■■■■■■HHMH 





heath and sheep-walk from which, it was said, they ought 

 never to have emerged. 



Now, the metropolitan journals labour sedulously and 

 effectively in diffusing a knowledge of the best systems 

 of cultivation pursued on such soils, and in proclaiming 

 the grand fact, proved by innumerable examples, that 

 the improvement of poor land affords a more profitable 

 investment for capital than the purchase of the best. 

 Time was when those who complained of the low price 

 of Wheat were advised to grow Pine-apples ; and when 

 it was proved by all the rules of political economy to be 

 both the interest and the duty of the owners and oc- 

 cupiers of the soil to make fish, poultry, and game as 

 abundant and cheap as beef and mutton. Now, three 

 hares are proved to consume as much as one sheep, and 

 the batteries of the daily press are very laudably turned 

 against the preserves and battues to which we are in- 

 debted for the present cheapness of game. By means 

 of these, they who possess good local information as to 

 when and where certain lords and squires have been 

 shooting, and who keep a vigilant eye on Leadenhall- 

 market, are frequently enabled to sit down to hare or 

 pheasant at a cheaper rate than if the noble and gentle 



sportsmen had made them a present of it, but had not 

 paid the carriage. 



What, if an occasional " leader * betrays a hankering 

 after some little table luxuries, and gives vent to dissatis- 

 faction at their cost, in exhortation to farmers to grow 

 less corn and butcher's meat, and to direct their atten- 

 tion to fruit and vegetables, unmindful of the fact that 

 market gardeners complain as loudly as farmers of 

 foreign competition and low prices, and assert that they 

 supply the cockney dinner tables with Peas and Aspa- 

 ragus, Apples, Cherries, and Peaches, not only without 

 profit but out of their capital. These little editorial 

 outbursts are very excusable. Parliament is not sitting, 

 topics are scarce — space has to be filled — and the great 

 " We " may have been annoyed by a heavy bill from the 

 green-grocer, after having, on the faith of low prices, 

 given a spread of more than usual hospitality. 



On the whole we cannot be too grateful to the daily 

 press of London for their exertions in the cause of 

 agricultural improvement. About this time last year 

 the great topic was the investigations of the Morning 

 Chronicle respecting labour and the poor. In them we 

 saw the tact and acumen of the practised reporter, 

 making old blue books readable, and sifting their Wheat 

 from the chaff. Penetrating personally into the abodes 

 of poverty and vice, he made them tell their own tale 

 in that form of monologue or dialogue which gives so 

 much zest to novels of the "Oliver Twist" and 

 Uick Turpin" school. Nor let it be objected that, 

 like those novels, these investigations only produced a few 

 sentimental tears, an undefined dread of our dangerous 

 classes—a virtuous indignation against the "sweating 

 system, or a transient burst of feeling, whiefa quickly 

 blazed itself out, in subscriptions for the hero or heroine 

 ot some tale of woe. The Association for Promoting 

 lemale Emigration, the first fruit of those labours, is a 

 promising plant, which bids fair to develope itself into 

 mat winch so many desire, and of which few have 



■ n J A ■ 



TITHE COMMUTATION. 

 As your agricultural as well as clerical readers may 

 feel anxious ro know the result of the Corn Averages for 

 the seven years to Christmas last, published in the 

 London Gazette of last evening, viz. : 



Wheat 6*. b±d. per imperial bushel. 



Barley 4 do. 



Oats ... ... 2 8 do. 



I beg to state for their information that each 100/. of 

 rent charge will fey the year 1851 amount to i)W. 1 \s. A±d. 

 or about 2\ per cent, lower than last year. The follow- 

 ing statement from my " Annual Tithe Commutation 

 Tables " will show the worth of 100/. of rent charge for 

 each of the following years ; 



103 



The Proposal to In 

 instc L of removing 



1845 

 1846 

 1847 

 1848 

 1849 

 1850 

 1851 



s. 



17 

 17 



d. 



Hi 

 8* 



• it 



• • • 



• # • 



• ■ • 



• • • 



• • ■ 



102 

 99 18 10J 

 102 1 

 100 3 7| 

 98 16 10 

 96 11 4| 



tt 



any definit 



national colonisation." 



a « well digested system of 

 As far as experience has yet 

 B — , v..v experiment naa been successful ; and, being 

 an experiment, it is a merit rather than a defect that it 



on , h Z^lT km WUh CBa&m ' ^ at preSeDt ' ° nl * 



a fi ri£ir mCh tha - i8 Valuable in the reports of the 

 E? . commissioners of the Times, we select for 



Xh well 6 facts 3 d * stron &y illust ™ te a P° int t<> 



waicn we have ourselves endeavoured to draw attention 

 diSJJfTv ? te , ° f a g ricult «ral wages in different 



tiTtj , ngla f- • That J° Urnal ^ly announced 

 S»i f.! dl6sa t.stact.on prevailed among the 



tural labourers nf R....1-; i i- „ . & 



gricul- 



week. 



attempts 



tges 



Since then the Times _ _____ __ w 



that in South Lancashire the farmereTre^gi^ingTom 



Si. Jt a W6ek t0 En § lish labourers, and 9«. to 

 Irish 5 cottage rents being from 31. to 51. a year, and 



fiS i C i f^' 1 Women > [t Wears, are rarely employed in 

 field labour, because they can earn better pay in-doors 

 J* the factories. Under these circumstances we are 



£ ki la -* maDUal labour of the Turni P cr °P is nearly 

 double > its cost in the south, and the farmers declare 



S,?ii- y T M DOt 8 et on at a11 without the Irish, 

 ouctti being the case, we should suppose that a supply of 



the Buckmgh amshire labourers would be a great ac 



SfngsJ^ ** farmerS ; and that t0 these seven " 



paradise. 



lor impro 



If we include the whole period of 1 5 years elapsed since 

 the passing of the Tithe Commutation Act, it will be 

 found that the general average value of 100/. of tithe, 

 rent charge amounts to 100Z. 16s. Id. Charles M. Willich 

 25, Suffolk-street, Pall-mall, Jan. 4, 1851. 



Home Correspondence. 



The Drainage Act. — " J. T's, Swansea," complaint of 

 the charges of the Drainage Commissioners appears to 

 me to be unreasonable, and to require only the following 

 explanation to be seen in a very different light from 

 that in which he would place it. It will be easy to show, 

 although he has paid 34/. 5s. lOd. for the loan of 400/., 

 that he could have raised the money in no other way so 

 cheaply ; and he has gained, in addition, the assistance 

 of an inspection, which, if he had had the experience of 

 others of the waste of money, from the want of such an 

 inspection, he would not think it too highly charged for, 

 at the rate of 5s. or 65. an acre. Let me advise u J. T.," 

 and all your agricultural readers who have land to 

 drain, and are willing to leave the plan, &c, to farm- 

 tenants and bailiffs, first to read " Agricultural 

 Drainage," published by John Murray, Albemarle- 

 street, price Ad. The Government advance is made 

 at a rate of interest of one per cent, per annum 

 below the common rate of advances on mortgage ; 

 and the borrower gets the further advantage of 

 paying back the principal in annual instalments ; 

 now, if " J. T." will refer to " In wood's Tables," fourth 

 table, he will find that the difference of borrowing 400/. 

 for 22 years, at the rate of 3 per cent, and 4 per cent, 

 per annum, amounts to 38/. lis. 9d. ; and had he 

 borrowed the money in any other way, he would have 

 had, in addition, to submit to investigations of title, &c, 

 and been fortunate, had the lawyer's charges, which he 

 would have had to pay in addition, been so little as 34/. 

 5s. lOd. In all advances under the commissioners, not 

 only do the borrowers get their advances on lower rates 

 of interest, and save the ordinary cost of investigations of 

 title, &c, but they also have the advantage of an inspec- 

 tion of the proposed works by experienced surveyors, 

 which secures the landowner from improvident outlay, 

 both as to scale of charges and planning of the work. 

 There are some of your readers who, of my knowledge, 

 will not so lightly estimate the value of this inspection. 

 I could name many individuals who, upon the advice of 

 the Government inspectors, have seen reason to aban- 

 don the plans on which they had proposed to expend 

 many thousands, and to adopt those of the inspector ; 

 but I will not enlarge on this, as I trust the work I 

 recommend will be read by every one who has draining 

 to do, and who may be in doubt of the value of some such 

 an inspection as is given by the Drainage Act. I have 

 only to add, and I would do so as a postscript, and rather 

 with reference to the present working of this Act, than 



as any apology for the charge of which "J. T." com- J poultry houses is feet square. __ . .. _ __ 



plains — that in 1846 when his application was made, the] (with a tiled roof), excepting the front, which is of 



— _^ ,________. *__• Mi ■ - 1 • ■ . * ^ n , . 1 1 _r* 1 1 1 • • . 1 1 * 1 • . • 





H the fim of Snath 

 altogether, is rather amusing 

 a« me present oay can a company be permitted to 

 retain a public nuisance, in the midst of a population 

 consisting of two millions of human beings, almost all of 

 whom a anxious to get rid of the abomination J Those 

 persons who own property in the vicinity of Smithfield 

 market may fancy themselves aggrieved by the met .- 

 polis being freed from scenes of cruelty and vice un- 

 paralleled in any other Christian country, or even in 

 the regions where the heathen dwells, who although not 

 blessed with a knowledge of the true faith, yet is more 

 merciful to the brute creation than those who are taught 

 better, and who have not the excuse of ignorance to 

 palliate wickedness. The sufferings of sheep, oxen, and.,. 

 P*S S > goaded to Smithfield market, are terrible ; and their 

 miseries are not altogether unrevenged, as then* over* 

 heated and inflammatory bodies, sold in the shambles, 

 produce a variety of diseases, amongst which bowel 

 complaints are the most prevalent, followed by typhus 

 fever, &c. It is in vain we shut our eyes to these 

 startling facts ; and we must not attribute illness at par- 

 ticular seasons so much to atmospheric changes as to 

 the body being, from the indulgences in impure food, 

 more susceptible of injury than it would be if partaking 

 of a wholesome diet. Individual interests cannot bo 

 considered when the welfare of thousands is concerned. 

 If such is to be the case in the instance of Smithfield 

 market, great injustice has beeu done to many thousands 

 whose pockets have suffered to benefit " the million." 

 A locality now exists in London condemned by the great 

 mass of the inhabitants, as injurious to health and 

 morality ; and surely a sink of everything that is bad 

 should be cleansed in the 19th century before we 1 pose 

 ourselves to the eyes of the whole world during the 

 influx of people of all nations during 1U51. It is 

 strange that health reports do not lay more stress upon 

 impure food consumed by man as causing disease I 

 Falcon. 



Faun Accounts. — As your correspondent, U E. F.,' 

 wishes to know what alterations I propose to make, I 

 have inclosed an arrangement of columns, which shows 

 at one view the present arrangement adopted in the 

 Royal Ag. Soc.'s Labour "Account-book ; and the altera- 

 tions which I propose to make, should there be anything 

 in my plan which is not understood, I shall of course be 

 happy to forward an explanation. With regard to the 

 general arrangement of the book, I think the stock, 

 corn, and cash accounts might be removed from its 

 present position to a page now devoted to " hiring and 

 wages of servants;" this is an account which I think 

 will be seldom or ever used, as in most places labour 

 are paid weekly, and turned off at a few days' notice. 

 By removing this account, it will be seen that some- 

 thing like 4£ inches of length might be safely dono 

 away with, and the whole remaining portion of the page 

 devoted to weekly labour accounts. The present length 

 of the Royal Ag. Soc.'s Labour Account-book is de- 

 cidedly inconvenient. J. R. Markby. [The arrangement 

 of columns for Labour Accounts in the Royal Ag. Soc. 

 of England's Account-book is altered : — ]st J by reducing 

 width of column for names ; 2d, by taking out column 

 for " signature of labourer," which is useless, and put- 

 ting in its place a column for "description of task- 

 work ; " 3, by putting the columns for " days — at per 

 day — and weekly wages " after all the others ; and 4, by 

 putting a double fine to each name in the name column. 

 The whole effect is to reduce the width of the page 

 2£ inches. This description of the alteration may 

 suffice, as the specimen page would be too bulky.] 



Poultry Housts and Poultry Walks.— In reply to your 

 correspondent " W. H." (see Agricultural Gazette, Dec. 

 21), who wishes to know the- dimensions of my poultry 

 houses, and the extent of my poultry walks, I hero 

 subjoin the required particulars. The largest of my 



ilt 





be 



— ^w,, wuuui -L-ancasmre would be a 

 1 n looking to emigration as one of the means 



tionr.1 a ;* uvenooKnome colomsatio: 

 tion need not be per saltum. The steps mi 



JaJu ? nck ^ghamshire to 15*. 



board 



in South Lancashire, 

 same^money 



andan e^nl g0 °. d ^ nduefc ' of bec °ming a landowner 

 Cthv th? ^J t W,0UP - lt W0U,d be * n object well 

 system £ th^SJ 10 ? ° f / he benevolent to organise a 

 purelv L^ 6 ' of the redundant labour of the 



thetboLr f Ct f eS , has ™p™ed the condition of 

 ^ serX, » husbandry by extending the demand for 

 hopJ Z I™* Xt has finished the supply. We 

 the Jfarth ln r fluence of ^e fourth estate directed to 



£ ^rtnerance of so practical and desirable an object. 



commissioners were in prepared witn inspectors; tney 

 had to send great distances 5 and further, that the costs 

 are necessarily large on small advances, and in this in- 

 stance, would probably have been no more had the sum 

 been 1000/., in lieu of 400/. Hewitt Davis. 



Report of Smithfield Show.- -My late friend, the Rev. 

 Henry Berry, during our long connection, never having 

 bred Hereford cattle, I beg to correct your statement 

 of him in your report of the Smithfield Show, page 795, 

 describing Class I. " 2d prize was a Hereford ox of 

 much merit ; the length of the body exceeded the pro- 

 portion of the girth, and the shoulder was not well 

 covered. The fore ribs were uncommonly fleshy and 

 the thighs deep. The back and the set of the tail formed 

 a continuous level, and the whole animal was one of the 

 best that were shown. It showed the value of the stock 

 of the Rev. Henry Berry." The latter part of the above, 

 I take it, was your criticism on the second prize in 

 Class N., Mr. Boult's'3 years old steer. * The length of 

 the body exceeded the proportion of the girth " — I 

 cannot understand, comparing, in your first table, oxen 

 4 to 5 years old ; 2d prize Hereford, 5 ft. 6 in. length, 

 8 ft. 6 in. girth ; Smithfield oxen, 2 to 3 years old, 2d 

 prize, 5 ft. 9 in. length, 8 ft. 9 in. girth ; oxen, any age, 

 under 90 stone (short-horns Smithfield), 2d, 5 ft. length, 

 8 ft. 4 in. girth." I take No. 1, in the quotation, to be 

 Mr. Philips* ox, weighing 97 stone, and No. 2 to be 

 Mr. Boulfs, weighing 105 stone ; or No. 4, weighing 83 

 stone. I do not anywhere see stated the length of the 

 body exceeding the proportion of the girth. Henry 

 Cottrell, Rhodyate Lodge Congresfoiry. [The remark 

 about the length and girth meant that that particular 

 ox was very long in proportion to its girth.] 



! 



wood, and protected by Stockholm tar, with which it is*., 

 thickly covered. On one side of it is a recess 10 feet 

 deep and 3 feet wide, with a slated roof for the fowls to^i 

 take shelter in during heavy rains and unseasonable 

 weather. The extent of walk is 20 feet by 15 feet ; the 

 top is considerably elevated, in order to afford the fowls 

 an opportunity of perching high. The perches are 

 fixed in a variety of directions, aud so placed as to 

 command t an extensive view of the neighbouring gardens, 

 Ravenscourt Park, &c. ; and, of course, a glimpse of 

 the sun's rays. By the fowls being constantly seen 

 seated on these perches, it is quite evident that they 

 are u happy " in their confinement ; and being always 

 in robust health, and the nests for the most part 

 abundantly supplied with, eggs at all seasons of the year, , 

 I am led to believe that my treatment of them is ia 

 every respect correct. No poultry-house ought to be 

 of less dimensions than from 6 to 7 feet square (I have 

 several this size) ; and if built of brick, so much the 

 better. It is warmer than those built of any other 

 material. The larger the poultry w r alk the better J 

 1 2 feet by 9 feet should be the minimum size. By 

 turning the top soil frequently over, the walks will be 

 kept sweet and wholesome, and the health of the poultry 

 thereby ensured. Since my last communication ap- 

 J peared, an increased number of my liens have come 

 ' into lay. In a few days, I expect they will all be u pro- 

 fitable servants." William Kidd, New-road, Hammer- 

 smith, Dec 24. 



Agricultural Education. — As it is evident that some > 

 exertion must be made by all classes in acquiring** 

 better knowledge of the sciences that art nwre imme- 

 diately connected with the various occupations with 



