The Express.
London, England, 1851-06-12 00:00:00

FINE ARTS.

SCULPTURE AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
As far as outward appearances enable one to judge,
the sculpture department of the British Museum is,
for the ninety-ninth time, undergoing a process of
complete re-organisation. As lung as the said
process consisted in shifting rubbishy old marbles
from one place to another, it might have been con-
sidered a simple method of diversion enjoyed by the
trustees at the public expense, but some unpleasant
additions lately made to this task call seriously for
energetic remonstrance. For seine months past may
have been observed in progress a singularly infelici-
tous scheme of bedizening the ceiling of the princi-
pal halls, which is fondly considered a revival of the
old Oreek polychromatic scale of colouring; the sunk
panels between the beams were emblazoned with
golden stars and other incongruous ornaments. One
might have remained satisfied had the bedizening been
confined to the recently erected portions of the build-
ing. The Elgin room, unfortunately, has also been
operated upon, and that with evidently such dama-
ging effect on the Phidian sculptures, that the miser-
able expedient has been resorted to of erecting a
wooden frame in the shape of a pediment, and
covered over with grey paper to bring out the relief
of the sculptures, which the ceiling had anni-
hilated. Such utter want of forethought is al-
most incredible ; but the Vandalism does not
stop here: in the process of decking its surface with
an eruption of distorted honeysuckle ornaments, and
painting the wall with a most violent red—in doing
this, we say, the sculpture was sullied with the off-
scouring, of these bright ornamentista ; and yester-
day the public were admitted to view the perfect
stoicism with which this injury to the richest
heirlooms of the Greeks to posterity were submitted
to the scrubbing-brush propensities of the men in
authority. The Turks are stigmatised for their bar-
barism in making the Parthenon a temporary pow-
der magazine, and Morosini for having tired the''
bomb which made of the whole a wreck. Yet it
may be questioned whether the Elgin marbles have'
not been more seriously damaged by the work of the
last few days. When first brought to England, we
believe it was Canova who remarked that
these sculptures were marked with weather stains,
and other seemingly indelible spots; those who re-
collect them before they received their renovation
fondly imagined that these had by withdrawal from
atmospheric influence partially, if not entirely, dis-
appeared; but they are once more brought out,
which was the thing most to be avoided. The
Pentelie marble, of which the Elgin collection
is entirely composed, is a striated and gritty
substance; the very look of its crummy sur-
face should, one would think, be enough to'
deter any one with a particle of reverence for
these precious relic from profaning them with the
unsophisticated handling of the common labourer.
The uncharitable will be apt to attribute more ques-
tionable motives for this reckless waste of ornament
and its accompaniments. They will be rather
inclined to fancy that Sir Iticluird Westma-
cott, dissatisfied with the look of his over-laden
sculptured pediment, representing the " Progress
of Civilisation," has made the sculpture of Phidias
victim of his mania for colouring and gilding. It is
evident, however, from the direction, or rather want
of it, conspicuous in the whole management of sculp-
ture of the British Museum, that speedily some rya'
medy is required. Much in the same way as the
monks formerly pierced a doorway, conveniently
right in the centre of Leonardo da Vinci's " Last
Supper" at Milan, a breach has just been made in
the series of the Panlithenaic frieze; and though in
nowise damaging the extracted pieces of sculpture,
yet seriously detracting from the continuous interest
of the whole.
It becomes every day clearer that some elimi-
nation of the sculptures, which first formed the
nuelena of the gallery, is becoming more and more
imperative. There are numberless fragmentary
blocks of marble of very questionable origin, and
yet more questionable merit, which never
yet gave a single ray of pleasure to any
one; so much so, that it is with more than
usual interest that one looks at the probable methods
of filling up the niches so elaborately decorated by
Messrs. Cullman and Davis. If the intention is to
turn to account the crazy stone jars, the stoutest
statuettes and rococo heads, it will only be another
proof of our extravagance and want of taste.
This will be a revival of the absurdities of the
British Museum before the old shell of Montage.
House was cast off—when the smiling landscapes of
Lame were relieved by the gigantic forms of the
stuffed camelopards; and the only perceivable dif-
ference will be, that the Assyrian bull and lion flank
the gates formerly tenanted by the hippopotamus
and rhinoceros.

NEW BILL TO EXEMPT VETERINARY SURGEONS.—
Lord Beaumont has laid on the table of the House of Lords
a bill, which has just been printed, to exempt veterinary
surgeons, and professors and teachers of veterinary colleges
or schools, from serving on juries and other offices. It
seems that under the letters patent granted to the college
veterinary surgeons are compelled to serve on juries
and to discharge county and parochial duties, and it is de-
clared that such service is " highly detrimental to the in-
terest of their profession and very injurious to the pro-
prietors a! horsni, cattle, and other domesticated animals."
Therefore: c is proposed that they, the professors of the
veterinary art, should be exempted from all such duties by
the passing of the present measure.

-
SINGULAR CHARGE. AGAINST A UNIVERSITY STU-
DENT.—On Saturday last, before the Cambridge County
Bench, Mr. Denny, a Hyman, charged William Henry
Tarte, student of Magdalen College, with stealing a horse
and Clarence. Mr. Denny said that on Wednesday evening
a gentleman of the University hired his horse and dormice
to go to Harston, and employed his servant, William Clark,
to drive him. On arriving at Huston, the gentleman
called out " halt," and at the same moment Mr. Tarte
sprang on the box, gave Clark 6s. and a note, saying,
" This is my property, hop of." Clark replied, " I shall
stick to the reins, whereupon Mr. Tarte kicked hint com-
pletely off the box into the road. Clark hurried back and
informed his master, and they both took a pony gig and
commenced a pursuit. At Ware they discovered that the
horse and clarence bad been sent to London by rail ; but
Mr. Tarte was secured by the superintendent of the Herts
rural police. The defence was, that Mr. Tarte lodged with
Mr. Denny, sen., and wishing to do young Denny a favour,
had bought a horse and clarence for the purpose of letting,
but finding there was no probability of getting the value of
them, Mr. Tarte had adopt Al this novel scheme of possess.
ing himself of hi. .an operty. Case dismissed.—Bury
Pest.

lalsu BRET-ROOT Advorate has the
following reference to the prospects of the newly-established
company for the manufacture of beet-root sugar in. Ireland :
The above-named company has now obtained its charter
of incorporation, the project appearing to the Board of
Trade to be such that ay !Ty facility was afforded to the pro-
meters of the company in carrying out their objects. Pre-
view to the allotineut of shares the number of applications
was about three times the number to be disposed of, and
among the applicants were some of the moat eminent com-
mercial men of the great metropolis. The crops of beet are
progressing favourably in the district selected by the com-
pany as the scene of their operations during the ensuing
winter; and we learn that the necessary arrangements are
in progress for the construction of machinery to be em-
ployed in the manufacture. By the beginning of November,
therefore, the friends of pmgress will see this new branch
of industry at full work in Ireland; and, having carefully
examined the calculations of the promoters of it, we do
not hesitate to predict the most triumphant succew of the
movement.

DEATH OF ONE OP TUE GUARDS 0-nt --m.OLEoIa
WHILE AT Sr. HELENA.—CIE Sunday last an old retired
soldier, named Charles (saskell, died in Salford. lie was
an Englishman, but in 1806 he enlisted in Cork, and his
regiment was shortly afterwards sent on board three
transports, for conveyance to Portsmouth, previous to being
sent for service on the Continent. When the transport on
board which Gaskell was had sighted the Needles, a vessel
hove in ai ht, which was generally believed by those on
board the transport to be a French privateer ; but the
captain of the transport had a different opinion, and
allowed the French boarders to leap on his deck without
having made an attempt to escape or a preparation for re-
sistance. ()oaken, with the other soldiers, was first lodged
in a prison in Breit, and afterwards removed into the in-
terior of the country. Ile suffered many hardships, coast-
quest upon several forced marches when the prisoners
were suddenly removed, and remained a prisoner until
the general peace in 1814, when Napoleon had
taken Bight to Elba. ll:turning to England, Haskell
was next shipped with his regiment to Bermuda. The
vessel was recalled in consequence of the Emperor's sudden
reappearance in the field, but arrived too late for the
troops to take any share in the victory at Waterloo, al-
thouuh intended to have been instantly despatched to join
the Duke of Wellington. Meanwhile Napoleon had placed
himself under British protection on board the Bellerophon,
Captain Maitland, had been brought to England, and
afterwards transferred at Torbay to the Northumberland
for transportation to St. Helena. Daskell was one of
those selected to go out in the Northumberland, as the
guard under Col. Lowe, and he has often narrated inci-
dents which occurred while he was on duty at Longwood,
the residence of the Emperor, and boasted that after
eight years' imprisonment in France, he suddenly found
himself occasionally the sole guardian of the man who had
ruled the country in which he was so long incarcerated.—
Manchester Guardian.

THE
AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS.

NORTH ESSEX.
TO TIM EDITOR OP TIER DAILY NEW!.

' Sta,—There arc few districts more interesting to
, the farmers than that part of Essex which lies east
lof the river Chelmer and extends by Witham to Col-
cheater and along the Stour and the Colnc to liars
'with. Much of this land consists of chalky clay,
strong loam, with beds of gravel, with alluvial and
'dilueml strata. Near the rivers Chelmer, Stour,
Comae, and Blackwater there are some very fine reacts
of land, frequently consisting of a tender loam on a
brick earth subsoil, which grows remarkably fine
grain, root and seed crops. Indeed, an important
part of the business of many of the farmers who
occupy good land in this district is the growing seed/
of various sorts for the London seedamen. The usual
plan is for the secdsman to supply the necessary
quantity of seed, and to contract to purchase the
crop from the farmer at a certain price per bushel)
In this day the seed-dealer avoids the risk of cultic
vation, and, offering a good price for the seed hd
requires, secures the greatest attention to its culture
on the part of the.grower ; and by contracting with
different farmers in various localities, he not only
secures a more certain supply than he could year by
year obtain by cultivating a seed-farm himself, but
gets his varieties of seeds grown in the sorts of soil
best adapted for each variety.
On the higher parts of this district there are great
and very abrupt varieties of soil, as, fur instance, at
Tiptree—a place now made somewhat relebiated as
the theatre of Mr. Mechi's farming operations- —Dan-
bury, Baddon, and other places, where strong clay
gravel, sand loam, and pebbly beds, lie in alternato
beds successively in the same field. Much of this dis-
trict is encumbered with hedgerow-timber, growing to
large size, and as the enclosures are usually small, one
of the most essential preliminaries to improvement
here consists in letting the light and air into the
land by the removal of trees and hedges. This has
been largely done by the best fanners, and when
the owners deal like rational men of business with
their tenants, but to a very much larger extent,
tenants, though farming tolerably well, have nut
undertaken any spirited improvements, while the
landowners are by no means forward to assist in re-
moval of such hindrances to good farmiqg, even
where, as is frequently the case, they have not ob-
stinately persisted in their retention. Nothing can
be more beautiful than this part of Essex, consisting
as it does of an undulating country, varying much in
the nature of the soil and the character of its tiinbet,
within short distances, the greater part being fertile.,
and, in common parlance, well cultivated. The air,
too, is very salubrious, the imputations of ague-and-
fever-producing miasma, to which portions of it
were once liable, having been now entirely removed
by drainage. On the immediate banks of the rivers
there are many rich meadows ; but some farmers,
who deem a considerable quantity of meadriw land
essential to good cultivation, say that too much of tho
richer land has been converted into arable land. On
the whole this district must be said to be well
farmed, and upon many farms the cultivation is
et a very superior character. Bare fellows are
less used than formerly, and green crops and turnips
are now grown where some years ago nothing of the
' sort was attempted. Nearly all this district requires
artificial drainage, for though luaus, sands, and
gravels, over prevail rather extensively, they uro
almost invariably so mixed up with strata or beds of
clay, or other impervious subsoil, that the Will in its
natural state would be extremely wet. Drainage
has, however, been habitually practised in Essex tor
at least two centuries, and 'probably from a much
earlier period, for the old Essex plan of draining is
precisely the same as that described by' the old
Roman writers ou agriculture., Columella and Varro.
Thatsystem was one of shallow drains, seldom deeper
than 18 or 20 inches, but the drains being usually
laid from 12 to 18 feet apart, the land, though not
effectively drained as modern drainers understand
effective drainage, was greatly improved. And it is
remarkable that here, where the benefits to be de-
rived from draining wet lands have been longer ap-
preciated than in any other part of England, tho
only effectual and permanent system, that of deep
draining, makes way more slowly, and meets with
more decided opposition from men who are in the
main intelligent and successful fanners, than in dis-
' tricts where until lately the practice of draining was
almost unknown. This proves how difficult it is for
agriculturists to unlearn anything; they have been
accustomed to shallow drainage in Essex, and into
the practice of really deep draining they come slowly
end reluctantly. I find, however, considerable
advances of opinion and practice have been mado
upon this question within the last three or four years.
The advocates of shallow draining would now confine
it to strong clay soils, admitting that where the wet is
retained in loamy, sandy, or gravelly soils by bands
of clay and other impenetrable substances, the deep-
est drains arc the most effectual. But they assert
that on uniform clays four or five feet drains will
not lay the surface soil dry while 30 inch or three
feet drains will do so; and 'I
had numerous special
cases cited to prove the truth of such assertions. As
I had not the opportunity of inspecting the alleged
instances of the failure of deep drains, it would of
course be presumptuous to offer an opinion thereon,
but I can safely say I have never yet seen a clay
soil in which, provided an outfall can be obtained,
deep drains have not dried the land more effectually
than shallower drainage. The mistake which has
occasionally been made in draining clay land is to
place the draius too wide apart. It has been as-
sumed that because deep drains laid 12 or 14 yards
asunder have dried wet land where it largely con-
sisted of sand or gravel, deep drains at the same
distance would also dry uniform clays ; but that is a
mistake. A really stiff clay requires drains to bo
laid at seven or eight yards apart, whether the depth
f the drains be three or four feet; the difference
being that the four-foot drain is greatly more effec-
tive in its operation. I was glad, however, to find
that scarcely any agriculturist of note in Essex now
contends for drains of less depth than three feet, even
on strong clay, and though the cost of deep draining
is undoubtedly great, especially when the drains are
laid so close as eight yards, I have no doubt that the
Essex agriculturists, under the stimulus of low prices,
will soon find out that the larger outlay, in the first
instance, is the soundest economy. I have reason to
believe that much of the pertinacity with which a
few professional drainers still adhere to shallow
draining arises from their having committed them-
selves, and their employers, to large outlays upon an
imperfect system.

The ordinary course of cropping adopted in this
district may be called an eight year shift, (1) turnips,
(2) barley, (3) clover, (4) wheat, (5) manguld-wurzel
or swedes, (6) oats) or barley, (1) peas or beans,
. (8) wheat. From 20 to 30 bushels of wheat per
acre is about the ordinary growth, though the
beet farmers obtain much better returns. My
own impression is that too much of the land
is injured by treading it with sheep in the
winter, for let the land be ever so well drained it
consists for the most part of strong soils, with which
liberties should not be taken in wet weather. More
house feeding, whether of sheep, beasts, or pigs, and
less winter treading their land, will, I am convinced,
be an alteration soon generally made in their system
by the farmers of this part of Essex. On this sub-
ject, Mr. Baker, in his "Essay on Essex Farming,"
after stating that few farmers who have not been
bred from their youth in Essex succeed there—an
absurd prejudice ny no means confined to this county
—says, " And so it is as regards winter fatting
upon the clay and retentive soils it is very true that
fine crops of turnips can be very frequently pro-
duced, but this is always at the expense of a large
quantity of manure; and the injury done to the land
by carting off or by treading heavily with sheep
during the winter months, and more especially by
suffering crops of turnips, rape, cabbages, or other
food of like nature, to remain late upon the land, for
the use of early lambing ewes and other stock, does
deteriorate it to such an extent as nearly to exhaust
the manure for the next crop, which is exemplified
sometimes by a portion of the field remaining in fallow
and producing crops 20 per cent. better than that from
which the green crops have been taken." Now, I
have no doubt that the drawing off turnips in the
winter from heavy land, or treading it with sheep to
consume the roots, &c., will do
productive powers of the land,
with leas manure would produoe
who*. That is not a point in
eigtiajposs Essex fatmere.'
ihion to the practioo

I

o so mach to injure the
, that a Bummer fallow
duos a better crop
in favour of 4 117.'
I contend, but , 7" • f.._l;
ioo a feeding • '''''' ni...
di"
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