The National Register. — London, England, 1819-02-08 00:00:00

S TITE NATiox.y. nreasTrß. SIR JOHN JOHN •INCLAIR'S PLAN FOR CULT I VA.. cast l e, h a d reeent l y p rid particular attention to the TIN° rHe.: witsra LANDS. : cultivation of lae.l by tutu:out labour, I applied to-hint ' for the reselt of cis experience, which he cosumuoicAted There Iran ehntunetancee conocTted with the ex- wit:( the gteetest reaeiness. He :tats, that on an isting state of this country, e itieb ure so peculiarly die. a :ensge, it Isle bees ascer.ainetl, that three men, and graceful toits internist policy, or so hostile to its most ten) wenen or gida (heir% about the proportion of the essential iaterests, as the vast extent of Waste Lim Is two sexes employed oa nursery grotia.l), taking the every where to be met with ; and the multitudes of peer year round, will work about ten statute acres, in the who are destitute of employment, and a b ethen ma the prope than of uhout 2 I-3d acres fur s man, and 1 l-31 commu nity. phut many of these wastes will require ' *toes far a woman. But a nursery, in all its operations, eouch laborer and expellee to celtivate them, must be ad- ! takes a is eat deal more work that ground for agricul a sued ; and c.iit Welly of these wife tuna!, a elividuals i tural purposes, in w hi c h, h e no o k s , a man may be able vow unemployed, arc incapable of doing mach work, rto etililvate five aores in a year. (tare especially in la our out of doors , nine liherrise be l At the rate Kir digging is the neighbotirhao lof a..houwiedged ; bet when th • subject is thor niefily in- Newcastle, a man may corn ts. per day, and the five vegiouted, it will riot probe sly he denied in the candid : acres may be done in BO days and a half. The same. set impertial inquirer, that if a ponies) of the poor, n.ler 1 period of time will be revived fir rtninitong, sowing, 07,,. Iwo/ in a st:tc tof periertidienr , s, were me p!oyed ie 1 and planting hi crops, :std 148 days may be employed c -Iterating p , :ciatitis t)1 our mote lands, num sic knrrett in ii.l.,ing., weeding, and other operations, mtking in roe/ ufelesx slate, much public benefit might be exoPeted. all 3 3 working (lays in the year. The whole may be To ee ptain how that can lest be accomplished is the done, As idiotic any improper degree of exertion, by a oljectof the feilowire, hints.— man of medium strength. jeverul : ears have elapsed since the author of this The profits derived from spade-husbandry are cer paper was first led to discuss this most interesting sub- tainly vet' , cousiderabl.. By trauselanting whet, kens His attention, however, h a s o f l a t e b een more there is a great saving of seed ; and the ground being particularly called to it, in conserpeence of the cenrch- its perfect order, from the superior culture-it has re wardens and overseers of one of the most populous pa- eeiv e d, the increase is great. The average produce of riches in London (:.t. Martin in the fields) recpiesting wheat in England is only at the rate of 20 eusliels his opinion, "On the p rac ti ca bility, and the probable per acre, whereas Mr. Fella finds, that trenched land advantage of the directing the labour of the poor to the will yield more than double. But, supposing the cultivation of the waste lands throughout the country ; produce to be only 4.0 bushels at 10s. per bushel, that and whether a considerable number of the able poor would amount to 201. per acre, and after amply in might not be profitably employed in carrying on some demnifying every possib'e expence would produce a great agricultural object, so as to render us indepon- large profit. The crops of potatoes, carrots, flax, deist of forci;,ni supplies fur subsistence." hemp, Swedish turnips, and other articles raised by In answer to that aptlicarion, it was briefly stated, spade hi:Aviary, would likewise be very great. The diet no doubt could be entertained, as a g eneral maxim, use of the plough was certainly an immenee improve that the best source of occupation, tbr the greater pro- ment when first introduced ; and it must always be pertion of the idle poor, is the seal. That if the poor , applicable to a very large proportion of a country, are employed in manufactures, or in making up mans- owing to the scarcity of hands. The advantages de lectured articles , as shoes and clothes, with which the rived - from it, however, were formerly snore con market is already supplied, they must interfere with the siderabk, when horses were bought fur a trifle, and industry of other workmen, who would soon be reduced wizen their provender was cheap ; but since their to poverty ; and that, consequently, mischief rather price has become so great, and their maititcnaece se than gond would arise from such a system.—Whereas, very high, it is evident that the expense of isarse while there are such extensive tracts of waste land all and of manila' labour more nearly approach each. aver the kiegdom, and more especially in the neigh- other. To bring land into a state for cultivation, bourhood of the metropolis, and while we are under the trenching will require perhaps 51. stud even upwards necessity of importing f o od from other countries, our per acre ; but to carry on its cultivation afterwards may agriculture cannot be too much extended. be done, even in the neighbourhood of the Metropolis, The author then added, " I know that great pre- at from 53 to 60s. per acre : the ploughing of' which judices are entertained against the employment of the would cost front 15 to 205. ; but once digging is con poor in husbandry ; but that is altogether owing to the sidered to be equal to two ploughings, consequently the want of information and of experience. Thule who have difference of expense is not so material, rthiile the pro examined the husbandry of Flanders, must have seen duce is double; and in some cases, more than one crop bow much manual labour is there employed in cultivs- may be obtained in the same year. titan. Parochial farms are successfully carried on in the There can be no doubt, therefore, that the manual neighbourhood of Craebrook, in Kent, an account of labour may be advantageously employed in the cultiva which I transmitted to the Secret Committee on the tion of the soil. Poor Laws et and if our fields were cultivated in the 2, What is the pmhable number of persons maintain. garden style, the increased produce would amply defray ea by the Poor-rates in London and its immediate vici else addition4l expense." nits, who could be employed in carrying on some great That in agricultitral parishes, the poor may be advan- agricultural improvements? tageously employed in the cultivation of the soil, seems This is a question that is net easily solved, and which now to be generally recognised ;. but the plan which 1 would reqtr re a good deal of investigation accurately to propose submitting to the consideration of the public, is ascertain, but the number must be very great, and of a more extensive nature. The position I wish to es- when it is co.widered that besides able-bodied men, a tablish is this, " That us the poor An the metropolis large proportion of women, and even some children, and in large towns, cannot be advantageously employed might be employed, there would be no difficulty in find in trades and other menet' accept:tins, wit hont injury ing in London and its vicinity, front fifteen to perhaps to othe:s whose suloistence deoeleis upon their labour ; twenty thousand persons who might be employed in hence, it has become a matter of absolute necessity, various departments connected with the cultivation of either to maintain them without employment, or to the soil, and preparing its productions for use. send the able-bodied to work in the fields, both fur Besides mere digging, a variety of operations might raising food, anti for producing materials for nianufac be executed by manual labour, as collecting manure , tare ( as flax ), more likely to interfere with foreign it in transporting barges up the River, conveying tt to than domestic industry, and in which the more infirm the fields on portable iron rail-ways, transplanting the Bowe might be employed in workhouses, and that by the crops, hoeing and weeding the.u, cutting down or reap adoption of such a system, the burthen of maintaining ing them, thrashing by land-mills, and grinding the she poor will be materilly diminished." wheat by the flower mills, so strongly recommended by In discussing this subject, it is proposed to consider " The Society of Arts. " In short, the employments the following points : 1. To what extent is manual la which agriculture furnishes are numerous and unceas bear applicable to the cultivation of the soil ? 2. What ing. In order to ernolov a greater number of people, if is the probable number of persons Ina:at:tined by the the climate and the soil of the land brought into culti poor rates in London and its vicinity, who could he vation were suitable, hops might be raised, which in usefully employed in carrying on some great agricultu favourable seasons would be highly productive. rat improvement ?—and, 3. 'What would be the best Another material object would be, the culture of flax, plan for carrying such a measure into efleet? in the manufacture of which the old and the infi rm 1. 'fo what extent is manual labour applicable to the might be employed in workhouses. This Bran is se e tuitivation of the soil? cesefillly carried into effect in the workhouse at St. This is a subject that has frequently been discussed Manin-in-the-Fields, and six or seven others ; and if in works on Agriculture:4 but understanding that Mr. the raw materiel could be procured in sufficient quasi. Fella, an eminent nurseyinan at Gateshead, near New tities, the importation of Coreign flax or linens would be • Bee the History of Me Reveane. 3d edition, vol. ire P. 17 G . no longer necessary. Considerable quantities of hemp plated anon 1504, where there is • plan for employing the poor. might ue likewise he raised. es the clutivatioa of stow lands,awl in repairing the big( (ways cf the kingdom. Zi. What would be the best plan for carrying such a e• See the Report of the Select Committee an the Poor Laws, measure into effect ? arc. 1517, Ai.pcntiix G. No. 2, p. ie. ot "In country perishes, a g riculture furnishes the most obvious There is no thruht, that in so opulent a city as that and useful source of em t loymeist; for, though the wi.oh: stock of London, a tante sum might be raises!, to carry on of suosioence be thereby increa.ed, yet the cultivator of the laud would be more than compramited for any dimi..- unon in the `slue such a plan, without arty thought of profit or interest. of his produce, by th e emneroneing einainuuou of the e%pence B a t there i s not the least occasion for any individual of maintal7 , ;ng Ins family stud labourers. soil the more 111 . 11 ,0 LI, "I losin g any sum he may be inclined to subscribe for so reduction of the poor rote."—See the saleablell , :port of tat i our usefitl a purpose. On the contrary, if properly ma lams son. moo p. 19. % Res oenerei Report of Scotland, vol. P. P. eir,. whew ,there raged, it must prove a very bene fi cial concern.. No is an entire ...colon on troirhiog Land, aLo t.o. Coa‘ j, owl:Amine; money can be laid `Nit with mote profit than in the '. 01, and r. V 32, uote. improverattnt of the agni .1l: aatu.n: of tcia purchased an estate fur 6,5401 an.l Improved so much i s valar, that it sold for 40,0001. He rut a farm, about twenty years ago, tin. 1821. per snouin, wiocfs wa* likewise so mach Unproved, under his dircrtiong, that it sa id lately for 18,2001. Th ese are facts; w!:tel. are within his ow•n knowledge, and cannot be con . troverteJ. If such beneficial raprJvements could be effected 700 miles distant front the metropolis, what may not be accomplished in its immediate •icinity Any idea, thLrefore, that the proposed concern may prove a luzing one, ought not to be entertained for a moment. l'he following heals, on the whole, are suggested as a foundation for the proposed Institution :I I. That the Society shall be called " The Royal A3ricultir . Company. for the Improveme:st of tie Waste Lamle of tie Ktu; horn, and Promoting Deateinic Coltoutation ; " el wnich its Royal llothnis die Prince Regent be requestial to be the patron. F. 'Dist under the itodiority Of Parthament, ner so,n of awe trillion (or any other stun ailreplate for the purpose) be raised by a Joint :Awe Company. in shares of :Oh tacit, or t 0,400 aliares ut all, for promoting so benciicial an object. J. That the management of tits concern be confided to a Previdei", four Vice Presitleota. &teen Directors, tire Trustees, three Audi tors, a 'r, , mitaret. an Accountant, and such or:,er ortieere as may be judged necessary. 4. That the sons to be raised than be paid by regular inetelenenu, ten pounds at the time of subscribiog, and ten pounds every SI& wanted afterwards, as the same may be lequirtai. 5. That land shall be rented or purchased, eitlier from the, Crown. or from private individuals, to sueh an e‘tent as the wrest of the Company will entblr it effectually to cultivate. ii. Tiat coneenient itecommodatiou shall be profiled in the neiglibourlicol of this land breoght into eultivanon, where the Directors and otter Members of tt.e Company. may 'Tide when they are desirous of examining the progress of the u:-dertaking. 7. That a regular account of the impmvements Gloried um shall be drawn tip. and submitted to the coosiJeratice. of his Royal ilighneto, the Patron, and of both Houses of Pa:lame:it, ir.d likewise punted fur tee information of the Metuuersot ure Company. and of the public et large. N. That the aceounts of the Company shall be annually audited, and opened to the inirctioa of all concerned and toot after the first year of it-sua/ cultivation, a dividend of 5 per cent. or whatever sum the prefits of the conceta may yield, shall be paid to the subscribers. 9. That a negociaiion shall be entered bun with the Church wardens and ovcrsecra of vie several parishes of London and its vicinity, respecting the :lumber of poor they can respectively furnish. and the various articles they will purchase front the Cum; icy ; and that those pariedies be preferred who otier the most athantagemis terms to the Company. He Tent a M 'dine( shall be called for taking the above plan into coneidere6o 1 , and for presenting a petition to Parliament, 1 . ,,r eroctin4 t.:e peo l iosed Company into a Cozpoiate It eatinat be too much inculcated in favour of any plait fur employing the poor in husbandry, that flier,. tins essential distinction between it and every other mule of occupying them, that by cultivating the FOOD, the great object of human labour, i igrectly tablet ; while, by industry of any tither kind, it can only be procured indircc.Ly, and by means of exchange. In regard to the ininutim of the plan.—the distr:ot where the land is to be rented or purchased ;—thc build ings necessary to accommodate the labourers ;—the man ner in which they are to be pail or maintained ;—the natare the crops to be cultivated ;—the manner in which the pr rln is to be disposed at—and other !nitrate nartiJnitrs, it would be in vain to attempt to en large upon then.: at this time, as they twist depeta on such a variety of .:.irclaistances, and can hi,.• s..tely co::- aided to thus: who or.; plat el in the di:e.•ti'm. CoxcLutitoN.—There never was a pet i:d when s - ach an instit.tion wait so loudly called for, nor when there was so fiteourable an onion nolty fir carrying into ef. feet. In fact, unless some gy..mt measure be undertaken, to furnish the unemployed poor with a means of sub sistence, by their own labmr, the other clas:les of the community will n it long be able to maintain them, and some fatal convulsion must be the necessary consequence; whereas, if this plan were ndapted, an example of sue cessful improvement wonli be exhibited, which would soon be imitated in every other part of the kingdom, and it would probably spread with it rapidity, of which there is no example in history. If sti.:.;ess, however, de pends on the Skilful application of a large capital ; fur, in many cases, if only 51. per acre is expended, the -money may be lust ;' whereas, by laying out 131. per acre, the whole expellee may be repaid in the coarse of one year. On the whole, there le every reason to hoop, if no other advantage were to result from the proposed plan, this object, at least, might be obtained, that the poor woultt soon be enabled to raise provisions for their own sustenance, and no importation of foreign grain would in future ire necessary ; even that would be ao leahle advantage: but, if the plan does succeed to the ...xtent that may be expected, a foam-11'60n will be laiA for improving even acre in the kingdom, espable c.f. yielding any vulu.ible production ; and all that floating capital which might otherwise remain either unem. ployed at or might be sent to foreign countries. from roe difficulty of placing it out to advantage, migit thus be laid out in promoting the cultivation of er:r own country, and in ameliorating the condition of inh.ibi: an ts. JOHN SINCLAIR. Orm4 Ham common, Surrey, Jan. 12, 1119. J. W:lmot. a timber-merchant. was found guilty at tl,e '.*e Surrey S,:p.sions. of !testing a large piece of tinny!. the I retr.:y Jt • L•id,ge t:oni r an). and was a,rituncecl to be • ilTel:rortatiOn. A mother of a family, who was again pregnant, three of bar ~dren, and a young gni. 13 'ears of all ini.al•iiants of ..teau.ftoii.c. in the depArtatcat of the ludre. in Franco, area • tviatineil by eating voisei.utta mushrooms. which they thought ut viol quality. rawirj.?e, • • ' 101