The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-11-20

bemade to cultivate fratsrnal feeling. We
should be people of one interest and one SEN
timent knowing no local division, and toerating
no sectional injustice. Our UEIoS, SO dear to
the heart of every true American, can only be
preserved by strict observance of the Constitu-
tlon' and an impartial administration OF the laws.
am, Sir, respectfully, your obedient servt
WIS, DERRICK, Acting See'y
cRs The admirers of dense population have
been struck with the misery and vice of large
cities, and have proposed as remedy the policy
of a minute sub diyision of land. This has
been tried very thoroughly in France and the
result is described III the following:
AGRICULTURE IN FRANcE-Between Blois
and Tours, on the right bank of the river prop
erty is very infinitely sub-divided, and isolated
peasant dwellings common. In single meadow
Of moderate size, You will frequently see half a
dozen small square boundary stones marking
out the different lots. The cultivation, notwith-
standing the great amount of hand-labor be-
slowed upon the fields, is correspondence SUI
perficial and slovenly; the fact being, that what
can be done with the hands is overdone, while
what can be done only by means of proper and
sufficient implements, and machines, and horse
performed. One plough, which inspected in a
field Within mile or two of Tours, was a ina
chine which, except the iron witt which the
wooden coulter was shod, might have been
} shown as n specimen of the agricultural imple
ments of n South Sea island 1t consisted of q
rough thick pole of wood, to the centre OF
which the ploughshare was attached, furnished
in front with two knotted and twisted branches,
by way Of trams and behind with pair of stilas
of the same rough manufacture, and not three
feet long. The excessive supply of manual Ia
Dor was everywhere evident. In one field, sa W
two old women engaged in scattering manu- re
with their bare hands; in another, two men
were yoked by ropes to n harrow, and wee
dragging it slowly and YEARLY across the fur
| rows. "
The system of ploughing commonly adopted
hereabouts is curious. A deep furrow is turned
up and then two very shallow ones--the field
being thus converted, so to speak, into a series
of narrow stripes or ribbons Of soil, with semi
ditch-like divisions between them The waste
| of land produced by this method must, one
would think, be considerable. In the moro
marshy meadows, close to the water side, rows
of closely-planted poplars abound; whole acre
of rich grass land are abandoned to these trees
which run in files at right angles to the river,
with perhaps, some dozen or fifteen feet be-
tween each rank. Occasionally, you find patches
of hemp growing beneath the shade of these not
very profitable trees: or, if the land be grass,
an old woman is squatted upon it watching u
cow, and perhaps, couple of goats Rude
huts ofwattled bushes and straw stand here and
there for the reception of tools, and in order to
afford shelter in rainy weather. In the Beauce,
| by the way, frequently found cavernous look
ing holes, scooped ont in the road side for the
same purpose Amid the vines, these places
are regularly built stone ard lime houses-of-
ten, as 1t struck me-, more substantial looking
structures than the dwellings of the laborers
The small farm buildings were very much the
same sort of things as those | have described
as Astounding near Biois. | came across one
cart shed composed of framework OF straw
and wattles, slung by ropes from the projecting
branches of tree, and swaying and crenking a.
the wind moaned and rustled among its sup
porters. About Amboise, hedges abound
among the meadows-generay overgrown
sprawling lines Of bushes, cutting the field
into all manner of irregular segments, very much
after the fashion of some parts Of Devonshire.
| PIoughing was hereabouts being generally
| conducted by means of one hOrse-the first eX-
ample had seen in France of such economy of
power-while the fcw sewers in the fields were
scattering the grain after the old fashioned broad.
cast method. Everywhere the fallow ground
was overgrown with weeds, great tall bushes of
| ragwort covering it, and the same species of
| plant was common among the potatoes, which
were very widely planted, and left ample room
for the intrusion of such interlopers. Tricky
scattered were the cottages and ad joining farm
buildings of the small proprietors. With here
and there an exception, nothing could be more
| slatternly and utterly inadequate to all the pur
poses of dwellings and farm-steadngs than these
ill-contrivcd and worse managed structures. The
filth was repulsive. Beside the dunghll, and
before the door, was usually green eesspooi of
liquid manure Passing to leewnrd, you per-
ceived the prevailing scent of the melon beds.
varied by trial of dismal stenches from each of
these foul laboratories The out-houses were
frequently built after this fashion A double
set of thin Struggling stakes are stuck in the
ground, and between them are piled up, in the
manner of wall, loosely bound sheaves of
straw, fortified, in some cases, by IL meagre
wattle-work of fir-cuttings or broom. Ofcourse,
the sheds so formed, are neither wind nor water
tight. A stiff gale drives them down before it
like houses Of cards, but the materials are none
the worse and a few hours labor sutficcs to pile
them up again. When structures Of more
substantial character arc reared, there is abun-
dant evidence of an utter want Of design and
coherency in their parts. Even the better class
| of farm offices Ofthese small proprietors form
tumble of stone, brick, wood, and clay buildings,
stuck on one to the other without method or
order, generally in more or less advanced stage
of dilapidation, and surrounded by masses Of
rottng vegetable refuse.
During The course Of long afternoons walk,
and many peep into barn and granary, OBJ
served two winnowing machines, while found,
perhaps, dozen of instances of people separa-
ting the grain from the chaff by means of the
wind and this, the proprietors of the machines
emil ct fbn h,l 49, ha pfry
The operation was uniformly performed on the
road side. A clean sheet was spread, upon
which sieve was laid-the operator then hold
ing basket above his head, shook from it the
mingled grain, dnst and chaff, and the process
of separation was afterwards rendered more
complete by means Of the sieve. Pigeon towers
abounded, and in farm yards which did not boast
any, and infnity of roughly made open Cages
were frequently suspended as roosting places
for the birds beneath the caves. Irrigation
forming an important part of the vine and vege.
| table culture obont Rlois the ground is pierced