ceding had averaged 170/., and in 1831 they exceeded 

 200/. The rates (for all purposes) exceeded 30*. in the 



P oun{ ** 1. 1 A 



" In consequence of the excessive burden on the land, 

 the whole of it, except eight acres, was in 1832 forced 

 out of cultivation, and was abandoned by landlord and 

 tenant; the gates of the several farms were taken down, 

 and the fences suffered to remain unrepaired, in order 

 that the owners of property might avoid being rated. 

 There being no longer beneficial occupation, the over- 

 seers threw up their books, and the poor were maintained 



for more than half a year by rates levied on other 

 parishes in the hundred. For many years my predecessor 

 had made no attempt to collect his tithes, the rates upon 

 them far exceeding their value. The glebe land at length 

 became valueless. I was all but starved out of the 

 parish ; I had in fact made preparations for leaving it, 

 both on account of my family, as well as to escape the 

 sight of wretchedness which it was in my power no 

 longer to relieve. 



'• Just at this time the Agricultural Employment Insti- 

 tution, hearing of the destitute state of the parish, pur- 

 chased in it about 50 acres of arable and wood land ; 

 the former (36 acres) they allotted to eight or ten 

 married men with families, in quantities varying from 

 two to four acres, and an acre each to four or five lads. 

 The 36 acres are now all occupied by married men ; the 

 rent is 23s. per acre, and is paid punctually. The tenants 

 also contribute their quota of all parochial taxation. 

 The good effected by this system has exceeded my ex- 

 pectations, though from the first I anticipated great 

 things from it. In 1831 the money expended on the 

 poor exceeded, as I have already stated, 200/. In 1842 

 it did not amount to 20/. 



" In 1831 the total number of poor in receipt of paro- 

 chial relief, and that during the whole of the win'er 

 months, was as follows :— ■ 



Married men with families ... 8 

 The wives and children of the ahove . 28 

 Single men and boys . . . .12 

 Aged and impotent . < • .15 



Total 



. 63 



In 1842 there received relief 



Able-bodied poor . • 

 Aged and impotent 





• 





 3 



Total • 



" A lunatic in the Peckham Asylum is costing the parish 

 a two shilling rate (26/.) in the year. Were it not for 

 this charge, our poor would not cost us 20/. a year ; in 

 fact, we have not, and have not had for ten years, one 

 able-bodied pauper belonging to the parish. The allot- 

 ment system has cured that evil. The poor-rates have 

 averaged, these last three years, 4s. in the pound. 



" The allotment men work for the farmers in the sur- 

 rounding parishes whenever they can get a job, but it is 

 very seldom their luck to meet with one. Two or three 

 of them are owners of a horse and cart each, and during 

 the winter months they in part maintain themselves by 

 carting flints and firewood from our hills to the neigh- 

 bouring towns. All the men have pigs, and in summer 

 three or four of them keep also a cow. 



" The conduct of the men since they have had allot- 

 ments has been such as to afford me very great satis- 

 faction. Not one of them has been summoned before a 

 magistrate for any offence these ten years; they are 

 punctual in their attendance at church ; they and their 

 wives, and every child old enough to attend the Sun- 

 day School, are members of a Clothing Club, and deposit 

 in my hands during the year as much as from 30/. to 

 40/., which is expended at Christmas in clothing ; the 

 consequence is, there is not a ragged or ill- dressed per- 

 son in the parish. 



" It is not only the agricultural poor that have been 

 benefited by the allotment system, as carried out in this 

 parish. The owners of property have also equally reaped 

 the advantage of it. The 36 acres now occupied by the 

 allotment men at 26s. per acre was let in 1831 for 23/. 

 (something under 13s. an acre); and a tenant could 

 then be found bold enough to take it only by the land- 

 lord guaranteeing to pay all rates above a certain amount. 

 The result of this agreement was a curious one; when 

 rent day came it was ascertained that the rates had so 

 far exceeded the rent that the landlord found himself m 

 debt to his tenant, and the latter returned from the audit 

 with more cash in his pocket than he brought to it. The 

 other property in the parish has also recovered its just 



value. . ... 



" You state that you feel much interested in the allot- 

 ment system, and that you are about to try it in your 

 own parish. If the land allotted be near the dwelling of 

 the occupiers, and the letting not clogged with many 

 rules or restrictions, I have no doubt of your success. 

 You will soon find yourself surrounded by a grateful 



and affectionate tenantry." t*-M~Ji ««^ 



This is an extreme case : it appears both landlord and 

 tenant had abandoned the land. Lnder ordinary cir- 

 cumstances it is by no means desirable that such large 

 portions of land as were here allotted should be let to 

 labouring men : it is not wished that they should have 

 enough to support them as farmers, independently of the 

 wages derived from ordinary agricultural labour. A 

 quarter of an acre, or, where a man has a large family, 

 perhaps rather more, is amply sufficient for the purpose 

 to which it is to be applied ; viz., to support labourers 

 at periods when labour is scarce— to keep them from the 

 evil influence of idleness during those periods, and to 

 supply them with labour of a kind the most beneficial to 

 them, because it keeps them at home, and its results are 

 their own. We cannot speak more justly or highly of 

 the tendencies of the allotment system, where it is pro- 

 perly regulated, than in the words of Mr. Colman, the 

 celebrated American agriculturist, who is now in England, 

 and engaged in reporting the condition of British agri- 

 culture to his countrymen. He says :— " I na™ tr *f; f 

 largely on the subject of allotments, as presenting on^ 

 the first and most effective means of bettering « ^ 



tion of the agricultural labourer. My own con 

 are strong on this point; and they are^ •-•^ c ™ 

 strengthened by the testimony of many men of large ex 



