England farmers from the same source cannot easily be computed. In those sections of the country where the year is divided into the wet and the dry season, it would be impossible to raise any crops if the land was not irrigated. Eastern farmers have of late years suffered so much from lack of rain that many of them are wisely determining to make permanent provision for irrigating their fields through the entire season, so that they will not in future be disastrously affected by the want of rain and showers."

We have over and over again urged the advantages of irrigation, but our advice has as yet been acted upon only on a very limited scale. Just such an amount of

honour has been given as that which has been accorded to a prophet in his own country. Perhaps the advice from across the Atlantic we have quoted, will be more relished by farmers. If they reject all exhortations of the kind, they alone will be the sufferers. The sunken cart-wheel could not be got out of the rut by plaintive appeals to Jove, in antient times, without the assistance of the sturdy shoulder of the plaintiff. Providence, in these days, helps only those who help themselves. There is always water to be commanded with a little forethought, labour, and cost; if these are not employed, there is little just cause of complaint about the inauspiciousness of the season.

W

E are indebted to an esteemed correspondent, whose pen has frequently enriched our pages, for the following interesting communication :—

At a meeting held lately in Kelso, Roxburghshire, a very interesting discussion took place on the best method of feeding cattle accustomed to turnips, in the event of scarcity of such food. Mr John Usher, of Stodrig, made some useful remarks on this very important subject, respecting which it may not be uninteresting to your readers to say something relating to the first introduction of turnip husbandry in Roxburghshire. About the year 1750, Mr Cockburn, of Ormiston, in East Lothian, began the cultivation of turnips in his fields, and the celebrated Lord Kames tried the same experiment in Berwickshire, but they met with little success, and the farmers in Scotland paid little attention at that time to any novelties in agriculture. It was not until 1753, when William Dawson, son of a farmer in Roxburghshire, returned from England, where, after receiving a very liberal education, he had been sent so as to obtain a knowledge of the best husbandry, that this

novelty was carried into practical form. He had resided for some years in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and also in Essex, working as an ordinary farm-servant, and so acquired peculiar excellence as a ploughman. He took a farm, paying for it what was then thought a full rent, and began his operations, which were regarded as visionary. He was looked on as a rash young man, who, in his vanity, desired to import foreign notions, and every practical farmer predicted his ruin.

On the success or failure of this innovator, the fate, for many years to come, of Scottish agriculture depended. In these times, when so much is heard of the supremacy of Scottish farmers, it is but fair to admit that Mr Dawson, who lived to hear himself called "The Father of Agriculture in Scotland," learned his first lessons therein from the under-estimated farmers of old England.

Mr Dawson's first course of proceedure was to bring his lands into condition by planting turnips in drills, by the use of artificial grasses, then also unknown in Scotland, by the liberal use of lime, so as to bring the land advantageously into grass. He had in view

to support upon his farm a great number of cattle, and by their means to cause a moderate proportion of the soil to give forth a larger crop of grain than formerly the whole had yielded.

The difficulties attendant upon the execution of such views were very great, and can scarcely be appreciated now. He had to transfer, as it were, the agriculture of one country to another, this of itself requiring much tact and discernment; but, above all, he found himself in the position of an eminent statesman who had to educate his party, inasmuch as he had to educate his ploughmen. Emulation only exists among equals, and he found that his superiority in this branch of the art of agriculture excited no such feeling among them. He took pains to train one man, and, as illustrative of the truth above stated, his other servants became jealous, an eager desire to excel soon began to appear, and speedily he found himself surrounded by workmen scarcely inferior to himself.

Meantime, his neighbours looked coldly on, and it was not until the fields of Mr Dawson began to look more beautiful and fertile than their own, that they also discovered another important fact-viz., that he was becoming a rich man. Scotsmen, as a nation, are neither inventors nor innovators; but the stern logic of facts, when "siller" is concerned, seems

II

to open up the pent up fountain of their energies, repressed by their habitual caution. Now, those who derided were eager to follow. From every quarter of the country Mr Dawson's ploughmen were in request. East Lothian and Angus made rapid strides; and Roxburgh, not to be left behind, became the scene of the most active agricultural enterprises. The farmers of this lovely county, so full of romantic and historic interest, now, in part, pay back their debt to England, by presenting to the notice of their brethren here, the results of their experience—and no unenlightened one it is now-in the art, knowledge of which was acquired by the son of a Roxburghshire farmer in England.

It is perhaps not generally known that Dr Hutton, famous for his theory of the Foundation and Structure of the Globe, and who possessed lands in Berwickshire, not satisfied with the condition of husbandry there, went to Norfolk, and after residing there for some time, prevailed on a Norfolk ploughman to accompany him to that terror of all Englishmen— The North, and there he introduced the system prevalent in that county, to the admiration and subsequent profit of the Berwickshire farmers.

Scotland owes much to England in agriculture, and nobly she is shewing her appreciation of the benefits received.

2. To supply a great need, which benefit societies have failed satisfactorily to secure, viz., a provision for men of sixty, for the rest of their lives.

1. To encourage the sons of labourers to form habits of thriftiness at an early age, by enabling them to insure a sum of money for their first start in life, by small quarterly pay

ments.

payment, within the means of any labourer in the parishes of Eye, Hoxne, Brome, Oakley, and Denham. The society also becomes a kind of savings' bank, for in the event of the death of a member before he has received the benefits of he

membership, or under any extraordinary circumstances in his lifetime, the money subscribed by him, with an addition (made at the option of the committee) will in all cases be returned.

Sir Edward said:-I have come here for the purpose which is stated on the bill which has been sent about to the different parishes -to consult with you as to whether it is desirable, or not desirable, to form another benefit society. The first thing I have to shew you is this—I have to shew, if I am able, the necessity for establishing another benefit society; and when I have shewn you that, then to shew you the means which I think will best promote it. I take it, that all over England, at this very moment, the one thought amongst those who think at all, is-what is to be done with the vast amount of unemployed labour in the large towns? People do not know how to deal with pauperism in those great towns; and it will continue until some means shall be devised to employ the labour which is now unemployed, and to make it productive. The stream of labour will continue to flow into the towns. As the poet says:

"Men may come, and men may go,
But I flow on for ever."

Yes, like a great river, that stream will go on flowing into the towns where it is necessary it should be employed. But, my friends, I want to bring you nearer home. We must look to see whether for this great evil of pauperism-which exists all over England-there are not some means of allaying it within our own neighbourhood, whether there are not some means for us who are in the habit of saying, "These rates are growing, we must get some one to pay them," or reduce them ourselves. In the Hartismere Union, of which I am now speaking, in the year 1850, the cost was £8493 for the general purposes of the poor-law. In 1870, we were paying £8563, or £70 more than we did twenty years ago. Well, the remarkable part of this statement is to come. In this twenty years we have reduced the population by 2000 and odd people. We

have increased the natural population—or our population has increased in the same ratio as in other places, that is to say, by 2444, but that 2444 have thought it best to go places where they may get more money for their labour. Here we are, then; in these twenty years we have lost 2000 in this union, and we pay £70 more for our rates. Now, there must be something wrong in this. Is it that you have less work? No. I happen to be a very constant attendant at the poor-law board here now, and to know how you are employed. Then, have you been improvident? No. Since I can recollect, and even within twenty years, a vast number of benefit clubs have arisen amongst you. Now, I think, in the first instance, there is an evil in the management of the poor-rate itself. I think the system is wrong which administers through officials that which really ought to be the genuine effort of the ratepayers themselvesthat is in itself wrong. Now, I want to shew you, labourers, how intimately you are connected with this. You who receive relief as paupers may make no attempt to benefit yourselves, or to lessen the poor-rate. You may look upon the poor-law only as a means by which you obtain relief; but the vast majority of you, I know, look upon it in the same way as I do myself. You are as large ratepayers, in proportion, as I am. Take your cottages of £3 average rent-as to my own cottages, which let at an average of £3, I pay the rates-but I will take the rates upon a £4 cottage in Eye, as an example. The rates paid by myself, on a composition, are 5s. annually; if they were paid by you, without composition, they would amount to 7s. annually; so that for these cottages in this town, as well as in the neighbouring parishes, you, my friends, who perhaps may be on the pauper list, have to contribute your share, and therefore I tell you that it is your interest to diminish that 7s. which I have put for argument sake, as it is for me to diminish my 5s. It is for this reason that I want particularly to impress upon you that we have all one interest in the matter of reducing the amount of money paid through the poor-rate and not only, my friends, in the interest of

merely to supplement them, and in fixing the contribution at 5s. a-year, he wished them to remember that they now paid that in rates to keep people who unfortunately were not able to keep themselves. As to the annuity at sixty years of age, no other body that he was aware of gave annuities at such a low rate, and the members who died before that age could have money drawn out for their friends. Mr Francis Woolnough was to be the secretary; because he was the man who, in that neighbourhood, knew most about friendly societies. He had appointed himself president, and in the event of his death he had asked his nephew, Lord Henniker, who was equally interested with himself in the welfare of the poor, to succeed him. Further than that he had not gone, but he left the working men to work the Club. It would be for them It would be for them to form a committee, and there would be no one else but the members and himself, and if they thought fit to out-vote their president they could always do it. The result of their joining would be, to the young who joined at twelve or thirteen years of age, an annuity of 8s. 4d. amonth at sixty years of age. That was not much, but when they came to think that an

aged couple received but 2s. 6d. from the board of guardians, they would see that 25. 1d. would do much to assist them in their old age. The object of reducing the annuity to those who joined later in life, was to get the younger portion of the labourers to embark in the society at once. In order to increase the amount which they received, he was willing to invest £1000. That would be the means of adding 4s. to 5s. a-year to what the members would pay. They had not resorted to an actuary, but had based their calculations in the simplest possible way on the Government tables. They might have a feast once a year, as any other society had, and he begged of those present to examine the scheme and see if it was not worth adopting. At the end of a month they might apply to Mr Woolnough, and he (Sir Edward) would also try to meet them and set to work to form the society. All he could say was that he had but one object, and that was to raise the labourers socially in that neighbourhood. If he lived a long time, or a short time, it mattered not at all, if he could die thinking and believing he had done something to relieve and aid the poor in that neighbourhood.

AT

T the last meeting of the Banbury Chamber of Agriculture, Mr W. Miller read a paper on the above subject. After referring to its origin, he alluded, in the following terms, to its obnoxious nature :—

I will just explain to you, as near as I can, the amount of custom or chap money we are annually paying on corn and live stock, &c., in England, in accordance with the rules of Banbury. I name Banbury, because the greatest portion of us who attend this meeting sell most of our corn and stock in Banbury, therefore we are subject to the rules of that market. I will just give you the acreage of the different corn crops grown in England for the past year, 1870; the quantity of corn

supposed to be grown per acre, and the amount of custom or chap money that would be paid on each kind of grain, suppose it was all sold in Banbury market. I will first take wheat. The amount grown last year was 3,247,973 acres, the average yield supposed to be 31⁄2 qrs. per acre, that will amount to 11,367,905 qrs. Banbury custom, is. on 5 qrs., amounts to £113,679, IS. Then take barley: 1,963,744 acres at 4 qrs. per acre, is 7,454,976 qrs. Custom, Is. on 5 qrs., amounts to £74,549, 15s. Oats, 1,490,647 acres, at 6 qrs. per acre, is 8,943,882 qrs.

Custom, Is. on 5 qrs., is £89,438, 16s. Rye, 52,700 acres, at 31⁄2 qrs. per acre, is 184,481 qrs. Custom, Is. on 5