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From The London Review.
PEDIGREE WHEAT.

means obtained, the excellence is propagated by grafting only, it being found that the seed cannot be depended on for this purpose.

The question then naturally occurred to Mr. Hallett, If this principle has been carried out with so much success in the breeding of every kind of domestic animal, and in the production of various kinds of plants and vegetables, why cannot it be adopted on the farm in regard to cereal produce? Having matured his thoughts on this subject, Mr. Hallett resolved to carry them out in practice; first by experiment, and afterwards by its full adoption in his farming operations. He selected that accidental type of wheat called

the Nursery Wheat," as the plant on which to experimentalize. The following is his own account of the modus operandi :

A PARTY of gentlemen interested in agriculture met the other day at the farm of Mr. F. F. Hallett, the Manor House, Brighton, to hear an explanation of his peculiar system of wheat culture, and to witness the proofs of its success on the land in his occupation. There are some curious principles involved in this system, which have been the subject of much controversy. We propose, therefore, to explain at length the plans adopted by Mr. Hallett. That gentleman, who was educated not as a farmer but for a civil engineer, is now in the occupation of six hundred acres of land, three hundred of which lie in the immediate vicinity of the town of Brighton, and form a part of the celebrated Southdowns, which, as sheep-walks or pas"The plan of selection pursued is as folturage, have given the name to one of the lows: A grain produces a stool, consisting of best and most popular of the breeds of sheep many ears. I plant the grains from these in this kingdom. A part of this home farm ears in such a manner that each ear occupies is a very poor, thin soil, from three to six a row by itself, each of its grains occupying inches in depth over the interminable chalk a hole in this row; the holes being twelve of the district. One portion, indeed, of the the most careful study and comparison of inches apart every way. At harvest, after farm was proverbially barren and intractable the stool from all these grains, I select the until it came into Mr. Hallett's hands four finest one, which I accept as a proof that its or five years since; so that if, in Brighton, parent grain was the best of all under the any extravagant scheme was proposed, it was peculiar circumstances of the season. This common to say, "you may just as well at- process is repeated annually, starting every year with the proved best grain, although the tempt to wheat on such a hill," naming verification of this superiority is not obtained the doomed spot. All the summits and until the following harvest. During these breasts of those hills are more or less of this investigations, no single circumstance has character, the bottoms or low grounds being struck me as more forcibly illustrating the more fertile, because of the heavy rain-fall, necessity for repeated selection than the fact in the course of time, washing down the soil that, of the grains in the same ear, one is found from the upper parts. greatly to excel all others in vital power. Thus, the original two ears contained together singly. One of these produced ten ears, coneighty-seven grains; these were all planted taining six hundred and eighty-eight grains; and not only could the produce of no other single grain compare with them, but the finest ten ears that could be collected from the produce of the whole of the other eighty-six eight grains. Yet, supposing that this supegrains contained only five hundred and ninetyrior grain grew in the smaller of the two original ears, and that this contained but forty grains, there must still have been thirty-. nine of these eighty-six grains which grew in the same ear. Thus far as regards the contents of ears.

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Mr. Hallett, residing in the neighborhood of such men as the Ellmans and Rigdens, soon became acquainted with the principles adopted for the improvement of the breeds of cattle and sheep by the establishment of a pedigree, and he saw how much depends on a rigid adherence to the selected best type. It is to this principle that all the improvers of the breeds of animals ascribe their success. This principle is applicable not only to animals, but to plants and vegetables. We find an analogous practice among gardeners, who, when by accident or by skilful manipuLet us now consider lation, they have secured a type of more than ordinary excellence or rarity, take special care natural mode of cultivating it (as above), can whether pedigree in wheat combined with a to preserve the stock and to prevent its dete-produce a number of ears equal to that usurioration. It is the same with fruit-trees, ally grown per acre under the present sysof which, when a good kind is by whatever tem. In order to ascertain this, we ought

to know the number of ears ordinarily grown | scribed. Mr. Hallett explained to his curifrom seven or eight pecks of seed; but there ous visitors the character of the different are really no data upon this point. It has, species of wheat, and in what way the forhowever, been considered as about equal to

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the number of grains in a bushel, or under eign grain was affected by the difference of 800,000, which is about one ear for This was very perceptible in the every two grains sown. I will, then, compare the num- Australian wheat, which did not thrive in bers grown in 1861 upon two pieces of land, the soil and climate of Brighton so well as only separated by a hedge, where the two sys- the native species, some of which produced tems were fairly tried, the same pedigree ears with fifteen or sixteen sets, and containwheat' being employed as seed in both cases. ing from eighty to ninety grains in the ear. In the one instance six pecks of seed per acre There were also specimens of the chevalier were drilled November 20th, 1860, and the crop, resulting in fifty-four bushels per acre, barley in three separate divisions. The first consisted, at its thickest part, of 934,120 ears was selected as being the best sample; the per acre. In the other instance, four and a second as the best quality; the third as the half pints per acre were planted in Septem- most perfect shape. The largest ears had ber, in single grains, one foot apart every twenty-two grains on each side; the smallway, and the number of ears produced per est about sixteen or seventeen, which is the acre was 1,001,880, or 67,760 ears in excess maximum of ordinary barley. Of course of those produced on the other side of the this grain was planted on the same principle hedge from more than twenty-one times the seed here employed. Now, as an area of a of thin and wide sowing, as in the case of square foot is more than amply sufficient for wheat. the development of a single grain, it is clear that thin seeding is not necessarily attended by a thin crop.

There are two principles here involved in addition to that of selection, namely, thin seeding and early sowing. If we only consider the collateral advantage of saving in seedwheat from a million to a million and a half quarters annually, we shall see the importance of thin seeding. It will, however, be understood that Mr. Hallett's main object is, by attending to the stock from which he raises his wheat, to establish and perpetuate "an hereditary excellence of quality and productive power; and this can only be effected by thin seeding, and a strict selection of ears and grains." The collateral advantage of the saving in seed, although only an accessary consequence, is of no small importance to the farmer, being amply sufficient to cover at least the extra expense attending this process. That the system is capable of being carried out to advantage on the largest scale in field culture, is proved by Mr. Hallett's experi

After examining this experimental plantation, the visitors were taken to see the crops of the "pedigree wheat." The first thing which struck them here was the uniform length of the ears and stalks, and the entire absence of under-corn, the prevalence of which detracts so much from the produce under the prevailing system of cultivation. We counted on one "stool" forty-two ears, amongst which there was no appreciable difference in size or length; and this equality in the length of the ear and stem is the direct effect of thin sowing, as the prevalence of under-corn is that of over-seeding, by which the plants are too much crowded to be able to develop themselves, whilst a large proportion of them die off during the winter and spring from the same cause. On comparing Mr. Hallett's crops with some of those in the neighborhood, the difference in this respect was most striking. One of the latter was a good crop; and there were probably as many ears on it as on Mr. Hallett's; it was the length of the ear and the absence of the under-corn that made the difference in the produce. From what The visitors to Manor-house Farm last we observed, it may be considered that the week proceeded, in the first instance, to in- number of grains in the ears range from spect the specimens of wheat under experi- about sixty-five to eighty, the ear itself measment in Mr. Hallett's garden. Here were uring from six and a half to seven and a half types of all kinds of that grain, from Aus- inches in length. There was also this retralia, Eastern Siberia, Western Russia, Tal-markable difference, that whereas his neighavera; red and white rough chaff, April bor's wheat, which was a full crop, was laid wheat, nursery wheat, etc. All these kinds by the wind and rain that occurred a fortwere planted on the principle we have de-night since, the straw of Mr. Hallett's wheat

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three acres of the pedigree wheat and reaped nine quarters per acre, or twenty-seven quarters in all; and he sold it at forty-four shillings per quarter. The second was the case of Captain Quinton, of the county Waterford, in Ireland, the originator or cultivator of the

was so strong that none of it was laid, but it stood up as strong as ever. This is no trifling advantage; for, although, from the near maturity of the wheat, its being laid will not injure the quality of the grain, yet in another season, if occurring in an earlier stage of the growth of the wheat, it may nearly destroy" giant wheat," who purchased some of this the crop.

With regard to the actual produce of this pedigree wheat crop for last year (1862), Mr. Hallett states that, keeping far within the mark, the maximum produce was six, and the minimum four and a half quarters per acre. With respect to its quality, Mr. Hallett mentioned three instances which were brought to his notice, since last harvest, of the successful employment of his wheat for seed. The first was that of Sir Thomas Leonard, who sowed

pedigree wheat, which produced seven quarters per acre and weighed sixty-four pounds per bushel. The third case was that of a farmer in Yorkshire, whose produce from the Brighton pedigree wheat was nearly the same in quantity as well as in weight as that of Captain Quinton. These three cases, in such widely different parts of the country, together with the success of his own crop last season, are considered by Mr. Hallett sufficient to prove the value of the pedigree wheat.

A SCHEME for "International Schools," proposed some time ago by a French manufacturer, M. Barbier, and warmly taken up by some men of influence in this country, among whom are Mr. Cobden, Mr. Panizzi, Mr. Thomas Bazley, and Professor Ansted, is now, it appears, on the way to be carried out practically. The proposal is, that there shall be four establishments,-one in England, one in France, one in Germany, and one in Italy; and that the pupils commencing their education in one of these establishments, shall, year by year, be transferred to one of the others, so as to have circulated through all the four in four years. As the entire curriculum is to consist of eight years, the round would be twice gone through by each pupil; and each would thus have spent two years in each of the four countries. The programme of studies at each of the schools would be the same, and would be "the most perfect that can be devised" for thorough instruction, whether for commercial or professional life; but the belief is, that by residing, during their education, in the different countries, the pupils could be put in possession of the four languages more effectively than by any other plan, and would also be trained in what may be called sound international sentiments. It is intended that the schools shall be entirely independent of the governments of the respective countries, and that they shall be set on foot by funds collected among those who approve of the scheme.- Reader.

THE excavations at Bordeaux have yielded considerable results lately. Opposite the new palace of the archbishop the ground has, on being uncovered to a certain depth, shown not only the

geological state of the soil, but also two distinct ranges of ruins, one above the other, both of the Gallo-Roman time, and both belonging to cities destroyed by fire. Among the ruins have been found-1. A fragment of pottery, with a trademark new to Bordeaux Archaeology-viz.: T. Manli. fort.; 2. A considerable quantity of stucco-fragments, covered with fresco-paintings, with colors of great variety and astonishing freshness; 3. Wall-pans, one of which is still covered with its colored stucco at the inside; 4. Fragments of floor formed of mortar; 5. Fragments of columns still standing, formed of strata consisting of four square bricks, the outer angle of which had been rounded off; further, various fragments of pottery, vessels of iron, bronze, etc.

EXCAVATIONS recently undertaken at Besancon, have laid bare the ancient Roman principal street; and a great many fragments of columns of polished granite and white and many-colored marble have been brought to light. The most interesting found, however, consists in two antique torsos in white marble, belonging to the best period. Though both sadly mutilated, they still are of exquisite beauty. The first represents part of the body of a very young man, completely nude. The other torso is wrapped in a skin, fastened to the right shoulder. The excavations are to be continued along the ancient Camp of the Capitol to the Forum.

A CORRESPONDENT of the Debats, writing from Naples on the 21st inst., says: "A Protestant journal has just appeared; it is called The Conscience."

From Fraser's Magazine. BOLINGBROKE AS A STATESMAN.*

It is much to be regretted, that in the gallery of political portraits bequeathed to us by the late Lord Macaulay, we should seek in vain for the figures of Bolingbroke and Burke. It was, of course, impossible to write as much as Lord Macaulay wrote upon the politics of the eighteenth century, without any reference

whatever to two of its most famous men. Of Burke, indeed, we may say that we can tell with considerable exactness what his lordship's estimate would have been; but we can only conjecture very vaguely in what hues he would have painted Bolingbroke. He called him a brilliant knave; but he upheld the Treaty of Utrecht. These are almost the only two decisive expressions of opinion on the character and career of St. John which his

lordship has recorded; yet a finer subject for his pencil is scarcely to be found in the whole range of English history. We are not, indeed, so weak as to imagine that he would have given us a faithful likeness; but he could hardly have failed to produce a splendid and imposing picture. It would, doubtless, have exhibited his usual defects and infirmities; but it would probably have dispelled a good many vulgar errors which have clustered round the name of Bolingbroke. His Whig prepossessions would never have allowed him to be impartial; but his strong common sense would have saved him from becoming sentimental. If St. John was not a patriot such as Russell, Lord Macaulay would equally

have seen that he was not a traitor such as Babington.

There is much in the conduct of Lord Bolingbroke which, if not exactly inexcusable, is at all events, highly undesirable. But his history, up to the present time, has been written by his enemies: his own explanations of particular parts of his policy have been slurred over: designs have been imputed to

him as criminal, without due consideration

of the national feeling at the time; and but little allowance has been made for the uncertainty and novelty in which, during the first half of the eighteenth century, constitutional government was enveloped. None of his critics or biographers have sufficiently weighed

*The Life of Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, Secretary of State in the Reign of Queen Anne. By Thomas Macknight. London: Chapman and

Hall.

these circumstances; neither Mr. Cooke nor Mr. Macknight, nor Lord Brougham, nor Mr. Croker. Nor could it be expected that a foreigner should supply omissions which have been perpetuated by English writers. In his excellent and interesting essay upon Bolingbroke and his times, M. Remusat of whom Mr. Macknight seems not so much as to have heard, adopts literally and unsuspectingly the conventional estimate of his character. A little reflection, however, may end in persuading us that Lord Bolingbroke was not quite so bad as he has seemed; and that, though it was perhaps fortunate for England that she had a George the Second instead of a patriot king, much may be forgiven to a who was unable to discern this truth. writer in the middle of that prince's reign

In describing Lord Bolingbroke's descent, Mr. Macknight informs us that the French nobility were accustomed to smile among themselves at his claim to illustrious lineage. If so, it is probable that very many of them smiled at a much better-born man than themlittle or nothing of the matter. Both on the selves. But Mr. Macknight seems to know mother's and the father's side Bolingbroke's pedigree was brilliant. On the one, he was descended from the great family of D'Eu, or or Dewias which held immense domains in Normandy before the Conquest, while, ere it united with the St. Johns, the stream had Grandisons and Beauchamps. His paternal been enriched by intermarriage with the

ancestry united in itself the blood of the ancient and powerful baronial families of De Port and St. John, the head of which at the period of the Norman invasion held a high command in William's army. The later alliances of the family had constantly brought fresh accessions of noble blood into its veins; so that, whatever esteem we may place upon splendid ancestry, it is impossible to deny that Bolingbroke was entitled to it all.

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Henry St. John was born in the Manor House of Battersea, in the month of October, and, according to the best evidence, in the year 1678. During his early boyhood he seems to have been educated with some strictness. His grandmother was the daughter of Oliver St. John, the friend and Chief Justice of Cromwell; and doubtless the household at Battersea may have been conducted on principles somewhat at variance with the fashionable tone of the period. However, as the

It was during these earlier years of his parliamentary career that St. John formed that intimate acquaintance with another wellknown English statesman, which exercised so great an influence on his fortunes, and to which he afterwards referred his own down

prejudices of his family did not prevent him from being sent to Eton and to Christchurch, we may fairly presume that he was not very tightly curbed at home, and that the worst of his reminiscences was that of Dr. Manton's commentary on the 119th Psalm, "which comprised a sermon upon every fall. This was Robert Harley, afterwards

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Earl of Oxford, the descendant of a knightly On leaving college, St. John plunged at family which had been long settled in Radonce into all the pleasures of that graceless norshire, Glamorganshire, and Herefordshire. generation. His verses to an orange girl, He was educated at a private school, afterwhom he could not persuade to be faithful to wards at Jesus College, Oxford, and then enhim, are still preserved; and he delighted to tered at Lincoln's Inn. He practised at the be seen in the park alongside of Miss Gumly, bar for some time, and what caused him to the fashionable frail one of the day. To the exchange his profession for politics we are same period we are to refer his intimacy with not informed; but in the latter part of WilDryden, and that celebrated interview in liams's reign he was returned to Parliament which, at the poet's request, he sat out old for his native town of Radnor; and in the Jacob Tonson, who had come to bully him for last Parliament of that sovereign he was copy. He was therefore, the reader will ob- elected speaker. His connections, as indeed serve, even at this early age a man of litera- did some of Bolingbroke's belonged to the ture as well as a man of pleasure. Sometime Whig and Nonconformist interest; and his in the year 1700 he married the daughter private life was always modelled according to of Sir Henry Winchecombe, a rich country the strictest sect. But he early began to atgentleman of Berkshire, whose property was tach himself to the Tory side, and among the afterwards of great service to him. In Jan- young men who adopted him as a kind of uary of the same year he had been elected leader was the new member for Wotton Basmember for Wotton Bassett; and, being lit- sett. They soon became fast friends; and, tle more than twenty-one years of age, joined as the Tory interest gradually prevailed in of course the party of his Wiltshire friends, the House of Commons, both together took in other words the " country party." That office under Godolphin. This was in the he was led into a policy by them of which his year 1704; and for the three following years later judgment disapproved, he allows with Harley was Secretary of State, and St. John perfect candor. He voted against the Parti- Secretary of War. It was during this petion Treaty, which he afterwards in his writ-riod, the reader must remember, that Marlings vindicated as the only possible resource borough gained his earliest victories; and it left to Europe after the failure of the League of Augsburg. He supported, a few years later, the bill against Occasional Conformity; though, as he voted against it in the following session, a fact which Mr. Macknight has omitted to record, he cannot be supposed to have been very zealous in the cause. In 1711, indeed, when the bill was revived in a less stringent form by so moderate a man as Lord Nottingham, he again voted in its favor. But he finally expressed his opinion upon all measures of this nature as follows: "Far from desiring to impose any new hardships upon them (Dissenters), even those who have been reputed their enemies, and who have acted as such on several occasions, acknowledge their error. Experience hath removed prejudice. They see that indulgence hath done what severity never could."

is not denied that a part of his success was due to St. John's excellent administration of the war department. But neither Harley, it seems, nor his lieutenant were contented to remain forever under the authority of Godolphin. They aspired to form a party of their own; and St. John at least, who had entered Parliament as a Tory, could not have been satisfied with a position which connected him so closely with the Whigs. Harley then commenced, through the medium of Mrs. Masham, the queen's new favorite, to ingratiate himself at court, and to form an interest there, unknown to and independent of his colleagues. The favor of the court at that. time would at once give any man a great number of votes in Parliament; and such, indeed, was the recognized path to power among the statesmen of the day. This

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