Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 24th March 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Page 19

Page 19
Page 19
19 of 24

On this page

  • Text (2)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Four Novels. Thorney-Hall: A Story .Of A...

      taioed ^ power . - and ,, uninterrupted : interesfct-in , other * words , reall y * a » , work ° ^( twoilastcljorfcao < mi oiuv list i do not require- any * very lraigthened . oritLcisni . TAe £ fcife is evidently ,-wbatiitria ; assorted to beMmthft Preface-the work of a young writer ; who , we may add , has the hard preparatory part ofhisprofessionasan author still to pass through . Under these circumstances , we will not go the-length of passmg any final judgment just yet on the gentleman who writes under the not very ; happily-chosen » fancy-name-, of"Philip Phosphorus . " We infinitely-prefer-the more lenient course of < nvin <* him time to try again . He-has > evidently devoted much industry . to the collection of historical ; materials forhis presenkTale ,. and : has been sincoEely-anxious to * turn them- to tb & best' romantic use . We would recommend him , when next he-tries his pen , to ^ be rather less modestly careful to model his work according to those " establishediprecedents ? towards which he has hitherto looked with suob deep respect . He should ! remember that wrote accord

      the first and greatest of historical novelists , Sir Walter bcottj - ing to no " precedents / ' but-invented for himselfy and consequently revolt * . lionised the fictitious literature of Europe . It is good ; even , for the smallest ? author to try if he cannot at least- imitate , in some degree , the self-dependence of thegreatesfe . As to On & ina , Thousand and-Crichton—which we arc astonished to find Mr . " Philip Phosphorus ?" actually classing in hi » Preface with such a masterpiece as Quentin JDurward f —the less reverently our young author looks to that kind of historical novel-writing the better it will be for his future prospects with the romance-readers of the present day . Our World is another American .. book , against , slavery , with some hard back-handed hits . at democracy , " downSouth .: ' Our . world over here in England , has , had enough of Oncle-Tomerie . ( a & the-French phrase is ) , and th ;& baok ; is not likely to stimulate afresbutbe satiated national appetite . The jiuthor-unauesfcionablv oossesses creat knowledge of , hisisubjeet , and discloses

      his- slave-horrors with honest , hearty * and sometimes most vigorous andignas tion against the slave system , and'all who uphold'it . But he-writes , either in sucfra- hurry * or with such overpoweringly-strong feelings , that he has no time to cultivate the graces , or even the intelligibilities of style . He dashes along haphazard , beginning sentences in one tense and ending them m another , confounding , antecedents and relatives ,, careless of tautology , and reckles & , of . Lindley Murray . Between his carelessness as a writer and the intensely Xankee character of . the language—it certainly is not . English- — in whioh . he- ^ rrites ,, heis frequently entirely unintelligible to the native British reader ^ For example , a slave-owneris deny ing ,-thatniggers have souls , and sentence The

      a reverend deacon , answers him in this incomprehensible : — " task of proving your theory would be rendered difficult if you . were to-, transcend ' uponM ' scale ofblood . " Again , anjndignant woman-slave , on beino- reminded that slie is liable to be sold , answers enigmatically to a freeyoung lady : " To sell roe . ! Had you measured the depth- of pain in that word , Franconia , your lips had never given it utterance . To sell me ! Tis that . The ~ difference is wide indeed , but the point is sharpest"' Sentences of this kind , and sentences filled with the most astounding Americanisms , abound in the book . It would have been only charitable to the author to have had his work revised by some careful " Britisher" before publishing it in England . . —

      .Muwbcmo865.] Ts:E: X.Ea-Dejb.. 2ss.

      . MUWBCMO 865 . ] TS : E : X . EA-DEJB .. 2 SS .

      Bural Economy. The Rural Economy Of Engl...

      BURAL ECONOMY . The Rural Economy of England , Scotland , and Ireland . By L ^ once de ' . Lavergne Translated "from the French , with -Notes by a Scotch Farmer . William Blaekwood and , Sons 4 It is only of recent date that agriculture has been allbwed to assume her true pbsition , among-the industrial arts . . When population was thin , and the land unexhausted * the part taken , by the farmer in the production of corn , and , the raising of cattle , was not such as to entitle him to claim authorship . in . respect to : them . He did little more than scratch the surface , scatte r * the seed , and . wait . for harvest ; than , allow his cattle and . sheep , to wander ; at ! will ; on the meadows < and uplands till , he wanted them for slaughter . He used such seed . aa suited his soil ,, never dreaming that he mi ^ ht suit the soil to the-seed v he left his-cattle very much to tbemselveain thiTrutting season , took such fleece and flesh as-they yielded spontaneously , and as long as * there was enough to eat ' and' be clothed w-itHwitbal , in however simple a style , he was highly thankful . But when population increased , nnd the necessity for a greater produce became pressing ; , these old' " arts "

      of culture were found insufficient ; and then , as at alltimes , necessity proved thanxftther of invention . Inventions and innovations followed . Want , and in their ,-turn made an increase of population both possible and desirable . England ,. which ^ nder . the Stua . rts . was r barely able , to feed itself , waB . thus able a bundrediy ears later to supports doubled -population * , and at the same time to * export nearly a million-quai-ters of corn ; . But ., even the means , wliicli wrought this great change in her economy woro dostinedrito be proved insufficient in : their turn , and superseded by higher-raethodsv Undor the Stuarts Eng land ' hardly produced-two million quarters of ' whoat ; m the roiga . of George the Second—the middle of last century—this produce had already doubled ; and now , under Victoria , we are advancing from thirteen million quarters ! And it is highly probable that this enormous produce of wUeatifrpra . EngJjiah lauda will De doubled within the next half century hy , moanaodPi highrfarming , With this immense increase in production , populatiortihas-fairlyikept paoe . ; it . has doubled since 1800 , and in some . districts

      even * tripled ,- so-. that , the pressure under which all . this progress has been madei & no les * nowthan . it was im the days of the Charleses * Thus the agricultural revolution"which has been silently working-itselfrottt- during the last hundred years ; iA as yet incomplete . Ruml economy , and all the arts of increasing production , are still eagerly-studied , from necessity , by a poorfb constantly ; pressihgon tlie Maltlmsmn limit . Her * nfr least-, if no-, where , ols ^ ,. agriculture has had' her tru e place assigned to her , with-capital , skiUi . ivttd modern scionco as her handmaidens . _ M * hilo . SAMdjuhfta boon tlie case in regard to agriculture in Ehgland , its piv > gr . W » i oUwwhero . has . been , steady ,, if not so rapid ,, and if not in a parnllel direction . In Fi-ance , from many causea ,, the revolution has

      been * leas complete , and—if . the phrase may be periOwtteditrrdwerant utt kind : Ia > the pjariod ! withi »< which our ; population bas ^ djoublfte ^ . that o & Franoehas . increased- only by . a fourth , and , than ; thift of , popujfttieav there j is < no * better : test , of a . nation's : progress in the arts of , production ^ TJxeta explanationiof this < disparity isbto be ^ sought . for , in . a > . varietyiof « considera- * - tions . The nature of the land and climate favours France ; . the causes . of it » c retardation * therefore , must he closely connected with its political-and civil historyVand the ' teinperameBt and . habits of , its people ; and . there is nodoubt thatiits unsettled state * , its long and bloody , revolutions , vand . bad govornmefttsiin . times of peace * , go far to explain the neglected state of itsv a « rioulturev . But :. there . is still another cause for our- superiority more im .. - .

      portant < even ; than this o £ government . The causes of the wealth and greatr ness of nations-began to-be understood with us earlier than witb . ; our heighboursi Among : us too appeared Arkwright and Watt , to give , us-, the . iirst chance of workingrout economic theories ; and no sooner did commerce and manufactures begin . to advance than agriculture received an impulse which has never since ceased to influence it . ; and what the above-named ii ^ enious men- didi for trade and manufactures * , was-effected by Arthur ; Young and Hakewell for agriculture .. Steaan navigation and railways have contributed in . the highest degree to this progress by throwing all . the markets of the country , and the world equallyropen to our farmers * and thus rendering the amwikn £ \ a . r < re towns ;—tiadiniEand manufaoturing centres ^— amadvantage to

      the whole body of agriculturists , whereas ^ . withfthe old methoda-of . transport , they would have benefited only such as-were in . their immediate : vicinity * Thus , then , our advantage over our neighbours the French , hag-resulted from a . confluence of circumstances , including our commercial : and manufacturing , prosperity as well as : our superior political . and civil institutions . Hi ^ h-farming constitutes the last phase of the agricultural revolution which we have indicated above . In this the old ) distinctions between agriculture and the manufacturing industries are being gradually lost . It would perplex our grandfathers could they hear us speaking of corn and flesh as manufactured articles . A little reflection , however , would have convinced . them that , in spite of the apparent unnaturalness of the designation , and of the revolt from its application to products immediately animal , such as beef , it wash just and philosophic nevertheless . The . difficulty experienced , by some even now in conceding the propriety of this use of terms , arises chiefly from- two causes-:, the first , that they see in agriculture « T ™ turv > » . Uiw . t . Iv rftlied uDon , for her . active co-operation :. and . the second ,

      that the result is " organic ; " whereas in-most of the articles commonly called manufactured . nature ' s interference is indirect , at . least insensihle , and the result " inorgAnic , '' as was also the material from which it , was , formed * But small consideration is necessary to perceive that in . all cases wherein use is mad & of ebeanical . agents , of light ^ heat , steam , electricity , and so forth , nature is relied upon for active co-operation : as well as in the cultivation of corn or the raising of cattler-4 n the former directly to produce new comr pounds , in the latter by differentiation of cells and . tissues to produce new compounds also—the art consisting in either case in br inging , together the circumstances favourable tothe of

      necessary materials under . production the desired result . And thus nature being similarly depended upon in botli cases , though for dissimilar actions , the first ground of objection is : avoided ; and the second , there is . no doubt , is nothing more nor less than a . prejudice based , on the circumstance , that , the objectors being " organic" products themselves , sympathise with taeir kind , and , prefer , not to rank with , manur factures ! Whatever may be said to the contrary , a grain of corn , a turnip from Mr . MecmV < farm ,. or , abullock from his stalls , is as . much-a work oi art as the Apollo Belvidere ; and , in another point af view * , m much a manufacture as a Brummagem , pop-gun !

      Hi « h-farming is the latest attempt at a solution of tlie problem , How to get # 6 in the ; "land the largest amount of food and of- other necessaries , while yielding the largest . profit to the farmer and rent to the proprietor ? Along with tlie necessity of feeding the population , is another : that it shall be done at a certain price . Thus it becomes a question how to increase production , and at the same time lower its cost so as to make it profitable . To the solution of this , agriculture lias called in the aid of capital , science , and skill- and to the aid of these , enterprise . The solution presented . by these , stated briefly in a receipt ,. is as follows ;— Convert all pasturage lands and meadows into arable fields ; to fertilise these , drain them thoroughly , and grow artificial grasses and . roots ; on which feed as much live stock as , with the addition of artificial food—oil-cakes , & c—you can . To fatten your stock , prevent them taking exercise , coping them up in stalls ; feed them there faithfully and ' , unsparingly as above , carefully preserving their manure , with which , enriched by chemical adjuncts if necessary , fatten your fields . This receipt , to follow which requires much skill and ' capital , is said to lead to miraculous results ,, enabling the farmer , to nearly double his

      produce in cereals , and more than double his profits from live stock . It must be confessed , however , that this high-farming suggests' many delicate considerations , not as regards the profitableness of draining , tlie ., use of machinery , or the system of manuring , which arc all excellent , but in respect to stabulatibn or stall-feeding , which is the key to the entire scheme . It may not matter whether , our pastures are or are not to bo abana 6 ned the loss of green fields will be amply compensated by the duplication of the arablo lands ; it may not matter , except to some artists . of the Cooper and Lee school , should cattle bo no longer allowed to wade in pools , or lie of few will bo

      " huddled on the lea "—the injury to the sentimentality a more than counterbalanced by the quadruplication of the yearly supply of beef and mutton . But what is to bo feared is , that this hot-house system of fdrcing cattle with cooked victuals selected for then- fattening qualities , w . tli little regard to . their wholcsomcness , may at some date , not far m advance of tho , ' -success of the high-fiirming revolution , be rojudicial . to , the pub c health , as there is ground for fearing . t will soon deteriorate the breed of the poor , beasts who are manufactured by the above process into butchor-mcafc . Besides this , thenew life of these creatures is g " ^ ! ^ , ! ' , ^'^/ ' ° siht of some Hundreds of 'them coped up , wiUi their i ^ berbr bulks m

      g nSrow stuUa let they should lose weight by exorcise , is exceedngly disgusting ! One not actually engaged in this bocf factory can scarcely sit

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 24, 1855, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24031855/page/19/