266 



THE AGRflGTJIiTURAL GAZETTE. 







of assuming the same state in a greater or less degree to 

 Ml substances dissolved in it, although they do not ot 

 themselves possess that property." And it has been 

 Adduced as a proof of the circulation of the sap that they 

 do so get rid of the colouring matters they have been 

 artificially made to imbibe by their roots. It is stated 

 that the coloured ascending fluid has been observed to 

 the leaves, that it has there lost its colour and been seen 

 to descend from the leaves colourless or as a milky fluid. 

 Poisons appear also to be discharged by the leaves. 



My experiments have tended to confirm the views I 

 Submitted in the Agricultural Gazette of 1844, on this 

 subject ; I can alone attribute the greater products 

 under peculiar circumstances of certain garden ex- 

 perimental crops to their receiving a greater supply of 

 Nutriment from the air through their leaves, this nutri- 

 ment having its origin in the soil, the air being the 

 medium through which it is conveyed to the leaves ; and 



its escape from the earth, as well as its composition in 

 the earth, being facilitated by the stirring of the soil 

 "about the plants. Although the opinion of the roots 

 having the power to refuse matters that do not enter 

 into the composition of plants has been exploded ; yet 

 if we admit the immediate action of leaves on the matters 

 offered to them, we cannot, I think, deny them a power 

 'of discrimination and of choice in what they imbibe. 



But whether they have this discriminating choice, or 

 "Whether they must take in all that is offered to them, 

 and then throw off those matters which the plants do 

 not assimilate, the matters so discharged or so refused 

 will be found floating in the atmosphere surrounding 

 them, disengaged and ready to be taken up by any con- 

 tiguous plants of different elementary constitutions. 



By these considerations, by observation, by the suc- 

 cess that has attended the interlining of green crops of 

 "others, and by small experiments of my own, I have 

 "Sufficiently satisfied myself of the probable profitable 

 'return from the interlining of cereals and vegetables, if 

 in the practice insuperable difficulties do not occur; and 

 I have therefore this year placed under this cultivation 

 nearly five acres of land. My expectations are that I 

 shall derive one-half more return than had each crop 

 been grown separately; at the same time, ho wever, more 

 labour will be expended. The crops interlined are 

 'Cabbages and Wheat. 



In a future paper I propose to give a detailed account 

 "of my operations and of the expenditure on them, and 

 also those attending a wide-rowed tillage of Oats, extend- 

 ing, I expect, to about eight acres. In this, in answer 

 to a question put by "J. II.," I will say I do not use one- 

 half the quantity of seed Oats usually sown broad-cast 

 in this country. J. M. Goodiff, Granard, March 25. 



THE COTTAGE OF THE AGRICULTURAL 



LABOURER. 



The slow and gradual upward progress of the social 

 system renders it very probable, if not absolutely 

 certain, that any considerable amelioration of the 

 lowest class of society must apply to a generation 

 yet unborn, and consequently the comfort and social 

 happiness of the present existing race must chiefly 

 "depend on the humanity and kindness of their em- 

 ployers, whether strictly immediate, or not. It is 

 most proper and just, that wealth be used in provid- 

 ing for the maintenance and comfort of the labour by 

 which it is produced ; and surely no employment of it 

 Can be so pleasing to humanity, or more agreeable to the 

 "feelings of a just benevolence. 



The social system of the agricultural employment 

 lenders it more variable, and consequently less com- 

 fortable than other sources of labour. The occupier of 

 *a farm, even under a lease, has only a present interest 

 in the holding, and he pays no attention to permanent 

 •objects, further than they serve his temporary 

 'interests. The buildings on the farm are only used to 

 serve a certain purpose, which is often far removed 

 from any idea of comfort to the inmates, and it is 

 certainly not his province to produce objects that 

 would remain for the benefit of others, after his 

 removal from the occupation. He gets no yearly 

 '-income from the hovel of the labourer, nor from any 

 expenditure he may make upon it, and therefore it 

 'occupies neither time nor attention from him. And no 

 "blame can be attached to the farmer, the system is in 

 fault, which leaves permanent objects to be cared for, 

 -by a temporary interest, and gratifies a sordid purpose 

 at the expense of justice and humanity. This neglect 

 "on the part of the landowners, has been very instru- 

 mental in producing the wretched hovels or sheds in 

 •which the agricultural labourers are lodged, and which 

 form a blot of no small magnitude on the farm practice 

 of some of the farming districts of Northumberland, 

 and the South of Scotland, where the genius of agri- 

 culture may be truly said to have fixed its chosen 

 'residence. Here the land of the very best quality, the 

 imoste mplete Turnip farming, the highest rents, and 

 ♦the richest and most enterprising tenantry in Britain, 

 •exhibit the most wretched specimens in the kingdom, of 

 the accommodation that is given to the labourer, who is 

 "the moving pi wer, the sinew and strength of every 

 active operation. The houses are of one apartment, 

 about 20 feet by 16 feet in size, where a family is 

 -huddled together; as m a pinfold, without any comfort 

 of separation, or the means of preserving the common 

 decencies of life. Immorality becomes a part of the 

 system, and is thus engendered and fostered from the 

 Tery firm entrance into life. The house of one apart- 

 ment is nothing better than the stall of a stable, where 

 the animal eats and sleeps in the same enclosure. 

 Rational creatures are in this way nothing removed 



beyond the beasts that perish; they labour and exhaust 

 their power,- and derive the rewards of toil in one respect 

 on an equality with the dumb brutes.- 



It is the bounden duty of the landowner to provide 

 the proper accommodation of the labourer, as it forms 

 a part of the permanent furniture of the farm, for the 

 use of which the occupier pays a stipulated yearly 

 rent. And as the landowner has both the means and 

 the power of making the proper and necessary arrange- 

 ments that are consistent with humanity and congenial 

 with benevolence, remarks on this subject may be 

 applied to their own individual sensejrf social propriety. 

 Bad accommodation forms a very large part of the 

 illiberal treatment which alienates the affections of the 

 lower orders, begets carelessness, and produces the 

 evil feelings of dislike and revenge. The contentment 

 that is produced by the comfort and convenience ota 

 dwelling, goes a long way iu removing other irksome 

 circumstances of labour. The garden affords occupa- 

 tion and amusement, and a food in vegetables, which is 

 of all others the most innocent and agreeable to the 

 animal functions. A neat, clean cottage, which is pro- 

 vided with the requisites to yield ,that appearance, 

 forms a very pleasing attraction to the weariness of 

 toil, and confirms the natural attachment to family and 

 home. Such an appearance begets the idea of being 

 somewhat raised in the scale of society, which exerts a 

 very powerful and lasting effect in producing the habits 

 and feelings of independence, in raising the notions of 

 respectability, and in assuming and sustaining the form 

 of character which is equally useful in the fear of its 



■ This com- 



instability and in the dread of its loss 

 fort of the dwelling, along with the healthy employ- 

 ment and beneficial produce of the garden, will 

 banish the depression of spirits that attends the 

 sight of misery and the want of comfort after the toil 

 of the day is over, and will employ the vacant mind 

 apart from the sources of wickedness and the haunts of 

 dissipation. Those pests of society, in the form of ale- 

 houses and beer-shops, are supported by the want of 

 just attraction being afforded in the proper place, where 

 the attention may be fixed and the occupation riveted. 



The first step towards the comfort of civilisation is 

 the decent separation of age and sex, or the providing 

 of separate apartments. And the first 6tep in making 

 this division consists in separating the sitting and sleep- 

 ing apartments, or iu having apartments for both pur- 

 poses ; and it is most agreeable with convenience and 

 comfort that the sleeping apartments be removed from 

 the ground floor, and that they are^ most airy, dry, and 

 comfortable, in the second story of a building. The 

 business of cooking creates a disagreeableness to the 

 persons who are not employed in the operations, and is 

 incompatible with the cleanliness that is essential to the 

 comforts of life. A bed in the sitting apartments 

 always emits a stale odour, that is both offensive and 

 unhealthy, and creates much additional labour in the 

 frequent alterations of the furniture, and the sweepings 

 of the apartment. One single apartment for the whole 

 family i& utterly incompatible with the maintenance of 

 the decencies of life, than which nothing more strongly 

 contributes to the prevention of immorality, and 

 the consequent commission of crime. One apartment for 

 general purposes demands another room, for the pur- 

 pose of some little degree of retirement. 



Another most essential requisite to the comfort of 

 any human dwellings is the having some back apart- 

 ments where the scullery- work is performed, aud where 

 the utensils are kept from view. No part of provision 

 is more necessary than this back accommodation, with- 

 out which the kitchen or common apartment will be 

 always dirty and encumbered. And these apartments 

 muse be in number sufficient to yield the amount of 

 accommodation that is required, or the purpose will be 

 left undone, and the object will not be promoted. 



It must be conceded to be a very beneficial arrange- 

 ment by which the keep or use of a cow in milk forms 

 an item in the wages of the labourer, 

 common use can be compared with milk for the rearing 

 family of children ; and, where it is not required 

 in the original form, the use of it in butter and cheese 

 is always available. But in order not to raise a large 

 village of back buildings attached to the cottages, we 

 think it is preferable that the labourers' cows be housed 

 at the farmery, and have the common food of the farm. 

 And in case of the agreement being for the use of a 

 cow, it may be inferred that when one animal goes 

 dry, another giving milk will be afforded, which will 

 continue the supply of the article to the labourers 

 without interruption. The keeping of a pig is most 

 absolutely necessary to every labourer; and when a 

 quantity of Potato-ground in the farmer's field forma 

 a part of the wages by valuation, the refuse of the 

 produce, joined with the garden stuffs, may be arranged 

 to bring forward two pigs yearly, and will require 

 somt* Beans and Rarley-meal to finish the process 

 of fattening. This article is of a vast advantage to a 

 family, "and should never be neglected. The lafe Wil- 

 liam Cobbett very pithily observed, that some flitches of 

 bacon being prepared for the winter's use, prevents 

 stealing and poaching much more effectually than whole 

 volumes of penal statutes. It is socialism of the right 

 sort ; it softens the temper, restrains the desires, and 

 promotes the domestic harmony, A sty for the pig is a 

 provision of the first importance in arranging the back 

 premises. Poultry can also bo kept in a small number 



and one apartment will accommodate both ducks and 

 fowls. 



Poultry require much warmth, and when duly pro- 



No substance in 



of a 



f April i 



In this 



almost throughout the whole year 

 poultry- house is placed in the centre oftC"* ***>* 

 between the fire-places, in order to £ 0Y 5> 3 

 that will arise from the fires Th «T *^l 



the back area, and the house mav be nL^ 08 ** 

 only, and be fitted for hatchin* JJ il? f< * P**, 







fuel either wood or coal^u't^ Jgj e «* 

 within a lock and key, and requires a small 8M * 

 The process of washing the clothes of the S 

 the necessary utensils require a wash-house SB'S 

 dimensions, where all dirty work will b ^* 

 The ashes must be carefully preserved V^ ** 

 and require a house for that purpose. In,,, fc 



We hold that a piece of garden ground for tu 

 pose of raising some fruits and vegetables is™ , 

 useful, but indeed necessary, to every rural'^ZTJ 

 Without it, the country is changed into ^52 

 the enjoyments of it are shut against theverv^I? 

 who are the chief instruments in producing its li* 

 The average extent of a labourer's garden may ST* 



m 



at one-sixth part of an acre. 



This small expend f^ 



on the landlord, and, certainly, no outlay can t»lm* 

 expended. The front of the cottage may ranseh* 

 east to west, in the front of the garden, and at i2 

 distance from a road. The position should be dwi! 

 the situation airy ; but as these advantages cmtft 

 got at pleasure, it is proposed to place the entir- 

 of the cottage building on a terrace, or to raise th*2 

 rior of the cottage above the outside level, and toIT" 

 by steps. It is essential that a dry foundation be oi 

 tained, and the floors may be raised by a mass of broktt 

 stones to the height of the flooring, from the deptb tf 

 the excavation. It has been frequently recommeail 

 as an absolute rule, that the diagonal line of all 



run north and south, in order that the sun my dug 

 on every side of the house, between the rising and *. 

 ting, for the purpose of promoting warmth and en* 

 ration. Such an advantage is certainly very deair&hU: 

 but circumstances will very much impede its goeaj 

 adoption. It will be most convenient when the froctol 

 the cottage runs parallel with the road, unless the pint 

 of exposure should be insurmountably objectionable. A 

 few trees round the cottage, or a clump on the mat 

 exposed side, will be very ornamental. 



A porch is a very useful appendage to a cottage 

 dwelling, as it breaks the dull uniformity of a bare lall, 

 and it shelters the door from stormy quarters, and alao 

 affords some little inside room. If possible, the gufa 

 should surround the cottage; but if the situation pn- 

 vent that object, it should at least be close to the hone. 

 An isolated garden is not so attractive, and is never so 

 well managed, as when it surrounds or closely adjoin 

 the cottage. A spring of water may be found or songfct 

 near to the cottage, and may be brought to it in ad, 

 or in a pipe ; if not, a well must be sunk, and a pflf 

 erected, and then two cottages may be joined togette, 

 aud the well can supply both habitations, by ditrife 

 tion, in the back yard. The provision of water is tb 

 most indispensable of all requisites to human life. 



Every cottage should contain two apartments ontfc 

 ground floor, and three bed-rooms in the second it«j, 

 which may be wholly in the side walls, or half in tk 

 roof. It will be advantageous that there be fixed it 

 each bed room a bed of four posts with boardli 

 bottom, and remain as the furniture of the cottag* 

 which will very much assist the labourer, and add nj 

 little to the original cost of the building. Thai* 

 premises are a pig-sty, fuel-house, wash-house, botft 

 for ashes, poultry-house, and privy. They are \M * 

 lean-to's, on the posterior wall of 10 feet in W * 

 slope to 6 feet in front. The water from the roof ol H 

 the houses is collected into a tank, from whiA u 

 used to assist the drainage of the house. ,.» v 



The cottage must have a door in front and benM* 

 promote ventilation, and secure cleanliness : tne aw» 

 must not be placed directly opposite each other, so a» 

 cause a straight current of wind. § t 



Two cottages are very economically joined ^ ^ 



sideways. Squares, circles, and polygons* ^ e T^. 

 vised to contain a number of dwellings— but su ^ 

 gregatious are most generally productive oi 

 and immorality, and are destructive of tne wb* ^ 

 which flows from a rural education. ^ ^ ^ 

 gossiping is occasioned, and tale-teliing gj v ^^ 

 perpetual heats and strifes ; except on xer *^M)ik. 

 more than two cottages joined together is n ^ ^ 

 . . S - h « important «^ject a, the coajfor 



Hnmeudauoa u». ^ j, 

 be made the proprietors' concern, and not ^ 

 mercenary care of gain in the charge ot tne 



occupier of the land. . _ 8 valo** 



No furi.iture or landed property can W m ^ rf 

 to the possession of it, or add more to u» .^ 

 the landscape, or afford a greater degree oi ^ 

 to a beuevolent miud, than a nu«nt>ei o ^ ^ 

 and economical cottagers' dwellings erect ^ 



... __J» : „u..u;^ hv famine ^jj 



quired position?, and inhabited by ^^ 



and prosperity, warmed with g™* tHd *2 the8 e «** 

 affection to«he soil of then- birth. ab ^ tie 



are by no means of difficult M* 1 ***** ^^ 

 materials costly, or the workmanship u ^ ^ 

 adequate provision and comfort w ^ iSS0 

 of it constitute the whole sum » % ^m 

 -the latter item giving a re i,sh m **7 The fo*J 

 quantity of the former would not mipi «• he ^ 

 of children looks more to then- comhir « * ubo af Jj 





his own, and he feels more for his *» e dffe lMr 



vided to them, eggs and young chickens can be got inconvenience in the awkwardne 



