Use of Kail Stalks in Jersey.

incur blame. His first object is not so much given, and accepted."-QUAYLE's Jersey, p. gain, or to raise disposable produce, as it is to 59. manage his small domain in such a mode as to secure through the year a supply of those articles which his family exigencies require. When pursuing the track which his forefathers' experience has proved to be best calculated to attain that end, he is on safe ground. Experiments which farmers of greater experience, capital, and extent of holding might make, it would be unsafe for him to repeat."-QUAYLE's Jersey, p. 53.

Poor Laws in Jersey.

"IN these Islands, the English policy has been adopted, in imposing by law on those in good circumstances the necessity of maintaining the indigent. In the several parishes the Connétables with their officers, and the principal inhabitants, are enjoined to provide subsistence weekly for the poor incapable of labour, and to procure work for those capable of it. In order to defray the expense, the vestries are authorized to impose taxes on the parishioners. In each parish are officers called Surveillans, named in vestry; who appear to exercise the functions both of churchwardens and overseers, and who have under their immediate direction the Trésor de l'Eglise, and La Charité.

"The minister, connétable and surveillans of each parish, are authorised to give to paupers incapable of labour, a written permission to ask charity, but solely within the bounds of their own parish. In case of any person giving alms to beggars not in possession of this written permission, he incurs a penalty of 60 sous for each offence; one-third to the informer, and twothirds to the poor.

"In fulfilling the last object of the duty imposed on the parish officers, there is at present no difficulty: persons willing and able to work need not apply to the connétable to point out an employer. And happily, in executing the remaining part of their duty with regard to the poor, the trouble incumbent on them is not considerable. Among the lower classes, it is held disgraceful to be subsisted on charity. Industry does not relax from a reliance on parochial relief; but every effort is made to preserve themselves and their nearest connexions from that necessity. In some parishes, there are not at present any persons receiving relief: in others, the charitable donation of rents bestowed in former times, and forming a perpetual fund for the maintenance of the poor, under the term of la Charité, or Trésor des Pauvres, together with the amount of sums received at the churchdoors, and by legacies, are sufficient to meet their exigencies.

"It is usual in almost all wills, to make some bequest in favour of the poor: if this be omitted by persons in good circumstances, it is noticed as remarkable: even by those in the humblest classes, the poor are then rarely forgotten. A legacy of half-a-crown is often

"AFTER reserving for seed the best plants the remainder are rooted out in spring; but by no means cease to be useful. They have then attained the height of six feet and above; part are chopped up, dried, and used as fuel; the taller stalks are carefully preserved. Those of a slender form are used as supporters for scarlet runners, and for other purposes: the stout and tall stems have sufficient solidity to serve as rafters under thatching of houses. On demolishing, during the present year, a shed standing in the parish of Grouville, which was ascertained by the proprietor to have been erected at least 80 years, a rude ceiling of clay-daubing was demolished, which was found to be laid on these kail-stalks, not then wholly in decay."-QUAYLE's Jersey, p. 96.

Manure Wasted in Guernsey.

"THE Boueur or public scavenger of the town, after relieving the inhabitants from the various substances which it is his employment to take away (every one of which would be found useful on a heavy soil, and some of them, for instance coal-ashes and bones, are among the most valuable), after collecting and carrying them out, throws them into the sea. In the neighbourhood of one of the barracks, the emptying and removal of the night-soil having become necessary, carts were observed carrying it on the lands of a neighbouring farmer. On enquiry, it appeared that he did the contractors the favour of accepting it, on being conveyed to his land gratis."-QUAYLE's Guernsey, p. 276.

Law.

"Throat. And how think'st thou of Law?
"Dash. Most reverently:

Law is the world's great light; a second sun
To this terrestrial globe, by which all things
Have life and being, and without the which
Confusion and disorder soon would seize
The general state of men war's outrages,
The ulcerous deeds of peace, it curbs and
cures;

It is the Kingdom's eye, by which she sees
The acts and thoughts of men.

"Throat. The Kingdom's eye!

I tell thee, fool, it is the Kingdom's nose,
By which she smells out all these rich trans-
gressors.

Nor is't of flesh, but merely made of wax;
And 'tis within the power of us lawyers
To wrest this nose of wax which way we please.
Or it may be, as thou say'st, an eye indeed;
But if it be, 'tis sure a woman's eye,
That's ever rolling.

LODOWICK BARRY, Ram Alley.—Old
Plays, vol. 5, p. 381-2.

Mohammedan Saints.

| God;' and that this leaf alone falls. Very many Mohammedans, who were worthy of belief, told me this; and said, that they had witnessed its fall, and had read the writing; and further, that every year, at the time of the fall, credible persons among the Mohammedans, as well as others of the infidels, sat beneath the tree waiting for the fall of the leaf; and when this took place, that the one half was taken by the Mohammedans, as a blessing, and for the purpose of curing their diseases; and the other by the king of the infidel city, and laid up in his treasury as a blessing; and that this is constantly received among them. Now the grandfather of the present king could read the Arabic; he witnessed, therefore, the fall of the leaf, read the inscription, and, understanding its import, became a Mohammedan accordingly. At the time of his death he appointed his son, who was a violent infidel, to succeed him. This man adhered to his own religion, cut down the tree, tore up its roots, and effaced every vestige of it.

THE LORD, who is the object of worship, has, in the revelation, made the proof of Mohammed's mission permanent; and to shew this have the saints been constituted, and that this proof should be constantly apparent. These he has in the Scripture appointed to be Lords of the World, so that they are set apart entirely for his service, and for following up the requirements of the soul. It is to bless their tracks that the rains of heaven descend, and to purify their state that the herbs of the earth spring up; and it is from their care, that the Moslems obtain victory over idolaters. Now these, which are invisible, are four thousand; of each other they know nothing, nor are they aware of the dignity of their own state. In every case, too, they are concealed from one another and from mortals. To this effect have relations been given, and to the same have various saints spoken; and for this, to the praise of God, have sages instructed. But of those who have this power of loosing and bind-After two years the tree grew, and regained its ing, and are officers of the court of the true God, there are three hundred whom they style Akhyar. Forty others of them they call Abdal, seven others Abrar, four others Awtad, three others Nokaba, and one whom they name Kotb and Ghauth.. The author of the Fatuhati Mecca, chap. 198, sect. 31, calls the seven-stated men Abdal; and goes on to shew, that the Almighty has made the earth consisting of seven climates, and that seven of his choice servants he has named Abdal; and, further, that he takes care of these climates by one or other of these seven persons. He has also stated, that he met them all in the temple at Mecca; that he saluted them, and they returned the salute: and conversed with them, and that he never witnessed anything more excellent or more devoted to God's service."-IBN BATUTA's Travels,-Hindustan, p. 153.

Mohammedan Tree.

"We next came to Dadkannan, which is a large city abounding with gardens, and situated upon a mouth of the sea. In this are found the betel leaf and nut, the cocoanut and colocassia. Without the city is a large pond for retaining water; about which are gardens. The king is an infidel.

His grandfather, who has become Mohammedan, built its mosque and made the pond. The cause of the grandfather's receiving Islamism was a tree, over which he had built the mosque. This tree is a very great wonder; its leaves are green, and like those of the fig, except only that they are soft. The tree is called Darakhti Shahadet (the tree of testimony), darakht meaning tree. I was told in these parts, that this tree does not generally drop its leaves; but, at the season of autumn in every year, one of them changes its colour, first to yellow, then to red; and that upon this is written, with the pen of power, 'There is no God but God; Mohammed is the Prophet of

original state, and in this it now is. This king died suddenly; and none of his infidel descendants, since his time, has done anything to the tree."-IBN BATUTA's Travels,-Hindustan, p. 170.

Gold Ingots and Paper Money in India. "IT is a custom with their merchants, for one to melt down all the gold and silver he may have into pieces, each of which will weigh a talent or more, and to lay this up over the door of his house. Any one who happens to have five such pieces, will put a ring upon his finger; if he have ten, he will put on two. He who possesses fifteen such, is named El Sashi; and the piece itself they call a Bakala. Their transactions are carried on with paper; they do not buy nor sell either with the dirhem or the dinar; but should any one get any of these into his possession, he would melt them down into pieces. As to the paper, every piece of it is in extent about the measure of the palm of the hand, and is stamped with the King's stamp. Five-and-twenty of such notes are termed a Shat; which means the same thing as a dinar with us. But when these papers happen to be torn, or worn out by use, they are carried to their house, which is just like the mint with us, and new ones are given in place of them by the King. This is done without interest, the profit arising from their circulation accruing to the King. When any one goes to the market with a dinar or dirhem in his hand, no one will take it until it has been changed for these notes."IBN BATUTA'S Travels,-China, p. 209.

Good Effects of a Resident Landlord. "No estates are better managed and no tenantry are more happy, than where the proprietor at once possesses the knowledge and the inclination to inspect his own affairs. When

estates are left wholly to the controul of agents, the connection between the owner and the occupier is dissolved or interrupted: it is the object of the representative to diminish all expenses but his own, and of the tenant to remain passive and inactive, provided he can gain a living, and avoid giving offence. It was observed to me by a tenant of a detached estate, belonging to the late Richard Palmer, Esq. of Hurst, a man whose premature death is a loss to his family, his friends, his dependants, and the public, that the principal request he ever made to his landlord was, 'that he might always be allowed to pay his rent to him in person.' He knew the value of this intercourse, and I am convinced he spoke the general feeling of respectable tenants.

"On the other hand, it is the proudest rank a country gentleman can hold, to live on his estates, and to diffuse happiness around him, by example, by encouragement, and by advice; to be the friend, the father of his dependants, and to grow old among those whom he has known from the earliest dawn of recollection. In cities and at public places, the land-owner is frequently eclipsed by the successful votaries of trade and commerce; but on his native domains, he resumes his consequence, and feels the importance of his situation."-MAVOR'S Survey of Berkshire, P. 51.

Mavor's Opinion of Small Farms.

ing state of agriculture; but still I contend, that a mixture of all sizes of farms is best for the public, as bringing men of different capitals and talents into action, and giving that scope for independence which is the pride and the glory of any country."-MAVOR's Survey of Berkshire, P. 79.

History of the Heart Trefoil.

"HEART TREFOIL, or snail-shell medick (medicago arabica). This plant, though indigenous, has probably never been cultivated except in Berkshire, and its history is remarkable. In his voyage round the world, Captain Vanvouver found some seeds in a vessel which had been wrecked on a desert island, and on his return he presented some of them to his brother, John Vancouver, Esq. then residing near Newbury. Mr. Vancouver gave some of the seeds to Mr. James Webb, of Well-house, in the parish of Frilsham, who imparted his treasure to his brother, Mr. Robert Wells, of Calcott, in the parish of Tylehurst, between Reading and Newbury. The seeds were sown; expectation was raised; Dr. Lamb and Mr. Bicheno, of Newbury, with the vigilance of botanists, examined their progress, and were in hopes to have been able to announce to the agricultural world a valuable plant from the remotest islands in the Pacific, when lo! it turned out to be the medicago arabica, which is a native Berkshire plant. This fortuitous introduction, however, of the heart trefoil is likely to be advantageous. The two brothers have cultivated it with success; say it produces a luxuriant herbage, and that cattle are excessively fond of it. It stands the winter well, and a crop may be obtained at any time. It has the advantage of lucern, in not being easily choaked, and in growing on a light soil, but without doubt produces the greatest abundance in a good soil.' They have hitherto sown it broad-cast, and are determined to persevere, having now collected a sufficient quantity of seed to extend their experiments to some acres of land."-MAVOR's Survey of Berkshire, p. 291.

Oxen versus Horses.—The King's Experiment.

“Ir will be allowed, indeed, by every candid observer, that in the present state of agriculture, a man who is to depend solely on farming can have little prospect of supporting a family, and of contributing in any considerable degree to the public supply, who occupies less land than will employ a team of three or four horses; but at the same time I cannot help thinking, that five farmers of that description would raise more marketable produce than one who monopolized the same quantity of land, and who could derive a handsome income merely from superintendence and judgement. A labouring farmer, or a man who is obliged personally to work, is not less useful in the scale of human society than he whose capital enables him to occupy half a parish, and to live in a degree of style and affluence suitable to his means. I have heard it "THE comparative advantages of the labour maintained, indeed, that the former must work of horses and oxen have been for some time harder than a day labourer, and it probably is under the consideration of the public. His the case; but then his toils are sweetened by Majesty has unquestionably tried the latter upon the reflection, that he is to reap the fruits of his a larger scale than any other person, as he does own industry, and that he has no occasion to not work less than 180 oxen upon his different apply for parochial relief, either for himself or farms, parks, and gardens, and has found them his family. This important consideration should to answer so well, that there is not now a horse not be overlooked in such discussions. Volun-kept. Upon the two farms and the Great Park, tary labour is no hardship; and living on humble 200 are kept, including those coming on and fare is no privation, to him who feels that he is going off. Forty are bought in every year, providing against the contingencies of fortune, rising three years, and are kept as succession and laying up something against the approach oxen in the Park; 120 are under work; and 40 of age. It is incontestibly the man of property every year are fatted off, rising seven years. alone who can afford to make essential improvements, and to such we owe the present flourish

"The working oxen are mostly divided into teams of six, and one of the number is every

to cottages is therefore indispensable, and in country parishes it might always be attaina ble."-MAVOR's Survey of Berkshire, p. 475.

day rested, so that no ox works more than five or pigs, where there was an opportunity of days out of the seven. This day of ease in keeping the former, have yielded the same adevery week besides Sunday is of great advantage vantages. A certain quantity of land attached to the animal, as he is found to do better with ordinary keep and moderate labour, than he would do with high keep and harder labour. In short, this is the first secret to learn concerning him; for an ox will not admit of being kept in condition like a horse, artificially, by proportionate food to proportionate labour.

Taxation descending too Low, in its Direct Form

The

"I HAVE known two families, consisting to "These oxen are never allowed any corn as gether of thirteen persons, brought to the work it would prevent their fatting so kindly after- house, and maintained by the parish at an wards. Their food in summer is only a few expense of about two hundred pounds a year, vetches by way of a bait, and the run of coarse owing to an imprudent collection of taxes hav meadows, or what are called leasows, being ing distrained about twenty shillings on each rough woody pastures. In winter they have family. But a still greater number of poor nothing but cut food, consisting of two-thirds arise from various classes just above want, who hay and one-third wheat-straw; and the quantity are able to support themselves so long as their they eat in twenty-four hours is about twenty-several concerns go on with success. four pounds of hay and twelve of straw; and on the days of rest, they range as they like in the straw-yards; for it is to be observed, that they are not confined to hot stables, but have open sheds, under which they eat their cut provender, and are generally left to their choice to go in and out. Under this management, as four oxen generally plough an acre a day, and do other work in proportion, there can be no doubt but their advantage is very great over horses, and the result to the public highly beneficial."MAVOR'S Survey of Berkshire, p. 339.

Good Servants becoming scarce, as Small Farms have disappeared.

"Ir is greatly to be lamented, that good servants every year become more scarce and difficult to be found. The best domestics used to be found among the sons and daughters of little farmers; they were brought up in good principles, and in habits of industry; but since that valuable order of men has been so generally reduced in every county, and almost annihilated in some, servants are of necessity taken from a lower description of persons, and the consequences are felt in most families. This is one of the many ill effects arising from a monopoly of land."-MAVOR'S Survey of Berkshire, p. 416.

A Family supported by a Small Garden. "IT is wonderful how much may be produced from a small spot of ground, well managed, both for the use of families and for sale. The family of Anns, residing in the village of Steventon, consisting of a brother and two sisters, between eighty and ninety years of age, lately or now, with the addition of a very small independent property, maintained themseves by raising flower roots and small shrubs in their little garden, which they sold round the country. With less industry and ingenuity, in various parishes, I have found that the produce of the orchard, in favourable seasons, has paid the rent of the premises; and sometimes that geese

least reverse is ruinous: a bad debt of a few pounds, the long sickness or death of the man or his wife, and a thousand other causes, are the ruin of numbers."-MIDDLETON'S Survey of Middlesex, p. 78.

Evil of Commons in Middlesex.

But

"ON estimating the value of the Commons in this county, including every advantage that can be derived from them, in pasturage, locality of situation, and the barbarous system of turbary, it appears that they do not produce to the community, in their present state, more than four shillings per acre! On the other hand, they are, in many instances, of real injury to the public, by holding out a lure to the poor man, I mean of materials wherewith to build his cottage, and ground to erect it upon, together with firing and the run of his poultry and pigs for nothing. This is, of course, temptation sufficient to induce a great number of poor persons to settle on the borders of such commons. the mischief does not end here; for, having gained these trifling advantages, through the neglect or connivance of the Lord of the Manor, it unfortunately gives their minds an improper bias, and inculcates a desire to live, from that time forward with little labour. The animals kept by this description of persons, it is soon discovered by their owners, are not likely to afford them much revenue, without better feed than the scanty herbage of a common; hence they are tempted to pilfer corn, hay, and roots, towards their support; and as they are still dependent on such a deceptious supply, to answer the demands of their consumption, they are in some measure constrained to resort to various dishonest means, to make up the deficiency.

"Another very serious evil which the public suffers from commons, is, that they are the constant rendezvous of gypseys, strollers, and other loose persons, living under tents which they carry with them from place to place. Most of these persons have asses, many of them horses, nay, some of them have even covered carts, which answer the double purpose of a

caravan for concealing and carrying off the tion he would cut off an ear; and for the third, property they have stolen, and also of a house the other: it was only for the fourth commisfor sleeping in at night. They usually stay sion that he put to death. We ourselves saw two or three nights at a place; and the cattle a circumstance, in the conduct of those people, which they keep, serve to transport their few that strikes one with horror; viz. that their articles of furniture from one common to another. priests are carried out to execution. Yet the These, during the stay of their owners, are Beg, with all this severity, is unable to reform turned adrift to procure what food they can find them. in the neighbourhood of their tents, and the deficiency is made up from the adjacent haytsacks, barns, and granaries. They are not known to buy any hay or corn, and yet their cattle are supplied with these articles, of good quality. The women and children beg and pilfer, and the men commit greater acts of dishonesty in manners."-Travels of Macarius, p. 62. short, the Commons of this county are well known to be the constant resort of foot-pads and highwaymen, and are literally and proverbially a public nuisance."-MIDDLETON'S Survey of Middlesex, p. 117.

Fish like the Cock and Hen of La Calzada. "Ar the distance of a quarter of a mile from the walls, is Balukli, or the Church of Fishes. The church is so called from a legend that has rendered it very celebrated among the Greeks. There stood on this place a small monastery of Greek Calayers, when Mahomet laid siege to Constantinople; who, it seems, were not molested by his army. On the day of the decisive attack, a monk was frying some fish, when news was suddenly brought to the convent, that the Turks had entered the town, through the breach in the walls. I would as soon believe,' said he, 'that these fried fish would spring from the pan, and become again alive. To reprove the incredulous monk, the fish did spring from the pan, into a vessel of water which stood near, and swam about as if they had never been taken out of it. In commemoration of this miracle, a church was erected over the spot, containing a reservoir of water, into which the fish, which still continued alive, were placed. The twenty-ninth of April was appointed, in the Greek Calendar, as a festival to commemorate the circumstance; and a vast concourse of people used to assemble here on every anniversary-day, to see the miraculous and everlasting fishes swim about the reservoir." DR. WALSH.-Travels of Macarius, p. 32.

Character of the Moldavians.—Fourteen Thou

sand Robbers put to death! "GOD ALMIGHTY has not created upon the face of the earth a more vicious people than the Moldavian; for the men are all of them murderers and robbers. It is calculated, that since the time that Vasili became Beg, about twenty-three years, he has put to death more than fourteen thousand robbers, by register of judgement. And yet he condemned not to death for the first crime; but used to flog, and torture, and pillory the criminal; afterwards setting him at liberty. For the second perpetra- |

"As to their wives and daughters, they are utterly destitute of modesty and character; and though the Beg cuts off their noses, and puts them in the pillory, and drowns many of them, so as to have caused some thousands of them to perish, yet he proves too weak to correct their

Moldavia in the same Physical State as when the Venedi inhabited it. An Aquatic Population. "THE aspect of Moldavia is very singular; perhaps, at this æra, unique. There are two other districts in Europe which probably once resembled it greatly: but the progress of civilization and agriculture, during the course of a few centuries, has altered them; whilst Moldavia remains in its primitive state. It is intersected with marshes and small lakes, in a degree curious beyond all description. Mecklenburg Strelitz, and La Vendée in France, were formerly in the same state. La Vendée is now nearly drained; and the lakes of Mecklenburg are filling up. All these three countries were inhabited by the Venedic nations, or the people who dwelt on fens; the same tribes who first inhabited that part of England now called Cambridgeshire. The ancient Venedi appear to have been, like the Dutch of the present day, the beavers of the human race-all their settlements were upon the banks of small lakes, or by the sides of fens. What instinct could have led them to choose such situations, it is difficult to conjecture: but it is probable that their diet was fish, and the flesh of water-birds; and finding, probably, that the noxious effluvia from the marshes were best obviated by covering them with water, they constructed dams across the narrows and rapids of the small rivers, and filled the marshy hollows with water; around which they dwelt in security, and lived upon the salmon and wild-fowl which they fattened in these artificial lakes. Most of the rivers in Moldavia are, at this hour, intersected with weirs, which dam the waters, and form ponds: mills are built on these weirs, and the villages are placed around them. The face of the country consists of undulating steppes, of vast extent, covered with the most luxuriant crops of grass. Their mononotous aspect is only interrupted, from time to time, by these small round lakes, fringed with villages of the most primeval character."-DR. NEALE's Travels.—Travels of Macarius, p. 65.

Workhouse Experiment in Hertfordshire.
"THE state of my parish workhouse was