115 convenient length; or han dles of different lengths may be prepared, and the instrument inserted in the end of any of the handles at pleasure, and made fast there by a screw pin. The most complete arrangement would be to have it fixed on at the end of a telescope handle, as light as a fishing-rod; and this we have had done by Messrs. Weir of Oxford Street, who have promised to prepare some of them for sale. Messrs. Steers and Wilkinson have also sent us another beautiful lady's instrument, a hand flower-gatherer or berrygatherer (fig. 115.), which is particularly useful for gathering roses and pruning off decayed flower-buds without pricking the fingers or soiling the gloves. It is on the same principle as the other, cutting and holding at the same time. As both these instruments produce crushing cuts, they ought not to be used for the same purposes as the sliding shears, or for cutting any thing thicker than an eighth of an inch, or at the utmost a fourth of an inch. With the hand flower-gatherer, and a small basket or pouch tied before her, a lady might with one hand hold her parasol, and with the other cut off and drop into the basket or pouch whatever decayed flowers or withered leaves came in her way. In this manner, also, she might select from the gooseberry bushes and strawberry beds her own dessert. With the handles a little longer, and jointed on the principle of the laz-tommy shears, she might pull up weeds or suckers without stooping: but to do this well would require a little alteration in the cutting part (see Encyc. of Agr., fig. 254.), and we should be glad if Messrs. Wilkinson and Steers would bestow their attention on inventing something of this kind. At the same time, we should not recommend the exclusive use of such an instrument, as stooping must be regarded as an exercise. This hand instrument (fig. 115.) and the iron part of the flower-gatherer (fig. 114.) are made of various lengths, from 4 to 8 in., and sold by retail at from 3s. to 8s. The expense of the handle to the flower-gatherer (fig. 113.) depends on its length and on its construction, and may range from 5s. to 21. Cond. Customs in hiring, and Method of paying, Farm Servants in Northumberland. Single servants, both men and women, are hired by the year and X off house; the "byre bauks" are most frequently chosen, where they are in the way should any of the cattle be taken ill, &c., should there not be a loft adapted to the purpose. Their food consists of oatmeal, in "crowdy," or "porridge," broth, and butcher's meat; skim milk, cheese, and potatoes. The bread used is made of barley and peas, in the proportion of three to one; it is, in fact, the Scotch "bannocks of barley meal," and is said to be very wholesome, and is far from unpalatable to those accustomed to it. The girls, in addition, are generally allowed Cobbett's abomination, tea, once a day. The wages appear higher than in the southern counties, being, for men, from 51. to 127.; and even where an active industrious young man is employed to act as steward or head man, he will still expect 157, or 167., if not more. Ploughmen are hired at from five to eight guineas; and it appears not likely there will be any fall in their wages this year. The reason will appear when I detail the conditions of the married servant, or hind: these have, for the year, a cottage-house, coals, bed, a small garth, to set a few early potatoes and cabbage, a cow's grass with straw, and two loads (nearly two tons) of hay for wintering, 37. or 47. in cash, and about twelve or thirteen Berwick bolls of corn (6 imp. bushels): the proportions vary in different districts; but say, one of wheat, two of peas, four of barley, and five of oats; more oats, and less wheat, are given in Tweed side, and the contrary near the Tyne. They have also thirty bushels of potatoes, or, what is more general, have the produce of the setting of two bushels, or 1000 yards of drills; they find the seed and hoe during summer, the master finding the draught-work. As they are allowed to keep a pig at their own expense, they always contrive to have one bacon pig, if not two, in the year, of which the most careful sell the hams, and consume the bacon at home. When there is a son or father who lives in the same house, this is called a double hind; and the second is hired at proportional wages, either in money or corn, as may be bargained for: they are also required to find for each house a woman, or sufficient lad, for barn-work, turnips, hay, &c., at 8d. a day, and in harvest at ls. This is provincially called a " bondager," a name certainly objectionable, yet, to those who will look closely into the custom, it may not appear so bad as at first sight: the fact is, that there are plenty of men who will most thankfully accept of a place under these conditions, rather than run the risk of taking a house in a town or village, and depending on their livelihood for the year upon occasional jobs and piecework. These last are the hands in this country who suffer most in bad times for want of work, and make frequent attempts to throw themselves upon the parish. This winter subscriptions were entered into to employ these persons in the levelling of roads, improvements of footpaths, &c., to prevent such demoralising an effect; and, I am happy to say, were well supported, particularly at Alnwick, as well as a soup kitchen, and ladies' clothing society. The shepherds are also paid in kind: the payment for a man is the keep of two cows and forty sheep. These go with the master's "hirsel" of different ages: where the master herd has to find a man or two, he hires them, and is allowed stock in proportion; so that he has nearly as much interest in the stock as his master, and, his all being at stake, he is as * I find the practice of setting potatoes by the acre is also used in Scotland: a manufacturer from Galashiels tells me he has known it there for several years back. The price charged at Alnwick is 6. without manure, and 107. or 117. with it: it requires from ten to twelve bolls per acre for seed, and the produce may average about twenty bolls for one of seed; the taker therefore calculates upon having his potatoes at about 9d. or 1s. per boll (of two heaped imperial bushels), exclusive of hoeing, which is done at spare times, and does not cost much. much upon the alert in a storm or lambing season as can be desired. They mow and make their own hay, and, where coals are difficult to get, also cut and win, or dry, their peat, and carry these home; the master herd is therefore frequently allowed a horse. They all contrive to have a patch of land, planted with potatoes, which is the only vegetable, except a few cabbages, they cultivate. When amongst some of our herds on the hills adjoining Cheviot, I made enquiries respecting the use of peat as fuel; I find they all prefer coal when within reach; they estimate nearly ten loads of peat for one of coal in use, therefore, the expense of carriage and winning, or drying, becomes serious, even at a small sum per load. I find the winning is a tedious process, requiring some weeks of dry weather; in the first stage, if much rain fall, the peats are rendered entirely useless. Might not a powerful press be advantageously employed to press the water out, save all the labour of turning, heaping, &c., in drying, and improve the quality of the fuel, by rendering it in substance more like coal? Turves are also sometimes used; but, laying bare a large space of swarth, the practice is objected to by the farmers. To enable you to compare, I may state that our best coal, Shilbottle, is nearly equal to the best Tyne side, and is sold at 5s. for four corves, a two-horse cart-load of about 16 cwt.; and a family will require about five or six of these in the year; inferior in proportional quantities. As I have said before, there are hands that live in towns and villages who work by the day, or take piece-work in dyking, draining, &c., and hire themselves for a month or two in harvest. When the cottage is in a village, and in the hands of the farmer, he sublets it for a small sum in money, but stipulates for reapers at low wages; this enables him to get his corn cut down with ease and expedition by the bondagers. Where a sufficient number of hands cannot be had in this way, and when the farm is within reach of a populous village or town, reapers are hired by the day; but, what is mostly preferred, Irish reapers are hired by the week, victualled and lodged upon the farm. These last work two or three hours more each day, and cut the corn better. It has been said that the Northumberland hind is the happiest of labourers, and never feels a bad season. I believe so: his wages are certain, and, with frugality and care, his wife may bring up a large family upon this income. The reverse is sometimes the case; but this is attributed to a bad wife, who wastes the produce of the cow. The bondager certainly rather presses upon the hind when his wife has a young child, and cannot work; he then hires a girl: but in turnip districts, where they are certain of plenty of working days, turnip-hoeing brings in more money than almost any thing a woman can work at (the low price of manufactured goods having completely broken up all our domestic manufactures). The low wages induce the master to give plenty of work; and the certainty of having workers always at command induces him to extend the cultivation of crops, which require hand labour, much further than he would otherwise do. The small stock of the hind being always his own, and the cow generally so, makes him prudent and careful during single service to save as much of his wages as will set him up for himself. To this, and the fact that the wages of labour are never paid out of the poor's rate, the enviable state of the Northumbrian labourers is, in my opinion, to be attributed. It appears to operate as a preventive check upon population, and beautifully illustrates Mr. Malthus's theory; or, in the words of Burns, it teaches them to "Know, prudent cautious self-control They are all anxious to give their children such education as they can fully avail themselves of it, and we find in every hamlet some person who teaches the younger children the rudiments; and several of these, when they get older, work and save the wages of summer to pay for putting themselves to schools in winter.-J. C. April 24. The Right of Property itself is subservient to the general welfare; and that welfare is clearly not promoted by a distribution of property which confers princely wealth on a few, and condemns the industrious multitude, by whom that wealth is fabricated, to the alternative of hopeless toil or abject pauperism. (Quarterly Review, May, 1830, p. 277.) Corn Laws and Tithes.- Corn laws are quackery; and tithes are partly a burden on the industry of the country, and partly a deduction from the landlords. It is well that those who delight in seeing the church of England lifting up her mitred front should know who pay the seven millions required for that purpose. (Morning Chronicle, March 20.) Q. Do not the landlords pay the tithes? A. No more than a man pays what was left to his brothers and sisters by their common father. A man cannot be said to pay what he never had. If tithes were abolished, they might fall to the landlord; and if a man's brothers and sisters were out of the way, he might be heir to the whole of his father's estate. But this does not make a man pay what is held by others by a right coeval with his own. (Catechism on the Corn Laws.) The Erinus alpinus on old Walls, &c. Sir, In speaking of the Kensing ton nursery (p. 382.) you say, "We notice it at present for the sake of calling attention to the Erinus alpinus, which has taken possession of the tops of the hot-houses and brick walls, and is now beautifully in bloom in sheets of purplish red, and affords a fine hint for ornamenting walls and ruins in the country." When I first visited Messrs. Malcolm's nursery, now about sixteen or seventeen years ago, the Erìnus, as above described, was in full beauty; and I was so struck with its luxuriance, and the peculiarity of the situation, that I immediately took the hint, and established the plant on the brick walls of my own green-house, where it has grown and thrived ever since, with greater vigour and beauty than I have ever observed it elsewhere, with the single exception of the Kensington nursery. It has the advantage too, when once established in such situations, of maintaining and propagating itself freely without the slightest care or attention; whereas, when kept in pots, on rock-work, or in the borders, the plants are very apt to die, or, at least, to dwindle, after flowering, and require to be constantly renewed. I would therefore strongly recommend all admirers of this little alpine beauty to adopt the same method of cultivation, by sprinkling the seed into the crevices of walls, &c. Almost any old wall, especially if it be damp and moss-grown, will answer the purpose. Yours, &c.- W. T. Bree. Allesley Rectory, June 21. ART. II. Foreign Notices. HOLLAND AND THE NETHERLANDS. HAARLEM, June 13. 1829.-Sir, In my tour back to my dear native town, I passed from London through Haarlem, a favourite place of mine, where ĺ once stopped eight months, and where I now found the tulips which I planted last autumn dropping their flowers. The principal thing I looked for here was the difference between the Dutch and English modes of forcing; and really they are as dissimilar in oper ation as they are similar in effecting their object. The Dutch force with dung, the English with fire heat; and both have their advantages. To give an idea of Dutch forcing, I may mention a place near Haarlem, called Bashenhoven, which is pretty extensive. The forcing-houses consist of about 100 lights, and the forcing-pits of 200 lights. A Montagne peach tree, which occupied the breadth of two lights of a pit, was charged (June 2.), with fifty-two beautiful nearly ripe fruits. One melon plant, called the Groote Orange, had seven very fine nearly ripe fruit, all of a good size. Out of a cucumber pit of four lights were cut forty fruits on May 28th, and twenty on May 31st. The vines bear well, and a quantity of fruit was already used. Of strawberries, the fine English sorts are wanting, and only the oldest sorts are used in forcing. Peaches, nectarines, apricots, grapes, raspberries, melons, cucumbers, salad, carrots, peas, and French beans are very generally forced. As I saw many similar foreing-houses last year, I may observe that all of them are kept in perfect good order, and managed in one and the same way, so that nothing farther of novelty is to be found, after having seen one of the principal places. The pine-plants, compared with the English, are exceedingly poor. I like the Dutch manner of forcing very well because it is less expensive; but where the enjoyment of a fine sight is desired, the English style is preferable. With respect to the florists' gardens of Haarlem, I cannot give a better des cription, than by subjoining the following abridged list of the bulbs cultivated in the establishment of M. E. H. Krelage, which was commenced twenty years ago, and must now be acknowledged as one of the best gardens of its kind. M. Krelage is a very enthusiastic florist, who collects all that is fine and new, and has raised since the year 1818, about 300 new varieties of hyacinths from seeds, for one of which, flowering for the second time this year, 100l. was offered; but none of them can be sold before they are propagated. I had the good fortune to learn a good deal about the culture of bulbs from M. Krelage; and I may remark, that last year, when the tulips in most places looked very ill, they had grown here as well as ever; and so it is with the whole collection. Specification of the Bulbs cultivated by M. E. H. Krelage, Florist, Kleine Houtweg, No. 146. Haarlem. Under the new varieties a double blue, a double red, a single blue, and a single black are distinguished. |