4 22 
FIELD-GARDENING FOR 
an uniform distribution of wealth ; and the 
absurd doctrine may be at once dismissed : 
what I mean is, that it is well if possible to 
admit all into the benefits of the social com- 
pact ; for the man who rents a perch of land 
is invariably found to be a more submissive 
subject than he who is without any. He is 
more disposed to obey the laws of his country, 
and more energetic in spreading alove for those 
laws, just because he knows that to them he is 
indebted for the preservation of his little pro- 
perty. So true is this, that a statistical state- 
ment indicating the safety and influence of any 
government might be accurately framed from 
the state of the poor with reference to their 
holdings in the soil. Chartism springs not up 
among the occupiers of the ground: it has not 
even one member from that class. Those who 
watch narrowly the calendars of our assizes 
fail to discover a rick-burner to have been at 
the time of his conviction a grower of corn 
for himself, even if it were only to the extent 
of a sheaf. It is pretty evident, then, that 
in urging any system for investing the labour- 
ing man with a handful of the soil, the plan 
morally and politically is free from objection. 
This surely is a great point to gain. To start 
him in a course which the government of the 
couutry, and all those who are. interested in the 
cause of morality, may equally applaud, might 
be taken at once as a substantial proof of its 
goodness ; but this is not enough : let us see 
practically and minutely if the plan proposed 
has a really beneficial influence on the labourer 
himself,— whether in short it supplies him 
with the means of setting misfortune at defi- 
ance, and allays all the harassing fears which 
poverty too often brings in its train. 
Fortunately, all labourers are not in a dis- 
tressed condition.; and it is from this fact that 
I shall have occasion to borrow the groundwork 
of the following remarks. We find some who 
hold out through every vicissitude and are 
happy, having enough of the necessaries of 
life ; but of course such persons have the means 
of warding off the wretchedness which has 
befallen so many of their fellow-workmen ; 
it will be the object of these remarks to point 
out what those means are, and how they are 
to be placed within the reach of all. 
It follows, that I have no speculations or 
theories to offer. I shall advert to facts only 
which Ihave tested bytheir every-day results in 
raising men from penury and want, to a degree 
of comfort suited to the station of those whose 
condition is under review. It will be permit- 
ted me to state, that I have no faith in the 
" various ways" by which some propose to 
better thecondition of our labouring classes. A 
variety of measures is, in my opinion, quite 
incompatible with the capacities of an agri- 
cultural labourer, whose powers are altogether 
centered in the soil, and in sowing and reaping 
its products. Out of this element, he is timid 
and helpless ; but in it, all his powers seem to 
be gratified. To give him bread is the desired 
object ; and how can this be more reasonably 
done than by a direct appeal to the soil whence 
it comes ? It is in this way, it will be an- 
swered, that he already derives his livelihood, 
but in reality it is not so. In this respect he 
is on an equality with the manufacturing 
workman. The sheaves which he binds up in 
autumn are not his, nor has he at present any 
right to a share of them, however small : his 
wages are in money, often bearing little pro- 
portion to the demands upon him for his daily 
food, and that of his family, for clothing, fuel, 
house-rent, and other unavoidable expenses ; 
and very little to what he might have were lie 
allowed to be, on his own account, a cultivator 
of the fruits ol the earth. 
Though every one will admit that the 
agricultural labourer, generally considered, is 
at the present time in an unfortunate posi- 
tion, it ma}' be of use to take a rapid glance 
of his condition in past times ; for by tracing 
the change wliich he has undergone, we shall 
the more readily discover the advantages which 
he has been deprived of, or, in other words, 
we shall be enabled the more clearly to de- 
scribe his lost patrimonj', and to urge its being 
returned to its rightful owner. Altogether, 
the subject is of the deepest importance, and 
seldom indeed have the offices of humanity 
been exercised on a theme more sacred or 
interesting. 
All records affecting the condition of the 
agricultural labourer, previous to the time of 
William the Conqueror, may be safely laid 
aside as unautlienticated, and useless for the 
present purpose. The Bible indeed forms 
a grand exception ; but the light which it 
throws on agricultural manners, is chiefly 
confined to the pastoral department. It con- 
tains, however, some wholesome lessons in con- 
nexion with this subject, well worthy of our 
turning aside for a moment to note, and 
which, if pondered in a right spirit, may be 
the means of abating that disgust, so often 
expressed by large holders of land at the 
minute cultivators of a perch or two, who in 
tlteir peaceful and unobtrusive callings are 
slightingly represented as "aping the farmer !" 
Let such remember that the family of Laban 
personally tended his flocks and herds on the 
banks of the Euphrates, and freely and will- 
ingly engaged in the simple arts of agricul- 
ture known in his time. It appears, too, that 
the descendants of Abraham followed the 
same kind of employ in the fertile lands of 
Canaan. The sons and daughters of princes 
took a direct interest in the management oi 
flocks and herds, and in cultivating the 
