Agricultural schools, with even a single acre of land attached, and worked by the elder boys on a system of rotation adapted to the ground and to the district in which it happened to be situated, would soon effect a wonderful reformation in the farming of the country. That such would be the happy result, is self-evident; and we are strengthened in our conviction by having witnessed in very many instances the good effect of the agricultural education imparted at Templemoyle, in the county of Londonderry. Entertaining these views, we need hardly say how much we were gratified by a visit to one of these schools a short time since, situated in a remote and secluded part of the county of Donegal. Here, on the estate of Sir Charles Styles, Bart., and under the direction of his efficient agent, whose anxiety and exertions towards bettering the condition of the poor of this county are well known and appreciated, we found a small piece of ground being laid out into five divisions, as an example of the five-course rotation suited to that part of the country; in the school-room were suspended tables, exhibiting at one view, plain, practical instructions as to the season for performing the different work on the farm; the quantity and best kind of seeds to be sown; and, in one word, the modus operandi, according to the most improved practice; and the proficiency of many of the boys, not only in agriculture, but in levelling and surveying, was most creditable. We cannot, perhaps, better second the exertions of Captain Kennedy and other philanthropists engaged in the regeneration of their country, than by bringing under the notice of the public an instance of the successful working of the system we have here advocated.
The undrained fenceless farm, with its many-angled small fields and crooked ridges, exhausted to the last degree by successive corn crops, is still but too general; and the habitations, notwithstanding the marked improvement in their appearance in many places, in many others accord but too faithfully with the melancholy picture that has been drawn of them by so many observers—“walls decayed, roofs bent and sunken, thatch tattered, no windows, no chimneys; the turf-smoke rolling slowly from the doors, or seeking its way through the chinks and crevices innumerable with which these hovels abound. The appearance of the inmates corresponds with that of the miserable tenements—ill clad, squalid, haggard, listless and idle, in every countenance discontent strongly marked, and in some an expression akin to despair.” Such is the description given by Mr Weld in his Statistical Survey of Roscommon, taken in 1831. One epithet in that accurate description requires to be qualified to those who have not seen the interesting and highly valuable work from which it is taken. The poor of Elphin were “idle,” not of choice, but because the employment which offered itself in the wastes and sites for manufactories with which he describes the country to abound, were not rendered available; and throughout the country, wherever idleness and its concomitant misery are observable, there also it will be found that these evils are traceable to a want of sympathy and exertion on the part of the owners of the soil; for abundantly remunerating employment abounds in every part of the country. We cannot resist, even at the risk of extending this paper beyond the limits which we had at first proposed to ourselves, the temptation to bring forward an instance of that industry which we have never seen wanting when the inducement or even the possibility of exercising it with effect was present, afforded too by these same “idle” people of Elphin, as recorded in the same work. “Girls,” observes Mr Weld, “amongst whom some were really pretty and delicate, and of an age and frame of body seemingly but ill-suited to the task, sought a precarious and hard-earned livelihood in hawking turf about the town in cleaves, which they had carried on their backs from the bog, distant about two miles. The ordinary weight of one of these cleaves was three stones, or forty-two pounds, sometimes more. The price asked for two cleaves was only 3½d, but as demands of this kind ordinarily exceed the selling price, 1½d might probably be set down as the utmost price of a single cleave; from this was to be deducted the price of the turf at the bog, the small surplus being all the gains for bearing this heavy burden, mostly up hill, and afterwards hawking it from house to house.” The cattle in the demesnes of the gentry and on dairy farms have in like manner been greatly improved within a few years, but amongst the small farmers the description of stock is in many places bad in the extreme; improvement in this branch of economy cannot take place, however, except as the consequence of an improved system of farming. As a powerful means of extending a knowledge of improved husbandry, if properly exercised, we have regarded since their establishment the National Schools of Ireland.
A cotemporary says, “The agriculture of Bavaria has experienced a great improvement in consequence of the system of national education which has been adopted, and by the teaching of agriculture and gardening both by books and examples in the schools. One of the first consequences was an improved rotation of crops. Almost the whole of the details of agricultural improvement in Bavaria have originated with M. Hazzi, an agricultural writer, and editor of an agricultural journal in Munich. The activity and patriotic benevolence of this gentleman are beyond all praise. It was chiefly through his exertions that a piece of ground was added to every parochial school in Bavaria, to be cultivated by the scholars in their leisure hours, under the direction of the master. In these schools, Hazzi’s Catechism of Gardening, of Agriculture, of Domestic Economy and Cookery, of Forest Culture, of Orchard Culture, and others, all small duodecimo volumes with woodcuts, sold at about fourpence each, are taught to all the boys; and those of Gardening, the Management of Silk Worms, and Domestic Economy, to the girls. Since these schools have come into action, an entirely new generation of cultivators has arisen; and the consequence is, that agriculture in Bavaria, and especially what may be called cottage agriculture and economy, is, as far as we are able to judge, carried to a higher degree of perfection than it is any where else in the central states of Germany; at all events, we can affirm that we never saw finer crops of drilled Swedish and common turnips, or finer surfaces of young clover, than we observed along the road sides in October and November 1828. The fences also were generally in perfect order, and a degree of neatness appeared about the cottages which is far from common either in France or Germany. These remarks are not the results of observations made, as is frequently the case, from the cabriolet of a public diligence, but from deliberate inspection. The result of the whole of the information procured, and of the observations made, is, that we think the inhabitants of Bavaria promise soon to be, if they are not already, among the happiest people in Germany.”
M.
Circassian Women.—We observed two women looking out of a balcony, and earnestly beckoning to us. We entered the house, and saw two Russian grenadiers, who by a mistake of their corporal had taken their quarters here, and whose presence was the cause of the inquietude manifested by the two ladies, who, with an old man, were the only inhabitants of the house. Whilst the soldiers were explaining these things to us, they appeared at the top of the stairs, and again renewed their invitation by violent gesticulations. On a nearer approach, we guessed by their age that they were mother and daughter. The former, who still preserved much of the freshness and beauty of youth, wore very wide trousers, a short tunic, and a veil, which fell in graceful folds on her back; while round her neck she had some valuable jewels, though badly mounted. With respect to the daughter, who was scarcely fifteen years of age, she was so extraordinarily beautiful, that both my companion and myself remained awhile motionless, and struck with admiration. Never in my life have I seen a more perfect form. Her dress consisted of a short white tunic, almost transparent, fastened only at the throat by a clasp. A veil, negligently thrown over one shoulder, permitted part of her beautiful ebony tresses to be seen. Her trousers were of an extremely fine tissue, and her socks of the most delicate workmanship. The old man received us in a room adjoining the staircase; he was seated on the carpet, smoking a small pipe, according to the custom of the inhabitants of the Caucasus, who cultivate tobacco. He made repeated signs to us to sit down, that is to say, in the Asiatic manner—a posture extremely inconvenient for those who like ourselves wore long and tight trousers, whilst the two beautiful women on their side earnestly seconded his request. We complied with it, though it was the first time that either of us made the essay. The ladies, having left the room for a moment, returned with a salver of dried fruits, and a beverage made with sugar and milk; but I was so much engaged in admiring their personal attractions, that I paid but little attention to their presents. It appeared to me an inconceivable caprice of nature to have produced such prodigies of perfection amidst such a rude and barbarous people, who value their women less than their stirrups. My companion, who like myself was obliged to accept of their refreshments, remarked to me, whilst the old man was conversing with them, what celebrity a woman so transcendantly beautiful as the daughter was, would acquire in any of the capitals of Europe, had she but received the benefits of a suitable education.—New Monthly Magazine.
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