December 10, 1892. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
227 
which hitherto formed the exception rather than the 
rule. Even this privilege was so far restricted as to 
involve the services of the poor at certain seasons of 
the year in sowing and reaping the lord’s Corn, fell¬ 
ing and carting timber, and prosecuting improve¬ 
ments around the mansion. During those seasons 
the labourers were fed by the landowner in whose 
work they were engaged, and in many respects their 
situation resembled that of the cottar population a 
few years since in the counties of Ross, Inverness, 
and Sutherland in Scotland. Aided by the impu'se 
of commerce and the humanizing tendency of 
Christianity, the reigns of Edward III. and Richard 
II. were distinguished by a loosening of the grasp of 
feudal masters, so that the labouring classes might 
at this period be considered as fast emerging from a 
state of compulsory servitude. The progress of 
manufactures at this time had also the salutary 
effect of changing the manner of living indulged in 
by the chief landowners ; riotous and extravagant 
hospitality ceased in a great measure, the number of 
useless retainers which went to keep up a sort of 
barbaric splendour was curtailed, and the funds 
which they absorbed were spent in purchasing the 
productions of art. 
As might naturally be expected, the consequences 
were two-fold—a greater freedom bestowed on the 
cottar, politically considered, and a more certain 
course pursued by him in cultivating the land. But 
though productive of good in the respects alluded to, 
the manufactures of this early period led to similar 
results as have been witnessed half a century ago 
on the Sutherland estates in the northern districts of 
Scotland. Spots of land which had hitherto smiled 
under the minute care of the labouring man were 
obliterated ; the little seats of husbandry, with all 
their interesting associations, were broken up and 
presided over in one continuous tract by the shepherd 
or herdsman. Such was the consequence of a 
demand for wool to supply the new manufactures. 
A general impression exists that the condition of the 
labouring poor was aggravated by the dissolution of 
the monastic institutions of this country. Sir F. 
Eden gives it as his opinion that the abbeys distri¬ 
buted of their substance amongst the rich rather than 
the poor. There is, however, little risk in waiving 
any claims which those wealthy bodies might have 
had in relieving the masses of needy labourers. The 
system, moreover, was more apt to foster a habit of 
indolence and contentment, rather than excite the 
laudable spirit which should ever be set before the 
peasantry of a country—a reasonable hope of inde¬ 
pendence through industry and foresight. On the 
effects which the important Act of Elizabeth had 
upon the agricultural population it is not necessary 
to dwell. Under the administration of this Act up 
to the year 1709, our rural population appear to have 
been enjoying all the immunities which they had 
temporarily lost during an earlier period, and, indeed, 
it may be safely asserted that their extended and un¬ 
interrupted privileges during this period indicate one 
of the happiest eras in their history. From this 
time, however, must be dated a series of the most 
disastrous changes in their condition, arising from 
the inclosing and consolidating of lands which had 
become the joint inheritance of the poor. Had the 
lands apportioned in lieu of those taken from he 
poor been protected from subsequent alienation, the 
rural population of our country would have been at 
this moment in a much better position than we find 
them now occupying. Time will not allow me to 
ooint the various and many ways in which our agri¬ 
cultural peasantry have lost their allotments. 
Anyone turning over the parochial returns pre¬ 
sented to the House of Commons on the education 
of the poor will meet with cases in almost every page 
in which alienation of small allotments are detailed. 
By such and similar means has been wrought out 
that picture of distress which has so often existed 
amongst the agricultural labourers of this country ; 
the helpless classes losing hold of their small plot of 
land, and the merging of it into that of their more 
powerful neighbours. Without attempting to attach 
to this change an importance which it does not 
warrant, it may not be considered out of place to 
refer to the breaking up of the minute system of 
agriculture practised by the early Romans. In con¬ 
sequence of this Pliny clearly foresaw the ruin of the 
Imperial city. The farms of Britain, it is true, are 
not equal in extent to those w hich were to be seen in 
Italy previous to the fall of the Roman Empire 
Shut out from their rights, the labourers of Italy 
became little better than slaves. They had no tie 
of interest ; none of affection. God forbid that the 
same effects should ever be traced in this country as 
were realised from similar causes in the Roman 
Empire. A great change has come about in recent 
years. It is well known that our principal industry, 
that of agriculture, has for a long time been under a 
cloud ; land is in many districts almost unsaleable, 
and there can be no doubt but that landlords will be 
glad for their own sakes to encourage an industry 
which will increase the demand for it. 
That the subject with which we are dealing is one 
of the most vital import is clearly proved by the 
public press. Almost every morning when you open 
the newspapers you read long reports of meetings 
taking place in various parts of the country as to the 
depression in the agricultural world. The position 
of many farmers is most deplorable, and the wretched 
climatic conditions through which we have recently 
passed have tended very much to intensify this 
lamentable state of things, fl he question is, what is 
the remedy ? or is there a remedy ? 
In his address at the Fruit Conference, Sir James 
Whitehead said that “ those who engage in the cul¬ 
tivation of fruit upon land which does not belong to 
them should have greater security for their outlay 
than exists at the present time. If a tenant quits his 
holding before ten years have expired from the time 
of the planting of the fruit trees, the cost of the trees 
and the tending to them for five years should be a 
permanent improvement under the Agricultural 
Holdings Act; or the trees should be taken at a 
valuation, either by the landlord or by the incoming 
tenant.” 
I have very great hope indeed that the allotment 
system will have a most salutary effect upon our 
rural population when it gets into full swing. It 
will inspire hope in the breast of the labouring man. 
The only hope worthy of encouragement arises from 
the labours of the man himself, and inspires him in 
every industrial art, in digging, sowing, reaping, and 
in all other services whether performed for himself 
or his employer, because he knows that in either case 
they invariably carry their reward with them. They 
also call into exercise the virtue of prudence. 
Where no gain can be made the labourer is too apt 
to settle down into a state of indifference. 
Is it likely that a man will care much about being 
industrious when no one by his industry can avoid 
being a pauper ? Once enable a man to save a few 
shillings, and a love of independence takes possession 
of him, and with that an incitement to sober habits. 
Considered as a moral agent, the allotment system is 
active and powerful. To have an industrious, con¬ 
tented, and happy population is even more than can 
at all times be expected in our present state. This, 
however, the allotment system, when properly con¬ 
ducted, will, I think, go far to ensure. 
Speaking not so long ago on the moral effects of 
the system on the labouring classes, the Rev. E. J. 
Howman said : " I have not been brought so imme¬ 
diately in contact with the system as I was before, 
but you will see that my opinion in its favour has 
not dimished when I tell you that I hope very soon 
to have twenty allotment tenants of my own. At 
the same time I must say the more I see and under¬ 
stand of it the more firmly is the opinion which I 
have held from the first of my turning my attention 
to it rooted in my mind, that in order to be of any 
utility it must be purely and entirely voluntary ; that 
it must form a connecting link of kindness between 
the landowner and the labourer, and that any 
attempt to meddle with it by legislative enactment 
will lead to utter failure. With regard to the system 
in general, I believe it to be a most valuable means 
of bettering the condition of the poor.” With all due 
deference to this reverend gentleman, it seems to me 
that, under certain circumstances, it is the duty of 
Government to step in to protect the poor; or, to 
put it in another way, it does seem that in dealing 
with a subject of this kind, under certain circum¬ 
stances, the law of kindness ought to take the place 
of legislative enactment, not exercised as a mere 
piece of charity, but as a moral duty, in the same 
way that a father provides for and cares for his 
children. The fate of Greece and Rome and other 
nations of antiquity is leading some to do something 
in the way of bettering the condition of our labouring 
classes, and it is to be hoped that in so acting they 
will learn to see that their efforts are demanded by 
every principle of justice. Compulsory beneficence 
is at best a very questionable act, and loses what 
should form its chief beauty and effect by the 
manner in which it is administered.— Bruce Findlay. 
jmrnt xfjt> JDnrltr 
of Btumo. 
Influence of Electricity on Plants. —At a 
recent special meeting of the Manchester Association 
of Engineers, to discuss a paper read a short time 
time previously by Mr. B. H. Thwaite, an interesting 
experiment was performed at the end of the discus¬ 
sion by Mr. Thwaite himself. A great many of the 
Acacias, particularly those with fully developed 
leaves, are known to be highly sensitive to light or 
its absence, the latter causing the leaves to close, 
producing the phenomenon familiarly termed sleep. 
He had previously provided himself with a specimen 
of Acacia lophantha, which was kept in a dark box 
till the demonstration took place. When taken from 
the box the leaves were closed in sleep, and in order 
to show the influence of the actinic or chemically 
active and refrangible rays emitted from the arc 
electric light upon them, he exposed the plant to a 
350 candle power arc light, and in a short time the 
leaves commenced to open as if by magic. The 
lower ones near the root were said to respond first 
to the awakening influence of the light. As a rule 
the younger leaves are the first to be affected because 
the most actively motile and the most sensitive. 
The old leaves respond more slowly in proportion 
as their vital energy has wasted or left them. The 
very youngest ones on the contrary would also be 
somewhat tardy because their most active stage of 
life has not been reached. The temperature of the 
room in which the experiment was performed must 
also have been sufficiently high, otherwise light 
alone would not have caused the leaves to open. 
Facts concerning Peach Yellows.— Some 
experiments have been carried on by the Chief of 
the Division of Vegetable Pathology in the United 
States, to determine whether the disease known as 
Peach Yellows is contagious, and the results are 
published in the Report for 1891. This states that— 
“The disease is contagious, and maybe conveyed 
by healthy-looking buds when these are taken from 
partly diseased trees. Only a small amount of 
infectious matter is necessary to produce the disease, 
provided it is in the form of living cells which can 
be induced to unite with the actively growing tissues 
of the innoculated tree. In some cases the disease 
has a period of incubation extending over two years, 
and the probabilities are that additional experiments 
will demonstrate in some cases a still longer period. 
Many hundred experiments have proved these con¬ 
clusions to be correct. The life of innoculated trees 
varies from one and a-half to four and a-half years. 
In orchards the death of the entire tree occurs in 
from one to six years. In a majority of cases the 
disease is chronic, and some part of the tree may 
live for a long time.” 
Peach Mildew. —The mildew of the Peach is 
caused by the same fungus that attacks several other 
Rosaceous plants both in the Old and New Worlds. 
It consists of grey coloured or whitish hyphse or 
mycelial threads that form a rambling and inter¬ 
lacing mass on the surface of the leaves, into which 
they send haustoria or suckers that draw food 
materials from the leaves and young shoots of the 
host plant on which the parasite lives. The lifecycle 
of this fungus does not as yet seem to have been 
traced out, so that its real affinities cannot at present 
be determined. It is known as Sphaerotheca 
pannosa, and has only been known to produce one 
kind of spore. There is every reason therefore to 
believe that some of the hyphas or threads are 
perennial and live through the winter in or upon 
some part of the host plant. This is corroborated 
to some extent by the fact that trees seen to be affected 
one year show the same disease, to a greater or less 
extent, during the next and succeeding years. Gar¬ 
deners in such cases describe the malady as con¬ 
stitutional. Some varieties of Peach trees bear 
glands on their leaves and others do not ; and a 
curious coincidence as to their liability to attack by 
mildew or otherwise has been related by Mr. Erwin 
F. Smith in the American Journal of Micology._ In 
the examination of 150 cases of attack he found that 
all the trees with one exception had no glands on 
their leaves, and the exceptional tree attacked was 
not badly effected. On the contrary trees bearing 
glands on the leaves were free from disease with the 
exception mentioned. 
