The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-12-09 00:00:00

A SCOTCH AGRICULTURIST.

The Scotsman notices the death cf Mr. George Hope,
late of Fentonbarns, which occurred on Friday at his resi-
dence at Bordlands, Peebieshire, in his 65th year :
- - -

At an early age he succeeded to the lease of his
father's farm of Fentonbarns, East Lothian, and
devoted himself to agriculture, being one of the first to
introduce the general cultivation of potatoes into that
county. An advanced politician, he took the greatest
interest in the Reform Bill, and while the Corn
Law League was yet in its infancy he had become
the trusted friend of Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright,
with whom he co-operated in their agitation
of the question, himself bearing a share in many
public meetings. He gained the first of three prizes
offered by the League for the best essays with a paper
so able that the late Earl Of Dalhousie publicly attri-
buted to it his conversion from.Protectiopist opinions;
and so effective Were his services generally to the cause
of Free Trade that Mr. Cobden was wont to cite him
as one of the few practical tenant-farmers who grappled
with the question on the grounds of justice and sound
'policy. He was at one time a Director of the High-
land and Agricultural Society, and WSB the first chair-
man of the Scottish Chamber of Agriculture. The
Government also selectedthim as one of the Corm:pis-
sioners for inquiring into the Law of Hypothec. In
1865 he was put in nomination for the representation of
East Lothian in opposition to Lord Echo, but was
defeated. It is generally believed that the bold-
ness of the step he took on- this occasion • did
not improve Mr. Hope's relations with his
landlord, Mr. Nisbet Hamilton, and in 1871 other in-
cidents occurred which brought Mr. Hope intimation
from his landlord's factor that his lease would not be
renewed. This caused great. indignation not only in
Scotland but throughout the United Kingdom and on
the Continent and public feeling found vent in letters
of sympathy, bar queti, and testimonials. On leaving
Fentonbarns in 1b73 Mr. Hope went to reside on and
farm the estate of Bordlaucla, Peebleshire, which he
had purchased. The chief incident in his subsequent
life Was the contest he engaged in towards the close of
last year for the representation -of'East Aberdeenshire,
when he was defeated by Sir. A. Qordon. To ques-
tions of agricultural reform he • Made a valuable
contribution in the essay on "Hindrances to Agri-
culture," printed in "Recess Studies." Mr. Hope
was a Unitarian.

In noticing the death of Mr. Hope, the Daily Tee-
graph remarks :
There is not an Intelligent farmer in Great Britain,
Amer!ca and even on the Continent of Europe, who will not
hear with regret that George H,pe, of Fentonbarns," the
most eminent and skilful of Scottish aericalturists, is dead
. . The late Mr. Hope was the beau ideal of a Scottish
tenant farmer of the highest class. His sagality and shrewd-
ness in business matters, his *dentin.: knowledge and insight,
his practical skill and darieg enterprise, made most English-
men liken him to the great leaders of our manufacturing class,
rather than to the more backward members of the agricul-
tural body. In Scotland, however, the farmer and the
manufacturer are not separated by any such wide intel-
lectual gulf as exists between the same clteses south of
the Roder. Still, Mr. Hope was, even for Scotland, a farmer
of exceptional enlightenment ; and it is mainly owing to his
influence and example that the agriculture of North Britain
has been made famous all over the world. Seven-and thirty
years ago, when he became "tacksman " of Fentonbarns, he
found one fourth of his holding near the sea-shore a worth-
less waste of sand. He brought his science and his practical
sagacity to bear upon it, and soon made it yield
some of the most profitable erops reared in East
Lothian. Then, by introducing steam cultivation and
heavy manuring. he improved his place so much
that when he bad to renew his "tack" or lease in 18;2—a
year in which land all over the country was greatly depre-
ciated in value-15 per cent. was added to his rental. In-
deed, Mr. Rope. by force of his example and teaching, nearly
doubled the value of land in his county by introducing into
it the culture of the potato, for which East Lothian has now
become famous. n private life the late Mr. Hope was not
merely loved, but positively reverenced by his workmen, his
family, and his pupils. Indeed, there is scarcely a eivilised
country in the world where he has not innumerable' friends,
who will receive with profound sorrow the tidings of his
death.

HINTS ABOUT THE POTATO DISEASE.-
The extensive prevalence of potato disease this
season, and the apparent futility of all efforts to cure it,
have caused people again to pay attention to the various
possibilities of evading it (remarks the Standard). It
is now pretty universally observed that the potatoes
hold out very welt untir the autumn rains, and that if
these rains come very late there is little or no disease,
while if they come early, while the air and the soil
are still warm, they Are fatal to the crop. It 'hi, In
fact, praetically concluded, that as Potatoes are n'ever
safe from the disease when left in-the ground, should
heavy rains set in Cid sooner they -are lifted after
they are ripe the better, there is nothing gained by
leaving them in the land, and there is the risk of their
getting the disease Should heavy rain set in. We are not
therefore surprised to find the horticultural journals
recommending the earlier planting, even to the extent
of substituting March for May. Of course, there is
extra risk of frost, but that is comparatively small
if anything like proper precaut'ons are taken,
whereas against the disease no precautions whatever
seem to be of any avail. Potatoes planted the
second week in March are ready for digging 'before
the end of August, and will then keep very well,
whilst up to the end of Augast there is no very
great danger of an outbreak of disease. At the same
time, we believe that there is a great deal of force in
the argument that the liability of the hop and the
potato and the vine to diseases unknown to our fore-
fathers may be attributed to the artificial propagation
by tuber and cutting through many generations, and
that what is wanted is a renewal ot the constitution by
r(procluetion in the natural manner. There is at least
plausibility in this view, and it is worth investigation.

THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION.
The Bishop of
,Ely, in presiding at a meeting of the
Gin:bridge Temperance Society, advocated the forma-
lion of parochial associations in every pariah. He
ikttriblited drunienness not to the desiretz drink, but
to the 'Conirorts which the poor man found at the
•publiphouse, and which 'could not be found at his '
boine; --Regaiding the Archbishop of Canterbury's:
motion for evidence before a Select Committee to
hiqdtréiñto the .whole question, the Bishop of Ely
said it could not be expected that legislative *enact-
!theat -would follow one.aged statements; we must also
'hear what the jrnablici brewers, who got their
living by the sale of iatoxicating drinks, had to say.
Captain P. C. P. Turner. M.P., for Bedford, also
spoke upon the question. He spoke of the intention of
the Home Secretary to tring in a Bill next Session for
the further punishment of person 3 committing crimes
with violence, and to put a tax upon those intemperate
men vilio;coixtmitted those crimes. Parliament had
before them ialieral measures upon the subject. They
had,thePernaissivi Bill, but that he could not agree
7itlit he Hid not 'Vote for it because, as had been said,
ha.viewed jt as outside the bounds of practical legisla-
tliat He 'did not think that it would ever become the
law of this country. Regarding the Llcensing system,
he had hard no argument to show him that the ad-
ministration of the law should be taken out of the
hands of the magistrates. Thcl remedy for drunken-
ness, he took it, must einsnate.fr( m the people them-
selves in their moral advancement and their apprecia-
tion of such 'associations as those.

The Lcvant Ilerald states that in consequence of a
four days deluge, a hrge tract of territory has been inun-
dated in the district of Adrianople. A thousand houses are
said to have been swept away by the flood.