274 SUBSTITUTE FOll LEGHORN PLA!T. 



too slmjile te be adbpted ; although I cannot but yet hope, 

 that the agrioultuval societies of EngUmd will turn their al- 

 and employ- t^ntion to a plan, which will bring waste lands into cultiva- 

 nient foi- poor tion, and. also provide employment for thousands of poor 

 children. children. If government would grant 3000 acres of the 



■ land; which lips waste o,ii Bagshf)fc Heath, for a few years, 

 without any fine, and afterward on an increasing rent, .ac- 

 cording to the improvements of the soil, I wouldraise, in 

 straiv alone, wliat should produce un article for industry, for 

 which upwards of £"-20000 would be paid annually for the 

 employment of poor children. It is a pleasing sight for 

 Ejiglislmxeii to behold tlie superb buildings which are appro* 

 printed as asylums for the children of our soldiei-s and sai- 

 . lors; but in times like these, how desirable is it, that build- 

 ings of only one storj' higli fliould be erected in populous 

 ,. parishes, whicli might answer the double purpose of schools 

 of industry and instruction, and tliereby relieve parishes 

 from the burden of the maintenance of poor children, and 

 also bring thenri up in habits of industry and sobriety! In 

 this way thousands of children may be employed from seven 

 years of age, until they arrive at an age sufficiently ad- 

 vanced to go out as servants. 

 Straw- manu- As by the mere invention of the splittivg of a stratVy a 

 facture. source of employment has been, iliscovered, which has in- 



creased the returns in that branch not less than 3 or 

 ^400000 annually, I feel myself urged to call the attention 

 of the discerning ^art of the public to a new branch of 

 industry, which I make no doubt will, in a very few years, 

 add nearly an equal sum to the national industry, and also 

 be a great means of bringing into cultivation thousands 

 of aVfres of land now lying waste. Since the introduction 

 of spinning by hand, no source of employment has been 

 discovered, which promises to afford occupation to so many 

 thousands; spinning by hand has been superseded by the 

 inventions of machinery, but 1 believe it to be impossible 

 for machinery to absorb this branch of manual industry; 

 ^the only spindles, wheels, or bobbins, engaged in this work, 

 will be, I trust, the lingers of little children. 

 Straw hats will Some persous may endeavour to cast a shade over these 

 always be dc- expectation's, by considering the prevalent ajitachraent to 



