January i, 1891 .] 
THF. TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
48 f 
COLONIAL CAREERS B'OR YOUNCf MEN 
VS. FARMING IN JiNGLAND, IN A NK^Y 
LIGUT : 
Why NOT “ Rough it” in Reclaiming Debelict Home 
Faumsinthe Old Oountcy ? 
The writer iu the Spectator oi “A Comment iry in an 
Eisy-Chiir ” has the following deliverance in refer- 
ence to young men looking out for a career in tropic il 
plantations, Australian farms, American ranches, &o. 
“ TLe^'O appear in our magazines and papers periodi- 
cally accounts of tho doings of the yoimg men who go 
out to the Colonies, who work in ranches, and settle 
in the backwoods, generally reported by proud and 
happy fathers whose glory in their hard-working boys is 
too touching in its vicarious vanity to be lightly dis- 
turbed. And yet the life which is described to us with 
so many virtuoas flourishc.s is the hardest life that can 
well be imagined, — a life without comfort, without 
solace, a hard struggle at first for the barest living, 
which slowly grows into rude plenty, and perhaps in the 
end to prosperity in the orJinai'y sense of the word, 
but at the sacrifice of almost all that is beautiful, and 
much that is good iu life. Hard weather and 
hard work, tho endless, ever-recurring routine 
of primitive life, the confl'ct with all the elements, 
and rudiments of existence, — still more theo.bandm- 
ment of everything tiiat is above or beyond the 
common day : these are the conditions of that life, 
which in so many cases seems the only resort for 
the boys nurtured amid every sweetness and comfort, 
lodged and served and fed, and even educated, ns 
well as Priocos are and much in the same way. 'i'o 
arrive at iodependenoe and a primitive wealth at tho 
end may be a satisfactory thing to think of ; hut the 
sacrifices that are made to secure this are overwhelm- 
ing. I have often asked myself whether these youths 
might not do as well if they settled, say, on a derelict 
farm in England, where unhappily there aro many, 
and worked it as they do their Colonial patch of laud, 
or bit of primeval forest. Supposing they had the 
courage to make themselves cowboys at home ? not only 
to scorn delights and live laborious days, but to scoru 
appearances as they would do on the other aide of the 
Atlautic, and use their faculties lure as they do there? 
Could this bo done with the possibility of a home 
behind them, iu which to tike refuge for a Christ- 
mas, for a holiday now and then, which wouM 
keep them within touch of the life to which 
they were born, might not their native fields be as 
practicable as Manitoba, and the primitive living be 
secured, aud the primitive advantages, without so 
tremendous a sacrifice? I do not pretend to have 
sufiBcient knowledge to answer this question; but it is 
one tbit seeuis worth asking at least. I remember the 
time when spado-husbandry aud the reolaimiug of 
waste lands were considered to be a new gospel with 
an an.swer to all social problems iu it. Times change, 
and all the panaceas change. Miss Martiueau, in her 
series of tales on Political Economy — tales which it 
would be so strange to read nowadays, though they had 
tho greatest effect iu their time — has one (at least) to 
prove the siufnluess and waste of village greens anl 
comm ms, which were so much laud lost to tho common- 
wealth. Nowadays we cling to our common!, and think 
laud never so well bestowed as when it is made into 
recreatiou-groiuids and parks for the people. Bnt even 
now, though I am loM that corn does not pay tli ; 
growing, there is something iu the sight (or even 
hearing) of fields lying until ied and desert which gives 
an ache to tiio heart. Could not tho primitive life of 
labour be accomplished ou them aswoll as iu Manitoba? 
No doubt there would be dilUcultios. There are dilli- 
culties iu everything : but are they inviuclble ? I am 
unable to answer the question, but it seems one that is 
worth the aski' g, practically, as well as in words, 
I have heard at least of one kind of farm upon which 
an experiment has been tried with remarkable suc- 
oesH, and which no doubt has preserved at least one 
(there may be many) youug E igli.sbtuen from 
Manitoba or California. This is a pheasant farm 
established on a bit of moorland by a quick-witted ami 
pactical-miudod member of the class utoresaid, in which 
til 
between bird", made ready to s*ock tho coverts and 
furnish forth the battues of the oportsmau, as well as 
the homelier necessities of tlie poulterer — necessit es 
not iinthought of,it is said, in the most aristooralic 
circles — and eggs, that make the birds, a few paternal 
acres (not at all adapted for corn-growing) have been 
made to produce a very comfortable income, with 
greater and greater possibilities for the future. This 
is one of the accidental possibilities which men occa- 
sionally strike out, when they have the instinct aud 
spii it of success iu them. And I think it very possible 
that Mr. Gladstone’s suggestions about poultry and 
jam, though they have not been operative in changing 
the views of the farmer class, might equally answer iu 
the hands of the youths predestined to be cow boys, if 
nothing better should turn up. There are, no doubt, 
in iny who would rather rear chickens at home aud 
help to take away the reproach of England iu the 
matter of frt sh eggs, than herd the cattle in a ranch, 
or keep sheep on the Australian wilds, or pig in a log 
hut in Canada or California, through the most beautiful 
period of their lives. The jam might be trying if it 
required personal superintendence. One asks oneself 
whether one is justilied in suggesting any such expe- 
dient in the face of the fact that there will not be 
standing-room in the British Islands within a few bun- 
dred years, according to the best calculations? This, how- 
ever, scarcely matters so much when we reflect that, ac- 
cording to the same authoriiy, a few hundred years 
more will see the same condition of affairs throughout 
the world, and there will ba slanding-gronncl no- 
where, — iu which case it does not matter very 
much, evilentiy, what ive say. There will be peace 
in our day; rinl Iho world, so often threatened with 
all manner of catastrophes, has tho chapter of acci- 
deiics in its favour, aud may go lumbering' ou for 
more centuries tiiau any statistician would imagine. 
But iu the moautime — why could not a ranch be tried 
in Essex, for iustauoe, where I bear there is much 
unemployed land ? If tho boys are to be cowboys 
and farm-labourers upon whom wo have spent so 
much care and love, why should they not buckle to, 
gird up their loins, and try it at home ? It maybe 
impossible; but, again, it might not be impossible. 
Of course the experiment would have to be conducted 
iu the same way in which it would be conducted iu 
Minitoba, — no gentlemaii farmaring, but hard work 
according to tho Colonial or backwoods type, in which 
places geutlsmiu-farmeriiig certainly would uot pay. 
OUTLYING PORTIONS OF THE STRAITS 
SETTLEMENTS : PLANTING RESERVES. 
We have received copy of a Sessional Paper 
embodying “ Notes of Visits made by Sir J. Frederick 
Dickson, ic. c. m. g., to the Settlements of Penang 
and Malacca and to the Native States of the Malay 
Peninsula daring tho period April-September 1890, 
while Administering the Government to tho Straits 
Settlement,” from which a lew quotations will be 
of interest to Ceylon readers : — 
A-pril 13tb, 1890. — L ft Singapore in the “ Sea Bello” 
at 1 p. in. with Lady Dicksou, Captain Massy, it. a., 
A.D.O., and Mr. C. O. Blagdeii, Private Secretary, 
bound for Klaug in Selangor. 
April 15th. — The first thi'ig iu tho morning visited 
tile Botauicil Gardens in company with Mr. A. It. 
Venuiug, who has laid them out with much ta.ste and 
success. 
May llth. — Left Pouaiig Hill at 0 n.ni. On roach- 
mg the mill at the bottom found the llosident 
Couucillor (Mr. A. M. Skiuiier) and other gi ntlemen 
watiiig to accompany me round the Waterfall Gardens. 
They aro maknig great progress; tlie collecliou of 
foliage plants bs becoming one of largo aud varied 
interest, and the giounds are being admirably deve- 
loped by Mr. Curtis, the Assistant Supiriiiteudent of 
Forests iu charge of tho Gardens. 
June ‘ 21 st. — Left Singa])oro iu the “ Soa Belle " for 
Taiijong Kliug. 
