THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE 



iiic vmwm r l know also, that many, 1 may 



add IL^r^^preservers may in many respects be 



bini by the otber ^^ \ 



ranked among the most valuable members of the com- 

 munis, and that they are public benefactors. But my 

 friend CuthiH, let us calmly discuss this matter, and do 

 you lay aside a little of your preconceived notions, and 

 listen attentively to what I have to say. I begin then 

 with your own profession. 



large nursery garden a flocK 01 smau ww«* »»- -» 

 inquiring of the proprietor why he kept fowls in his 

 arden, he replied that they were the best friends he 



Some time since I saw in a 



ad, that before he had them his plants were destroyed 

 by different kinds of insects, but his fowls had cleared 

 them all off for him. Of course the fowls in the garden 

 do the work of winged game in the fields. My next 

 case is that of a friend who has a large farm which had 



in destroying the countless numbers of wireworms 

 which they are so fond of, and all other kinds of insects, 

 injurious to ihs young crops of corn, are so incalculable, 

 that we cannot estimate it ; and when these are taken 

 in the aggregate, the vast good they do throughout the 

 country infinitely counterbalances the injury, let it 

 be what it may, that is done by hares and rabbits. 

 I thus publicly record my opinion, carefully and 

 dispassionately arrived at, that were it possible for 

 the revilers of landlords for keeping game, and the 



&c. I feel sure, that the 



11 



) 



K7AA V*±\J ^ uu " u "" -~*t>~J 



farmers, whom they profess m 



—to be aiming to serve. But another benefit derived 

 from game preservers, and which must not be forgotten, 

 is, that oftentimes the chief amusement many gentlemen 

 have to reside on their estates, and to become acquainted 



dition of the Berkshire labourer^ I^ 4 Ule ** 

 doing away with the present law of «* ti ,ra P r °ved, j. 

 man should look on another and feel tft*: N ° «2 

 ally liable to contribute so much hail m * ****** 

 support of that individual ; no farnS \h u* * «* 

 a labourer and feel, that if heSn U look * 

 and goes to the workhouse he will have hlLT ? f Wo * 



labourer should feel ZfV° T ****, 



goes 

 vice versa, no 



£ ^!?J2rtLE~* ?* *» no ^3 w »°* 



destroy .„ . * . 



property commenced preserving game, and the conse- 

 quence has been so beneficial to my friend, that I think 

 I may state, with confidence, the wireworms and other 

 insect pests, before so injurious to his crops, have been 

 Eearly annihilated from his farm ; for the last few years 

 I have seen no signs of their ravages, though before 

 many acres were laid bare annually. And again, one 

 more case. The best tenant farmer I know, the man 

 who, at the least expense, with the least quantity of 

 seed, grows the largest crops of every kind of grain, 

 and the largest root crops, protects his game,, 

 as far as he can, on account solely of the great 

 benefit he derives from it. He is an enlightened 

 man, and I have listened oft with much pleasure to the 

 reasoning, so consonant to my own convictions, he has 

 made use of in favour of the preservation of game ; on 

 his fields also I have often seen the partridges run 

 about, something like barn-door fowls, picking up and 

 devouring every insect they could find. I have, also, 

 often heard him wish that his landlord was a game- 

 preserver, and that a keeper was kept on his estate, to 

 save himself the expense and labour of preserving the 



game on it. But perhaps it may be said that this j at length, there would be none left on their lands ; and 



x na\e nvcu iv"g caivu^** w .»»*vr„, v.»«« .. .~ — ~ « v 



country gentleman, who resides amongst his tenants, that 

 all, and especially the ministers of religion, must appeal 

 to for assistance in behalf of their poorer bretheren, and 

 not the sympathisers with the midnight poaching bandits, 

 who are always lazy, worthless vagabonds, and who, if 

 they were not in fields and woods, robbing there, would 

 be breaking into peoples' houses, or stopping them on 

 the highways to plunder them of their money, or perhaps 

 take away their lives. My friend, I seldom venture to 

 give advice, but for once I will recommend you to recon- 

 sider this matter, and should you do so attentively, I 

 hope you will not denounce any law as barbarous which 

 protects men's properties. Learn, also, to forget that ill 

 feeling towards preservers of game, both masters and 

 gamekeepers, which, with too many others, you seem to 

 possess ; but think of them as members of the com- 

 munity, from whom both you and all others recei\# 

 daily the greatest benefits. Let me, also, correct another 

 mistake you have fallen into, namely, that tenant farmers 

 would, if left to themselves, preserve game. No such 

 thing ; for, my friend, if one in one hundred would do 



unti" 



wages 



the farmers and labourers do feel thU *»a aI1, ^ 

 It is often said that farmers rive mol aCt , U P 0n * 

 because they wish to keep the &mZy£^ 

 house ; but the employment being forced tl Wort 

 given have reference to the absolute wants $ V** 8 * 

 ployed, they do not represent his eaniin<mJ^!> 

 they exceed, sometimes fall short of thetT T- * 

 my purpose to show how an alteration of ti T D °) 

 settlement could be adjusted to existing d^L, 

 in matters of rating, &e., though I th&?Sft 

 done easily. I am convinced that as it exists it ? It 

 great hindrance to the improvement of the court* I t 

 the agricultural labourer in Berkshire ; till some ^ 

 change in it is made, he must be degraded andm 

 dependent. The labour market must be freei Z l 

 Fanner MM* Sept 30 [*M. D/> inform* t 

 that carters in Berkshire receive 9s. a week at present 

 and during harvest they have either *diet or other ad 

 vantages which produce them about 3s. a week b 

 addition. He would not wish to make their 

 appear less than they are.] 



The Interests of the Labourer, which formed the subject 

 of your leader of the 27th of September, merit the 

 careful consideration of everyone engaged in the businea 

 of agriculture. It appears to me that those who are 

 entrusted with power in that department of the business 

 of life, which is comprised under the term rural affairs, 

 exercise it without a due consideration of the respond 

 bilities which attach to it. The occupant of a farm is a 

 master, and according to the manner in which hens* 

 his power as master, will he increase t>r diminish the 

 peace and happiness of those who are his servants. If 

 his only object is to increase the sum which stands to 

 his credit with his banker, we may rest assuifed that the 

 little power which he possesses is used to the prejudice 

 of the happiness of his fellow creatures. The desire of 

 accumulating money will lead him to give an almost ex- 

 clusive preference to the active and the nimble, 

 observe in passing on, that I intend one of these days | would becomd barren, or not pay for cultivation, or grow and he will be oblivious of the fact that the hap- 

 to challenge all England to produce a farmer who nothing but weeds, I had just finished writing the r— — • v * — «*~ v ™ v — r~~ *~ wr— , — v — 



understands his profession better, grows more produce j foregoing,' when I received* the Chelmsford Chronicle, from* nnd faithful, and those who manifest a disposition to 

 an a given quantity of land, or is better able to bid j which I extract the following information, which, I think, cultivate peace. It is well known what effect the sMB 



~ * " ,«i n of the breeder or propagator has in developing* pani- 



farmer does not understand what he is doing, or his ! in consequence, their otherwise fertile fields would so 

 own interest- Should it, however, be so said, I just I completly swarm with insects of all kinds, that they 



defiance to the times, trying as they now are. But, ray 

 friend, you compassionate the poor tenant farmer who 

 has to keep game ; but change your compassion another 

 way, and pity the man whose lands are infested with 

 slugs and insects of all kinds, for want of game to destroy 

 them. You pity, also, the fate of the unfortunate 

 poacher, who is caught on a gentleman's estate, armed 

 with deadly weapons, and plundering his property, and 

 prepared to murder the servants who attempt to defend 

 it ; and pray pity also, for the cases are equal, the thief 

 who should be caught in your own garden, stealing your 

 delicious fruits, the Black Prince Strawberry for 

 example among the rest ; or pity him for stealing your 

 ducks and fowls, or a covey of partridges, or nide of 

 pheasants, if you happen to have them in your preserve, 

 alias; your garden. I pity no midnight marauder, 

 whether he be called a poacher, a thief, a highwayman, 

 or felon ; nor can I discern much difference between 

 the rogue who steals pheasants and partridges, and the 

 rogue who robs gardens or orchards, or steals barn- 

 door fowls ; in my mind a rogue is a rogue, and I think, 

 also, the welfare of society and its safety require that 

 he should be punished ; and I think were you to catch 

 him in your preserve, packing up your delicious Grapes, 

 or Strawberries, or Melons, or even a pheasant or two, 

 it, I observe, you happen to have bred any, you would 

 pack him off also to the treadmill, or perhaps send him 

 to New South Wales, to exercise his vocation among 

 his brethren there. I am well aware that the vox populi 

 is in favour of the side you have taken ; but I know 

 also how easy it is to mislead ; and my firm conviction 

 is, that the people are sadly, I might say very unwisely 

 misled m this matter. But let us suppose, for the sake 

 oi argument, that some few (for comparatively speaking 

 they are but few) landowners do keep more game than 

 their tenants like ; y et 1 always find that men are ever 

 anxious to become the tenants of such men. But 

 suppose again, but for the sake of argument only, that 

 game may do a few tenants injury f yet their 

 kept is a public benefit. It is game preservers who 

 supply the markets with hares, rabbits, pheasants, and 

 partridges, and at so low a price, that the labourer and 

 mechanic can purchase and enjoy them equally with 

 the wealthiest personages in the realm. 



bears out much of the reasoning I have given : 



1849, one (London) mai%t alone supplied 4,024,40vntri*u i— • - — — — — o 



of game." Now, as the greater portion of this supply apply this analogy to the social organism— and we will 



being 



benefited the farms in which it was produced, and cost 

 the farmers not a shilling a thousand in the feeding of it, 

 I think it bears out what I have endeavoured to establish, 

 namely, thaf game, in the aggregate, is of immense 

 importance to the country at large, and that the little 

 injury one portion of it does to the cultivators of the 

 lands is more than compensated for by the great benefit 

 bestowed upon them by the other portion. I conclude, 

 therefore, my subject by an extract from Lord 

 Brougham's "Object, Advantages, and Pleasures of 

 Science," namely, "not a step can we take in any direc- 

 tion, without perceiving the most extraordinary traces 

 of design ; and the skill everywhere conspicuous is 

 calculated in so vast a proportion of instances to promote 

 the happiness;of£ving creatures, and especially'of our own 

 Wnd ; and we can feel no hesitation in concluding, that if 

 we knew the whole scheme of Providence, every part 

 would be found in harmony with a plan of absolute 

 benevolence." To this beautiful sentence, I add my own 

 deliberate opinion, that however minute, all insects are 

 produced with some beneficial design ; and that one 

 intention of the creation of the feathered creation, fly in 

 from field to field, was to regulate their numbers, and 

 keep them within the bounds designed by the great archi- 

 tect of nature, the allwise, merciful and supreme lord 

 of all. Man, thoughtless man, destroys this balance, 

 and then complains that his crops fail, and his fields are 

 unproductive. George IVilkins. 



Agricultural labourers.— In your leading article of 

 Sept -/th, you draw a comparison between the con- 

 dition of the agricultural labourer in Berkshire and 

 Lincolnshire, taking them as types representing two 

 classes. 1 have lived among the Berkshire labourers 

 for the last 20 years, 

 a knowledge of 



be at no loss to discover the causes which have'originated 

 so much carefulness, and rendered the life of manytf 

 our fellow creatures barren of those enjoyment*, which, 

 under ordinary circumstances, it may yield to every 

 one. Nothing is blinder than avarice, and the energy 

 with which it acts of ten raises up the greatest obstacle 



to the attainment of its own desires. Your thorough- 

 going avarice lias only one instrument by which it can 

 act upon the human mind, and that instrument is fear. 

 The terror of punishment is its only resource m emer- 

 gencies. Hence the value and importance of a rural police, 

 1 will give one illustration. In a certain English pan* 

 not many years ago, there was a small farmer, who w 

 a small quantity of Wheat taken out of his barn by m 

 of his labourers. The labourer was put into the nw 

 of the police, was tried before a magistrate, ana v- 

 tenced to some months* imprisonment. ^J^ h 



rnPfV "■ 



labourer was confined, his wife and children 



tv 



: anu i 

 Tiis own 



authority i«»r saying urn* ni» u»" wum**y * .,, 



which t4it to the support of the wife ^fZi 



excee 



Mded the value of the Wheat which w» 



Now, what have we in the whole of this frocei 

 exhibition of the way in which poverty is ere 



stolen. 



s, but «i 

 ted, bj 

 able ti 



th: 



the working of evil passions. It is q ulte PV.. m 

 the farmer considered that he did a «\f tonou ^ 

 by exposing the culprit. It is atoo quite po»^ ^ 

 ' ' i magistrate may have commended ll,m ™ h ^a- 



Your remarks are written with 

 ,. - fac *S) and are therefore valuable ; 



the mere mention of an evil or abuse is the first step to 

 its removal. There is no reason a priori why the Berk- 

 shire labourer should be in so degraded a position as to 

 suggest the question, Can we live without parish sir 



?„«!«!■ « , that *\ leadin 8 ca ««e is the past wwC 



u 1 v*T r ,^' Wh T lch ' th0u = h altered nowThas left 

 £^ beh,nd ll -. *^ in Berkshire that 'the scale 



sp 



phy as to know that evil can never be couih j 



DOW 



juiy na w Miun «•»* »'« "—• — ; . i „ t W"> 



evil, he would have come off with tiie « ^ 

 more than a peck of Wheat In many cases 



ne^s ot a lamilr may oe mwr — ;. _ t i, e 

 son to perform the father's duties when i 



Cba 



f^'lf P ° Wer ^ ^ ^ ^rvesUToTaS 



a law that no man should keen anv nnim* f G i™« *■ u ~ 



as you yourself keep or would IllorSnTsucha I wblT *• 7 ^^l *" aid ° f ^wSpH 

 ^^ewoddbeconfin«itothetabUofVewe1dAJ T virtually made every agricultural laborer a 



only, for it would soon become rSL*L3HEZ Cl £%£ t ** «*«««**•»* «v3 ' 



™i t\£Y • ° 8ee lts evi1 traces obliterat- I ; but 



receivV W S n0t ^ C T ' Eve " "™ '"amedmen 

 receive higher wages and more regular employment 



than the smgle. The farmers consider tliemseh^iUo 

 TS^i™*"* th . e ,ab — s look on the".™eS 



oppor 



*> 



farmer 

 the part » rv 



About six years £ anj ^ ^ , 



i of the 



man M 



i.~ * t 15 — T ' "urinsic van 



of it T?„* ',• 7 y °? the ,I )leasure s ^ the breeders 

 W it. But it has a real and substantial value as an 



article of food • »«<? ;« ™„ i.„~i,i • ! . e ^ an 



all 



w this 

 greatest 



■8 



8 



♦h •. H. 1S aer i y ed from it by the cultivW* «f 



2i"f Thebenefi * that partridges do T the Z,U 



«* Pheasants do on arable Jands° surround!^ i* 



as those who must give ftem employment, and to w" OS 

 service they are virtually bound! kw Lincolnshh* i 



0S<" 



is 



co™^J biCh /l1 traCt8 have h ™ broughtTn o 

 corn cultivation of late years ; it had a new start the 



labourers were not born on the land as its cuhiva'tors 



h!s So a farmer in tbSl "#»*»£.-& ^ 



was capable of discharging a hind a dt ^ te i »* 



two years in this situation, the f^l m <* 

 first sen-ant upon the farm, perhaps ig^ for J 

 able motives/ He was found «"1« ^ d , Juj 

 situation, and a younger brother ^Sp ^ for* 

 wages, in order that he might ^ e ? t ei « ' *J 

 old° people, and the oldest son as 'eq ^ 

 abo ut for himself. He is a ate adj acti r } . g ^t, 



acquired, under the ^^^ee^.^ 

 competent knowledge of farm boo' i ,^ *P£ 



is now upon the eve of <**>£»*% beafjj 

 lie probabilities are many, that d pc , ■ 



himielf to comfortable inJepend^c , ym 



little money to his fam.ly at J^^-B* «*» 



" 



helot* 



4» 





