The air was so cool and clear, however, from the tornado

overnight--not a cloud in the sky, and the strange scent of the land

reaching us as the dew rose off it--you could see far and wide, with

a delicious feeling of it all, that kept every one standing fixed

on the spot where he first gained the deck, even the men looking

over their shoulders with the ropes in their fists, and the fresh

morning breeze lifting one's hair. Surprised as the passengers were,

nobody spoke a word, except the three or four children shouting,

dancing, and pointing together; without being noticed, till all at

once the whole poopful burst into one confusion of questions and

exclamations, running hither and thither, shaking hands and jostling

each other like distracted people. I had a spyglass at my eye,

making out the other shore, when, turning round in the middle of

it, the first thing I saw was Violet Hyde's face, as she stood with

one little foot on the stair-head behind me, holding the rail with

one hand, her eyes sparkling and her parted lips murmuring like one

in a dream. "Oh, Mr Collins!" exclaimed she, breathless; "what is

this? Where are we--is it fairyland? A _river_!" "Yes, in Africa,"

I said; "but whether it's the Bembarooghe or the--" "That fearful,

fearful evening!" continued she, shuddering: "I saw the frightful

sky, and heard the storm--and now!--_Were_ we not in some very

great danger, sir?" "Yes, ma'am, we were," replied I, as stiffly

as I could; "but, happily, its over now," and I gave my cap a lift

to move off, uneasy as I was every moment, lest Sir Charles should

catch me speaking again to his daughter. However, Miss Hyde was

gazing eagerly at the land, and I had to wait. "What lovely, lovely

green!" she half whispered: "oh, if one could only tread upon!--so

unEnglish those strange tall trees look! are they not cocoa-trees

and--and--" Suddenly her voice faltered, and she turned round with

her bright blue eyes swimming in tears--"How--how thankful we should

be that we are not--like our poor, poor friends, who were lost!"

exclaimed she. I thought of the poor captain below in his cot, but

next moment I was explaining, to her sheer amazement, how the real

truth of the matter stood, though, if possible, it seemed to horrify

her still more. "I can't think what they may be," I rapped out; "but

if I had the command of this ship, I'd up anchor this very hour, and

go out--at least as soon as the tide ebbed; but, at any rate, at the

Cape I mean to get hold of some schooner or other, and if it were to

China, why, I'll cruise after 'em till I--" "Then you think--" began

she, and an arch, inquisitive sort of look danced in both her eyes

as she turned away to watch the shore again, saying slowly, "You

_are_ a--a naval gentleman, then, Mr West--Mr Collins?" I tried to

stammer out something by way of an explanation, but it wouldn't do,

and I said, "At any rate, I'm no better, by this time, than an idler

aboard _here_, ma'am!"

All at once I caught a side-look from her eyes, that wasn't meant

for me, as she glanced over the poop-netting. Half provoking and

half sweet it was, though, and it made my brain somehow or other

seem to spin round, till a little after, before I well knew what

I was about, I was holding the long spy glass for her to see the

bank of the river,--her warm breath coming on my ear as I stooped

before her, near enough to have kissed the muslin on her shoulder,

while her rosy mouth changed with every new spot that the glass

brought near; and she had to hold one taper fore-finger on the other

eye-lid to keep it shut, so that I could dwell on her face as if

she'd been asleep. "There, there!" exclaimed she, "are actually

flowers--with such immense leaves! And now--an enormous tree, with

roots hanging from the branches, and other stems growing up into

them. Why, yes!--is not that a banian-tree, Mr--," and she looked

away at _me_, when of course the tree was vanished, and instead of

that, the rather undeniable expression of a fellow in love, two

or three inches off, bent fair upon her. Violet Hyde coloured a

little, and looked in again. "And--I think--" continued she, "I

see--oh, two such beautiful creatures--deer, I think--coming out

to drink from the river!" All this time, the ecstacies of the rest

kept up the noise and confusion: the young lady's maid was gaping

open-mouthed at the shore, not even noticing her young mistress's

straw bonnet fall off, and I had just picked it up with one hand, to

put it quietly over that matchless nut-brown hair of hers, shining

suddenly in the sun like silk, when the Judge's voice sang out sharp

from the other stair, "Violet, child, you'll have a sun-stroke.

Kitmagar, you scoundrel, _beebee sahib punkah lao, sirrah_!" I held

on to the telescope like grim death, while that eternal punkah was

hoisted over us both, the Judge eyeing me somewhat coolly for the

first moment. "Well, well, Mr Westwood," said he, however, "you've

got rid of that proud freak of yours;--such behaviour as yours

yesterday, I assure you, I shouldn't have endured from any one else,

young man! But, my dear boy," added he, suddenly, "from what I can

gather, indeed saw myself last night, I am convinced we owe you a

very great deal--even, I suspect, the safety of the entire vessel!"

Miss Hyde had left off using the glass, and, as I stood up, she gave

me a quick glance of amazement. "Mere chance, sir," I stammered.

"Why," said Sir Charles, "I saw you at the steerage in the middle

of the hurricane, when I believe the actual officers of the ship

had left it in dismay. I tell you what, Mr Westwood, you're a bold

fellow; and your uncle and I must see in India if we can't reward

you in some way, my dear boy!" All this fondling style of thing, and

for little more than a piece of luck, would have disgusted me, if I

hadn't been more taken up with watching the side of Violet Hyde's

face, as she listened for sounds in the woods ashore. "Strange

wasn't it, Violet, my dear," continued he to his daughter, that my

friend the Councillor's nephew should have gone out in the same

Indiaman, so fortunately--though of course, after all, it _was_

the first this season." "Ah!" said she, starting, "I beg pardon,

papa,--what did you--weren't you talking of the river?" "Don't you

hear, child," said the Judge, "I said it was a curious coincidence,

Mr Westwood's going in this vessel." "Oh yes, indeed!" answered

she, and couldn't help looking down a little confounded. But the

lady's-maid was putting on her tiny slipper, which had come off,

while her father mentioned that of course I'd had practical reasons

for not owning my profession hitherto;--meaning, I suppose, that I

didn't speak for fear of having to work, like the monkeys--though

the sharp old lawyer must have had a better guess by this time, and

queer enough it must have been to see her face, listening to him

as he explained it all. I stood biting my lips, meanwhile--two or

three times on the point of telling him it was all nonsense about my

being a nephew of any hanged old nabob whatever; when Sir Charles

said carelessly he should leave the Seringapatam, if possible, at

the Cape of Good Hope, as he couldn't trust safely to the present

officers.

Just then up got the merry chant of the men running round with the

capstan-bars, to get up anchor; the chief officer wishing, as it

was found, to carry her farther into the river with the breeze--for

the sake of filling our water-casks the easier, according to him,

but more likely out of sheer spite at what had been done without

him. What with eagerness in the cuddy to get on shore and see the

woods, the breakfast below was a rare scene, no one minding what he

did, even to rushing slap into a couple of ladies' berth for his

boots, or laying a couple of loaded Joe Mantons into somebody's bed,

swallowing biscuit and butter on the way.

Suddenly we heard the splash of paddles in the water, with a hail in

some foreign tongue or other, and hurried on deck in a body; where

we found the ship tiding it slowly up, under jibs and foretopsail,

and beginning to open a longer reach where the river seemed to

narrow in. A black-eyed, black-bearded fellow, with a tallowy,

yellow, sweaty sort of complexion, in a dirty jacket, drawers, and

short boots, and an immense grass hat, shouting Portuguese louder

and louder into the first-mate's ear, till he actually put both

hands together and roared through them,--pointing to himself now and

then, as if surprised he wasn't known. All at once, evidently quite

disgusted, he turned and looked over the side, saying something to

one of the ugliest and most ill-looking mulattoes I ever saw, who

sat in the stern of a long rough canoe, hollowed out of some tree,

with two naked black rowers, less of the real nigger than himself,

as they leant grinning up at the bulwarks with their sharp teeth,

that appeared as if they'd been filed to a point. The mulatto

gloomed, but he gave no answer, and as one of the cadets and I knew

a little Portuguese, we managed together to get something out of

the fellow on deck; though at noticing me for the first time that

morning, I saw Finch turn red with surprise. We understood the man

to ask if we wanted nothing particular in the river, the meaning

of which I saw better on bethinking me of the fire along the bush

inside the headland, that had let me see the marks of it--no doubt

a signal to some craft they had taken us for. However, so soon as

he heard we needed no more than water and spars, after musing a

minute, and speaking again to Rodriguez, as he called the mulatto,

he said he would pilot us to a convenient berth himself, for two or

three dollars; notwithstanding his title was, as he said, Don José

Jeronimo Santa somebody, commandant of the Portuguese fort something

else. The river, we found, was the Nouries or the Cuanené, where

they had a settlement called Caconda, a good way up; a remarkably

bad country, he gave us to know, and not worth staying in, from

the number of flies, and the elephants having got into a cursed

way of burying their tusks,--except, he hinted, for the plenty of

blacks, all anxious to be sold and to see foreign countries; but

the trade was nothing yet, absolutely nothing, said he, blowing

his nose without a pocket handkerchief, and suiting the act to the

word, as he mentioned his notion of throwing it up and going farther

north-west. By this time we had stood over to the lowest shore, till

you could see the thick coffee-coloured mud in among the roots and

suckers of the dark-green mangroves, with their red pods bursting

under their rank-looking leaves,--and over them, through the tall

coarse guinea-grass, to the knots of feathery cocoas behind,

swarming with insects: when he gave the sign to go about, one of his

blacks heaving a lead, and grunting out the depth of water, as the

ship made a long stretch across towards the woody side again, and

Don José all the time taking it as easy as if the quarter-deck were

his own, while he asked for a cigar and lighted it. Joke though he

did, yet I couldn't like the fellow at all; however, as soon as she

got pretty near the shore, about a quarter of a mile from the mouth

of what seemed a wide creek, glittering up between a high fringe of

cane and bamboo clumps, he had the sails clued up, a single anchor

let go in four or five fathoms, and our Portuguese friend got his

money and bundled over the side, pulling quietly ashore.

The tide by this time was quite still, and the breeze sank almost

at once, as we were shut in from the sea; when we were surprised to

see the striped Portuguese flag rise off a tall bamboo stick, among

the bushes on the open shore, nearly abreast of us; where a low,

muddy-like wall was to be made out, with something of a thatched

roof or two, and a sort of rude wooden jetty running before it into

the water. Shortly after, Don José came paddling out again, and got

on board, this time with an old cocked hat on, excusing himself for

not having fired a gun--which was to save us expense, he remarked,

being particular friends--seeing that he'd got to demand twelve

dollars of harbour dues and duties, whereas, if he saluted, he must

have charged fourteen. The cool impudence of this brought the chief

officer from the capstan; but the steady face of the fellow, and the

glance he took round the deck when the cadet told him he'd better be

off at once, made me think he had something or other to back him. Mr

Finch, as usual, fumed up into a passion, and told the men to fling

him over into his canoe, which they accordingly did, without the

least nicety about it; the Portuguese next minute picking himself

up, and standing straight, with the look of a perfect devil, as he

shook his fist at the whole ship, while the canoe slid off to the

shore.

Budge even so much as a single fathom, at present, we could not;

and most of us were too much in the spirit of fun and venture to

care a fig for having made an enemy of Don José-So-on, as the

cadet called him; indeed, it seemed rather to set a finer point

on people's admiration of the green jungly-looking shore next to

us, with its big aloes and agaves growing before the bush, and

all sorts of cocoas, palms, monkey-bread, and tall white-flaked

cotton-trees, rising in every way out from over the rest. For my

part, I thought more of the Portuguese's _interest_, after all, than

his hatred--which proved correct, by his soon sending out a sulky

message by the mulatto, offering to sell us fowls and a bullock,

at no ordinary price. However, all hands from the cabin were mad

already to get ashore somewhere, and the cadets bristling with

fowling-pieces and rifles, each singing out that he was ready to

supply the whole ship with fresh meat; so the mulatto had to sheer

off, with a boat nearly lowered over his head. From where we lay

at the time, what with the large creek off one bow, and the broad

river ahead of us, spreading brimful along to the light, the water

had the look of a huge lake, fringed in by a confused hazy bluish

outline steeping in the heat, where the distance clipped behind

the lumps of keen verdure, showering over a dark mangrove-covered

point. Before the two large quarter-boats could be got ready for the

ladies and the rest of us, in fact, we heard the gig full of writers

and cadets beginning to pop away at everything they saw alive, out

of sight from the ship; till at last we were afloat, too, pulling

slowly into the middle of the stream, and the men eyeing us lazily

as they turned-to about the rigging, to send up new spars in place

of those lost. The old Indiaman's big bows stood looming up broad

astern of us on the sluggish eddies round her cable, with her tall

steady fore-spars and furled yards rising white against the low line

of marshy shore in the distance, and wavering in her shadow below,

till the thick green branches of the next point shut her out, and

the glare off the face of the creek shot level over all of us in the

two cutters, wild with every kind of feeling that India passengers

could have after two months' voyage.

For my own part, I should have had rather a suspicion how absurd it

was to go a pleasuring in an African river we knew nothing about,

especially when I saw that a day or two so long after the rains

might suck it up, during ebb, into a pretty narrow mid-channel: all

I thought of was, however, that I was steering the boat with Violet

Hyde in it, the kitmagar holding his gaudy punkah over her before

me, while the Judge, with his gun in his hands, was looking out as

eagerly, for the time, as the four griffins were pulling furiously,

in spite of the heat that made the sweat run into their eyes.

The other party were soon off ahead of us up the main river, under

care of the Scotch surgeon, laughing, talking, and holloing in chase

of the cadets who had first left. However, Sir Charles thought there

was more likelihood of game along the creek, and the ladies fancied

it something new, so I steered right into it; the fat midshipman,

Simm, watching me critically as I handled the yokelines which he

had given up to me in a patronising way, and the sailor in the bow

regarding the exertions of the griffins with a knowingly serious

expression, while he dabbled his flipper at ease in the water. As

the tide steadied, this said creek proved to be a smaller river,

apparently from the hilly country I had noticed beyond the woods; by

the clearness of its current, that showed the pale yellow reflection

of the close bamboo-brake on one side, deep down into the light--the

huge sharp green notched aloe-leaves and fern shoving here and

there out of it--the close, rank, stifling smell of rotten weeds

and funguses giving place to the strange wild scent of the flowers,

trailing and twisting in thick snaky coils close up the stems on our

opposite hand, and across from branch to branch, with showers of

crimson and pink blossoms and white stars; till, eager as the ladies

were to put foot on land, 'twas no use looking as yet for a spot of

room, let alone going farther in. The cadets were not long in being

blown, either; when the midshipman, the bowman, and I had to relieve

them. However, _then_ I could look straight toward Violet Hyde's

face, the shade of the scarlet punkah hanging over it, and her soft

little straight nose and forehead catching a flickering burst from

the leaves as we sheered at times under cover of the bank; while her

eyelids, dropping from the glare, gave her bright eyes a half-sleepy

sort of violet look, and it was only her lips that let you see how

excited she felt. The griffin who had the tiller steering with the

judgment of a tailor's 'prentice on a picnic to Twickenham, we came

two or three times crash into the twigs of some half-sunk tree;

then a blue bird like a heron would rise direct ahead of us, with

its tall wet spindle legs and spurs glistening like steel behind

it into the light, and a young snake in its sharp bill; or a gray

crane rustled out of the cane from overhead, its long wings creaking

in the air out of our sight. Suddenly you heard a long chirruping

croak from a tree-frog, and the ground ones gave full chorus from

farther in, whining and cackling, and peep-peep-peeping in one

complete rush that died as suddenly away again, like thousands of

young turkeys--then out in the midst of the quiet would come a loud

clear wheetle-wheetling note from some curious fowl in an opening,

with another of the same to match, dimmer amongst the thick of the

bush. However everything of the kind seemed to sink down with the

heat at noon, the very buzz of flies round every dark feather of

the cocoas, and the musquito hum along the bank, getting fainter;

till one _heard_ the heat, as it were, creeping and thrilling down

through the woods, with the green light that steeped into both edges

of the long creek; every reed, cane, leaf, and twig, seemingly, at

last giving it back again with a whispering, hushing crackle, and

the broad fans of the palms tingling in it with rays from them, as

they trembled before you in the glare, back into the high bundles of

knotted and jointed bamboo, with their spiky-tufted crowns.

"Can you not almost _feel_ the forest grow!" exclaimed Miss Hyde;

while the boat floated quietly to one side, and her charming young

face shining out from the punkah, before Master Gopaul's deucedly

ugly one, coolly staring past his snub nose, made one think of a

white English rose and a black puff-ball growing together under a

toadstool; plenty of which, as red as soldiers' coats, and as big as

targets, looked here and there out of the bank. It put new spirit

into me to see her, but still we could do little more than shove

across from one side to the other--till something all at once roused

us up in the shape of a long scaly-like log, seemingly lying along

in the sun, which tumbled off the edge with a loud splash, and two

of the young fellows let drive from their fowling-pieces, just after

the alligator had sunk to the bottom. Rather uncomfortable it was

to come sheering right over him next moment, and catch a glimpse

of his round red eyes and his yellow throat, as the mud and weeds

rose over him. The other ladies shrieked, but Violet Hyde only

caught hold of her father's arm and started back; though her blue

eye and the clear cut of her pretty nostril opened out, too, for

the moment her lips closed. Five minutes after, when a couple of

large guinea-fowl sprang up, Sir Charles proved himself a better

shot than the cadets, by dropping one of them over the water ahead

of us, which was laid hold of by the reefer of the Indiaman, and

stowed away fluttering into the stern-locker--Simm observing coolly

that it was a scavengering carrion-sort of bird, but perhaps one of

his messmates might like to take it home stuffed to his sister. The

Judge merely smiled and patted the mid on the shoulder, remarking

in great good-humour that he, Simm, would make a good attorney; and

on we held, soaking to our shirts and panting, until the bowman

hooked down the stem of a young plantain, with a huge bunch of full

ripe yellow bananas under the long flapping leaves at its head,

right into the midst of us, out of a whole clump of them, where

the smooth face of the cove showed you their scarlet clusters of

flowers and green round pods hanging over it, hidden as they were

from above. Every man of us made a clutch, and the stem almost

lifted Simm out of the boat with it, as it sprang back into the

brake, rousing out a shower of gaudy-coloured butterflies, and a

cloud of musquitoes, and making the paroquets scream inside; while

the cadets' mouths were so full they couldn't speak, the reefer

making a gulp with the juice seeming to come out at his eyes, the

sailor spitting out his quid and stuffing in a banana, and the

ladies hoping they were safe to eat; as I peeled the soft yellow

rind off, and handed one to Violet Hyde, which she tasted at once.

But if ever one enters into the heart of things in the tropics, I'd

say 'tis when that same delicious taste melts through and through

and all over you, after chewing salt junk for a space. I remember

one foremast-man, who was always so drunk ashore he used to remember

nothing in India but "_scoffing_[20] one bloody benanny," as he

called it; "but hows'ever, Jack," he'd say, "'twas blessed good, ye

know, and I'm on the look-out for a berth again, jist for to go and

have another." One of us looked to the other, and Miss Hyde laughed

and coloured a bit when I offered her a second, while her father

said full five minutes after, "'Gad, Violet, it almost made me think

I saw Garden Reach in the Hooghly, and the Baboo's Ghaut!"

[20] _Anglicè_, eating.

This whole time we couldn't have got more than three-quarters of a

mile from where the ship lay, when all at once the close growth on

our left hand began to break into low bush, and at length a spot

offered where we might get ashore tolerably, with two or three big

red ant-hills heaped up out of the close prickly-pear plant, and the

black ants streaming over the bank, as well as up the trunk of a

large tree. The monkies were keeping up a chattering stir everywhere

about; and two or three bright-green little lizards changing into

purple, and back again, as they lay gleaming in the sun on the sides

of the ant-heaps, and darted their long tongues out like silver

bodkins at the ants coming past. In we shoved with a cheer, and had

scarce moored to the tree ere the ladies were being handed out and

tripping over the ground-leaves to the ankles, starting on again

at every rustle and prick, for fear of snakes; till the bowman in

charge was left in the boat by himself, and, there being seven of us

with guns over our arms, the next notion of the griffins was to get

a sight of some "natives."

In fact there was a sort of a half track leading off near the bank,

through among the long coarse grass and the ferny sprouts of young

cocoas, and a wide stretch of open country seen beyond it, dotted

all over with low clumps of trees and bush rounded off in the

gush of light, that gave it all a straw-coloured tint up to where

a bare reddish-looking ridge of hill looked over a long swell of

wild forest, off a hot, pale, cloudless sky. Here and there you saw

the shadow of one bluff lying purple on the side of another, and a

faint blue peak between, letting north'ard into some pass through

the hills, but no signs of life save a few dun big-headed buffaloes

feeding about a swampy spot not very far off, and rather too shaggy,

by all appearance, to make pleasant company. Accordingly, we held

for a few yards under the shade, where the fat mid, thinking to

show off his knowingness by getting cocoa-nuts for the ladies,

began to shy balls of mud from the creek-side at the monkeys in the

trees. However, he brought us rather more than he bargained for,

till the whole blessed jungle seemed to be gathering between us and

the boat to pelt us to death with nuts as big as eighteen-pound

shot, husks and all; so off we had to hurry into the glare again,

Sir Charles half carrying his daughter through guinea-grass up to

the waist--when somebody felt the smell of smoke, and next minute

we broke out near it, wreathing up white from inside a high bamboo

fence, propped up and tied all along with cocoa-nut husk. "What

the devil!" shouted the foremost cadet, as soon as he found the

opening, "they're cannibals!--roasting a black child, by heaven!"

and in he dashed, being no chicken of a fellow _ashore_ at any

rate, the others after him, while the Judge, Simm, and I, kept

outside with the ladies, who were all of a shudder, of course, what

with the thought, and what with the queer scent of roast meat that

came to us. "Ha, ha!" laughed the cadet next moment, "it's only a

monkey, after all!--come in, though, Sir Charles, if you please,

sir,--nobody here, ladies." There, accordingly, was the little

skinned object twirling slowly between two bamboo sticks, over a

fire beneath two or three immense green leaves on a frame, with its

knees up not to let its legs burn; about a dozen half-open sheds and

huts, like little corn-stacks, thatched close with reeds, and hung

with wattled mats of split bamboo, giving the place more the look

of a farmyard than a village; as there was a big tree spreading in

the middle, a few plantains, yams, and long maize-stalks flowering

out of the coarse guinea-grass which the niggers hadn't taken the

trouble to tread down all round inside of the fence. However, we

weren't long of perceiving an old gray-headed black sitting on his

hams against the post of a hut, watching us all the time; and a

villanously ugly old thief he looked, with a string of Aggry beads

about his head, and a greegree charm-bag hung round his shrivelled

neck, which was stuck through a hole in some striped piece of stuff

that fell over to his knees, as he sat mumbling and croaking to

himself, and leering out of the yellows of his eyes, though too

helpless to stir. Something out of the way attracted my notice,

glittering in front of the hut over his head; but, on stepping up to

it, I wasn't a little surprised to find it the stern-board of some

small vessel or other, with the tarnished gilt ornament all round,

and the name in large white letters,--"Martha Cobb,"--the port,

Boston, still to be made out, smaller, below. This I didn't think

so much of in itself, as the craft might have been lost; till, on

noticing that the old fellow's robe was neither more nor less than

a torn American ensign, in spite of his growls and croaks I walked

past him into the hut, where there was a whole lot of marlinspikes,

keys, and such like odds and ends, carefully stored up in a bag,

marked with the same name, besides a stewpan with some ostrich

feathers stuck where the handle had been, as if this rascally black

sinner wore it on his head on state occasions, being probably the

head-man and a justice of the peace! What struck me most, though,

was a pocket-book with a letter inside it, in a woman's hand,

addressed to the master of the brig Martha Cobb; dated a dozen years

before, yellow and fusty, and with tarry finger-marks on it, as if

the poor skipper, God knows, had read it over and over in his cabin

many a fresh breeze betwixt there and Boston. I put it in my pocket,

with a curse to the old black devil, as he croaked out and fell on

his face trying to bite me with his filed teeth when I passed out,

to follow the rest out of the bamboo pen; wondering, of course,

where all the negroes could be, unless they were dodging about the

river shore to watch the Indiaman,--little chance as there was of

their trying the same joke with the Seringapatam, as with the Martha

Cobb.

As for the women, however, I had scarce joined our party going out,

when we met a half-naked black hag with a bunch of cocoa-nuts and

husk. The moment she saw us she gave a squeal like an old hen, and

fell flat, while several younger ones, jogging along with their

naked black picaninnies on their backs, turned tail and were off

with a scream. Next minute we were almost as startled as they could

be, when three plump young jetty damsels dropped down right into the

bushes alongside of us, off as many tall cocoas which they'd been

climbing by a band round them, for the nuts. "Mercy on us!" said

the eldest of our lady-passengers: and it _was_ rather queer, since

they had nothing earthly upon them save very very short pet--I beg

your pardon ma'am, but I didn't know any other word--however off

they scampered for the woods, Simm and one of the cadets hard after

them, and we turning away to smother our laughter, especially as the

griffin had forgot his mother being with us. The middy being first

started, he was a good way ahead, when all at once the sternmost

of the black girls tripped in the band she had over her shoulder,

Simm giving a cheer as he made prize of his chase; but scarce before

the whole three of the dark beauties had him smothered up amongst

them, laughing, yelling, and squalling as they hauled him about;

till I saw the dirk Simm sported glitter in one of their hands, and

I made towards the spot in the notion of their finishing him in

right earnest. The black damsels ran off together as the unlucky

reefer picked himself up, coming to us with his hair rubbed up

like a brush, his cap out of shape in his hand and the gold band

off it, his red face shining, and all the gilt anchor-buttons off

his jacket, besides being minus his dirk. "Simm! Simm! my fine

fellow!" said his friend the cadet, like to die with laughing,

"what--what--did they do to you? why, your head looks like a

chimney-sweep's mop!" Simm knocked his cap against a tree to set it

right, without a word, and we followed the others to the boat, where

he swore, however, that he'd kissed 'em all three; at which Mrs

Atkins fairly took him a slap on the side of the head, saying he was

a nasty improper boy, and she was glad _his_ poor mother couldn't

see him run after creatures of that kind in African woods--"Natives,

indeed!" said she, "I have heard so often of native modesty, too,

in books; but, after all, there's nothing like experience, I think,

Sir Charles?" "Certainly not, ma'am," replied the Judge, humouring

her, as she hadn't often had the chance of speaking to him before;

"'tis almost as bad in India, though, you know!" "Oh, _there_, Sir

Charles," said the lady, "I never happened to go out, of course,

except in the carriage!" "Ah," said the Judge coolly, "you should

try an elephant sometimes, ma'am."

After this, as Sir Charles was bent on getting a shot at something

better, with a glass or two of Madeira to refresh us, we pulled

farther still up the small river, passing the mouth of a deep marshy

inlet, where I noticed a few long canoes belonging to the Congo

village we had seen; the close, heavy heat of the woods getting if

possible worse, and the rank green growth topping up round us as

flat as before; when the sound of a loud rush of water up-stream

broke upon us through the bush to northward, the surface rippling,

and a slight cool breath seeming to flutter across it now and then,

the very noise putting fresh soul into you. Suddenly we opened out

on a broad bend where it was hard work to force her round, and next

moment a low fall was gleaming before us, where a hill-stream came

washing and plashing over one wide rocky step above another in the

turn, then sweeping out of a deep pool to both hands, and running

away ahead, in between the spread of trees, seemingly to a sort of

a lagoon, where you saw the light in the middle glancing bright

down upon its face. A broad blue burst of air and light struck

down along the hollow the stream rushed out of, off the roots of

a regular mountain, leaning back to the sky, with its big tufted

knolls and its shady rifts thrown out blue beyond one or two thick

scaly-stemmed date-trees, waving their long, feathery, fringe-like

leaves to the least bit of a breeze, on as many rough points near

at hand: the _whole_ shape of the mountain you couldn't see for

the huge mahogany trees, teak, and African oak, rising up over one

shoulder into a lump of green forest. In five minutes more we were

through into the lagoon, which very possibly took round into the

main river again, only the opposite end, to our surprise, was all

afloat with logs of big timber choking it up, so that there we must

stick or go back upon our wake.

However, the lagoon itself being broad enough and round enough in

all conscience, with a deep hollow opening up out of it on the high

ground, the Judge and the cadets thought a better place couldn't

have been chosen for landing after a little sport, while we left

the fair ladies to rest in the cool, and look at the lotus-lilies

spread all over one cove of it, floating white on their large

leaves. The green edge of scum ran about the black shadow on the

rest of it, gathering round where a big branch or two had fallen

in, with the hot white sky looking bluer out through the broad

leaves coming together aloft, and the showers of little sharp ones

in the tamarind twigs, mangoes, iron-wood, sumach, and all sorts;

while here and there a knot of crimson blossoms looked out from

under the boughs in the dark, humming with small flies. Beautiful

spot as it was everyway, especially after the heat, yet I didn't

much like the idea of letting the ladies stay by themselves, except

the sailor and the kitmagar. Nothing particular had turned up to

trouble us, certainly; but I daresay 'twas because there was _one_

of them I never looked at without her soft fairy-like air making me

think of something that might happen to her, life-like though she

seemed. When I saw a big branch over her head, I kept fancying what

it would do if it fell-- and now, the thumping slabs and stones we

scrambled over up into the gully toward the mountain, seemed to have

come tumbling down off it to the very water's edge, covered with

nets of thick creeping plants, and trails of flat fingery-leaved

flowers, such as you see in hot-houses at home. A few yards higher,

too, where the ground broke away into a slanting hollow out of the

bush, 'twas all trampled and crushed, half-withering together in

the heat of the sun, the young trees twisted and broken, and two

or three good-sized ones lying out from the roots, which I set to

the score of the timberers rolling down their logs, for some craft

that evidently got their cargoes hereaway. After all, the thought of

a slap at some wild game was tempting enough, the Judge appearing

to consider any one but a sportsman nobody at all: so up we went

behind him out of the gully, till we were all blowing like so many

porpoises on the head of it, Sir Charles raising his finger as we

peeped across a grassy slope right under us, where a whole drove

of small slender-legged antelopes were feeding. We had just time

to rest, getting a breath of air off the heights, when one of the

foremost lifted its head, listening the opposite way from us; next

moment the entire scatter of them came sweeping direct over to

leeward in a string,--we could almost catch their bright black eyes

through the grass, when the crack of our seven barrels turned them

bolt off at a corner, and they were gone like wind on water. All of

us had missed save Sir Charles Hyde; but his rifle-bullet had sent

one of the antelopes springing up in the air ten feet or so, rolling

over and over into the grass again, where we found it lying with its

tongue out, and its large eye glazing amongst the blades and dust--a

pair of huge turkey-buzzards falling, as it were, out of two specks

in the sun above us, already, and rising with an ugly flap while we

got round the dead creature.

"Hallo!" said the mid, suddenly, looking back over toward the hollow

we'd come out of; "what's that?"

From where we stood we could just see through the wild cane to the

mouth of the gully, half a mile down or more, leading upon the trees

by the lagoon. I thought I could hear a dull heavy sound now and

then going thump thump down the hollow and along it, the stones

rumbling from one spot to another at the root of the hill; but

noticing a light smoke rising farther into the course of the creek,

with a faint echo of axes at work somewhere in the woods below, I

wasn't sorry to find the timberers were still in the river, showing

we weren't the only civilised folks that thought it fit to visit.

Perhaps it might have been a quarter of an hour more, however, and

we were all looking out sharp for birds of any kind to pop at,

happening to turn my head, I saw the long reeds were moving about

the banks below, and the trees twisting about furiously; and no

sooner had I made a few paces than, good heavens!--right in the

break of the trees at the landing-place--_there_ was a huge brute

of some sort coming slowly up out of the water; then another, and

another, glistening wet in the bright light as the shadow of the

branches slipped behind them. A blindness came over my eyes, and

I had scarce time to make out the big block-like heads and moving

trunks of five or six black African elephants, ere the whole case

flashed upon me, and away I dashed full speed down the slope. The

big beasts were turning quietly off into the hollow, and two or

three of their calves trotted after them out of the bushes, munching

the young cane-stalks as they lifted their pillars of legs, and

their tufty little tails, when I passed a fire of sticks blazing

under a slab of rock, with the Judge's guinea-fowl plucked and

roasting before it from a string, the bowman's tarpaulin and his

pipe lying near by--a sight that doubled the horror in me, to know

he had left the boat at all; and no doubt, as I thought, taken

fright and run off, man-o'-war's-man though he was. I made three

springs over the stones down to the water, terrified to look in,

hearing it, as I did, splash and wash about the sides, up among the

leaves of the trees; while a couple of monstrous brutes were to be

seen by the light in the midst of it, still wallowing about, and

seeming to enjoy sending the whole pool in wide rings and waves as

far as it would go, with the noise besides: the one half swimming,

and the biggest standing aground as he poured the water out of his

long trunk all over his back, then broke off a branch and waved it

to and fro like a fan round his flapping leathery ears.

Such a moment I hope never to know again--not the least sign of the

boat could I see in the green black blink of the place, after the

glare above; and I stood like a madman at the thought of what the

herd of monsters had _done_, when they came suddenly down upon it;

then I gave a wild cry, and levelled my ship's musket at the big

elephant's head, as he brought his small cunning eye slowly to bear

upon me, dropped the branch, and began to swing his forehead, all

the time looking at me and wading out to the shallow--by Jove! my

flesh creeps at it _just now_--though I couldn't have stirred for

worlds till he was close enough for me to fire into that devilish

eye of his. 'Twas no more than the matter of half a minute--till

you may fancy what I felt to catch sight all at once of the cutter

splashing up and down in the gloom below the branches, the ladies

and the Hindoo crouching down terrified together, except Violet

Hyde, who stood straight, holding the boat firm in by a bough, her

white face fixed through the shadow, and her hair floating out of

her straw-bonnet each time her head went up among the leaves, with

her glittering eyes on the two elephants. Suddenly some heavy black

figure dropped almost right over her into the boat, and she let go

with a low cry, and sank down with her hands over her eyes; when

they went sheering out towards the creek, the fore-topman handling

his boat-hook in her bow, without his tarpaulin. As for the wild

elephants, I had just time to come to myself before the foremost had

his feet on the stones below me, getting cautiously out of the pool;

these awkward antics of theirs being possibly signs of too much

satisfaction in a bathe, for them to show aught like fury, if you

didn't rouse them; so I was slipping quietly round the nearest tree

when I heard the cadets halloing up the hill. The old bull-elephant

seemed a dangerous customer to meet, and I was hurrying over the

dead grass and branches to give warning, just as Sir Charles Hyde

could be seen coming down before the rest, his rifle over his

shoulder. However he brought up, the moment I sang out to stop: both

the elephants were stalking off lower down into the hollow, and I

dropped behind the slab where Tom Wilkes had been roasting his bird,

when some fool of a cadet let drive at the bull-elephant from above,

hitting him fair on the front. You heard the rifle-bullet hit slap

against it as if on an anvil: the she-elephant made off at a fast

trot, but the big brute himself turned round on the moment, lifting

his trunk straight aloft with a sharp trumpeting scream through it,

and looked round till his small red eye lighted on the Judge, who

seemed quite out of breath from his sport.

"The fire! that fire, for God's sake, Mr Westwood, else I am lost!"

called out Sir Charles, in a calm distinct key from where he stood

with his eye fixed on the elephant, and could see me, too,--a moment

or two before the huge round-backed lump of a brute came running

round into the track, stumbling heavily up the dead branches of

the fallen trees and the dry guinea-grass, with a savage roar

between his two white tusks--and I saw what the Judge meant, just

in time to throw over the whole heap of flaming cocoa-tree husk

among the withered grass and stuff a few yards before the monster,

as dry as tinder, while the light air coming down the gully of

the mountain, drove it spreading across his course up through the

twigs, and sweeping in one sudden gust of fire up to the very end

of his trunk. I saw it lift over the smoke like a black serpent,

then another scream from the brute, and away he was charging into

the hollow again, the flame licking up among the grass astern of

him, and darting from one bough to another towards the cane-brake

below. I had scarce drawn a long breath, and remembered the devil's

own thought that had come into my head when the Judge called to me,

ere he slapped me on the shoulder. "You did nobly there, my dear

boy," said Sir Charles; "managed it well! 'Gad, it was a crisis,

though, Mr Westwood!" "I'm afraid, however, sir," said I, eying the

crackling bushes, smoking and whitening to a dead smoulder in the

sunlight, then flashing farther down as the hill-breeze rustled off,

"I'm afraid we shall have the woods burning about our ears!" Down

we hurried accordingly, and hailed the cutter, where scarce had we

leisure to pass a few quick words and tumble in, before I heard a

shout beyond the other turn of the creek, through the end of the

lagoon; then something like the cheep of ropes through blocks, with

the bustle of men's feet on a deck, and next minute a perfect hubbub

of cries, whether Dutch, Portuguese, English, or all together, I

couldn't say,--only it wasn't likely the _last_ would kick up such

a bother for nothing. Four or five Kroomen came leaping round and

along the float of logs at the far end, their large straw hats

shining in the light over their jet faces, as they peered across

into the lagoon. The minute after they vanished, we saw the white

upper spars of a schooner slide above the farthest of the wood, and

her bowsprit shoved past the turn just enough to show her sharp

lead-coloured bow, with the mouth of a gun out of a port, and a

fellow blowing the red end of his match behind it. All at once the

chorus of shouts and cries ceased, and a single voice sang out along

the water, clear, stern, and startling, in bad Portuguese, "_Queren

sieté?_ who are you?" Still we gave no answer, quietly shoving off

as fast as we could, the flicker of the fire in the brake behind

the trees beginning to show itself through the black shade of the

lagoon. "_Queren siete?_" sang out the voice, louder than before, in

a threatening way, and the logs were knocking and plashing before

the schooner as the Kroomen hauled at them to make an opening.

"Amigos! Amigos!" hailed we in turn; "Ingleses, gentlemen!" shouted

the cadet who knew Portuguese, calling to them not to fire, for

heaven-sake, else they would do us some harm. With this, the hubbub

was worse than before; they plainly had some design on us, from the

confusion that got up; but by that time we were pulling hard into

the narrow of the river, and took the fair current of it as soon as

the boat was past the falling stream we had seen before, till we

were round into the next reach.

In fact the rate we all bent our backs at this time, was pretty

different from coming up: the cadets seemed hardly to feel the heat,

fierce and close though it was, at thought of those that might be

in our wake, and nobody spoke a word at ease till at last, after an

hour's hard work, taking it in turns, we came full in sight of the

Indiaman at her anchor on the broad current. The ladies blessed the

very ropes hanging from her bowsprit, and we got safe aboard, where

we found the two other boats had come back long before; and every

one of us turned in directly after sundown, as tired as dogs.

Well, I didn't suppose I had slept an hour, dreaming terribly wild

sort of dreams about Violet Hyde and elephants, then that I'd saved

her myself, and was stooping to kiss her rosy lips, when a sudden

noise on deck startled me,--I shoved myself into my clothes and

rushed on the quarterdeck. She had gone aground at her stern in

swinging, in the water the Portuguese rascal gave her, canted a

little over to starboard, away from the shore; and till morning

flood nothing could be done to haul her off. The fog was rolling

down with the land-breeze, and the jabber in the woods, again,

thickened the confusion; when all at once a dim flash off the shore

glimmered in the white fog, and a round-shot whistled just astern,

pretty well aimed for her bilge, which would have cost us some work

if it had hit. After that, however, there was no more of it, the

fellow probably having spent either all his powder or his balls. As

for his fort, I heard the chief officer swearing he would knock it

about his ears next day--a thing that couldn't have done him much

harm, certainly, unless mud were dear.

No sooner had the men gone below, leaving the ordinary anchor-watch,

than Mr Finch, to my great surprise, walked up to me, and gave me a

strange suspicious look, hinting that he began to have a good guess

of what I really was, but if anything new of the kind turned up,

said he, he should know better what to say to me. "Mr Finch," said

I, starting, "this won't do, sir--you'll either speak your mind

before cabin and cuddy, or to-morrow morning, by Jove! you'll go

quietly ashore with me, sir--as I think, now you remind me of it, we

settled to do, already!" The mate's face whitened, and he eyed me

with a glare of malice, as I turned on my heel and began to walk the

quarterdeck till he went below.

However, the thought of the thing stuck to me, and I kept walking in

the dark to get rid of it: the four or five men of the anchor-watch

shuffling lazily about, and all thick save ahead up the river,

where the land-breeze blew pretty strong, bringing now and then a

faint gleam out of the mist. I was leaning against the fore-chains,

listening to the ebb-tide, and thinking; when I saw one of the men

creeping in from the bowsprit, which you just saw, where it ran

up thick into the dusk, with scarce a glimpse of the jib-boom and

flying-jib-boom beyond. The sailor came up touching his hat to me,

and said he thought he saw something queer off the boom-end. "Well,"

said I gruffly, "go and tell your mate, then." I didn't know the

fellow's voice, though it had a particular twang in it, and he

wasn't in Jacob's watch, I knew. "Why, your honour," he persisted,

"I knows pretty well what you air--asking your pardon, sir--but I

think you'd make more out of it nor any of the mates!--It's some'at

rather skeary, sir!" added he. Accordingly I took hold of the

man-ropes and swung myself up the bowsprit, and had my feet on the

foot-rope below the jib-boom, when I heard his breath, following

behind me. "Never you trouble yourself, my man," said I; "one at a

time!" and back he went in board again--for something curious in

his way struck me, but I wanted to see what he meant. I had just

got near the flying-jib, half-stowed in as it was on the boom, and

I fancied, with a creep of my blood in me, I made out a man's head

over the sail; but next moment a hand like a vice caught me by

the throat, and some one growled out--"Now ye infarnal man-o'-war

hound, I have ye--and down you goes for it!" The instant I _felt_

it, my coolness came back; as for grappling, I couldn't, and the

ebb current ran below to her bows at a rate fit to carry one out

to sea in half an hour. I saw the whole plot in a twinkling, and

never moved; instead of that I gave a sort of laugh, and followed

the husky twang of the other man to a tee. "He won't come, Harry, my

lad!" said I, and my ugly friend let go before he had time to think

twice. "He be blowed!" said Harry, scornfully; "an' why won't he,

mate?" He had scarce the words out of his mouth, though, ere I took

him a twist that doubled him over the spar, and down he slipped,

hanging by a clutch of the sail. "I suppose, my fine fellow,"

said I, "you forgot Fernando Po, and those nigger adventures of

yours--eh?"--and I went in without more ado.

I hadn't been ten minutes on deck, however, when I heard both of

them swearing something or other to the first mate. A little after

Finch came forward to me, with a ship's-lantern, and three or four

of the men behind. "Mr Collins, or whatever's your name, sir," said

he aloud, "I believe you've been seen just now at the bowsprit-end,

making signals or something to the shore! You're in arrest at once,

sir, and no more about it!" "What the deuce!" said I, my blood up,

and pulling out a pair of pocket-pistols I had had in the boat,

"let me see the man to--" At the moment a blow of a handspike from

near the mast laid me senseless on the deck, and I knew nothing

more.----But I see 'tis too far gone in the night to carry out the

yarn, ladies!

BRITISH AGRICULTURE AND FOREIGN COMPETITION.

"I do say it is for the public advantage that I should say to

him, (the farmer,) continue your improvements: I cannot undertake

to guarantee to you, by legislation, a particular price; BUT

THIS I WILL SAY, THAT AS LONG AS CORN IS UNDER 51S., YOU SHALL

NOT BE EXPOSED TO THE IMPORTATION OF FOREIGN CORN." So spoke Sir

Robert Peel in February 1842, as the proposer of an excellent law

for the improved regulation of the corn trade. The pledge was a

distinct one; and the very homeliness of the language saves it

from equivocal construction. In the course of the same debate, Sir

Robert, with just and prudent caution, expressly abstained from

committing himself to the obviously fallacious doctrine of a fixed

remunerative price. He held, as we hold, that, according to varying

circumstances, that remunerating price must vary. He did not, and

could not, forget that, under war prices and war taxes, wheat could

not be cultivated with profit in this country, unless the quarter

sold for 80s.; neither was he blind to the fact, that we had seen

the average price so low in 1835 as 39s. 4d., notwithstanding

the operation of a highly protective law. But he also held that,

although it was impossible, with all the aids which agricultural

experiment and statistical science could bring, to fix an immutable

price for the quarter of wheat--as he had previously done in the

instance of the ounce of gold--still, from averages taken throughout

the country for a series of years, it was possible to frame some

general proximate conclusion, which the legislature was bound to

keep in mind, whilst considering any laws or alterations of rates

that might hereafter affect the interests of the British farmer. So

that, when Sir Robert Peel enunciated the following opinions, we

maintain that the principle which guided him was strictly correct;

and we accept these as embodying the main argument that led to the

conclusion, which we have placed above as the commencement and

the text of this article. "Now, with reference to the probable

remunerating price, I should say that, for the protection of the

agricultural interest, as far as I can possibly form a judgment,

if the price of wheat in this country, allowing for its natural

oscillations, could be limited to some such amount as between 54s.

and 58s., I do not believe that it is for the interest of the

agriculturist that it should be higher. Take the average of the last

ten years, excluding from some portion of the average the extreme

prices of the last three years, and 56s. would be found to be the

average; and so far as I can form an idea of what would constitute

a fair remunerating price, I, FOR ONE, SHOULD NEVER WISH TO SEE IT

VARY MORE THAN I HAVE SAID. I cannot say, on the other hand, that I

am able to see any great or permanent advantage to be derived from

the diminution of the price of corn _beyond the lowest amount I

have named_, if I look at the subject in connexion with the general

position of the country, the existing relations of landlord and

tenant, the burdens upon the land, and the habits of the country."

These opinions are quite distinct, and from them we gather that Sir

Robert Peel, in 1842, considered that, on an average, 54s. was the

lowest price at which the British farmer could raise wheat for the

market--so long, at least, as he was liable to the same burdens as

formerly, occupied the same position in the country, and paid the

same rent to his landlord. Following out these views, Sir Robert

Peel introduced his sliding-scale of duties, and the result would

seem in a great measure to vindicate his sagacity. Let us take the

averages for the six years immediately following:--

_s._ _d._

1842, 57 3

1843, 50 1

1844, 51 3

1845, 50 10

1846, 54 8

1847, 69 9

---------

6)333 10

---------

55 7-2/3

It will thus be seen that the average price of wheat, during those

years, _was within fivepence_ of the calculation made by Sir Robert

as the fair and natural average for the preceding ten years, and

that it almost hit the precise medium between the two extremes which

he assumed.

Now, we are not aware that Sir Robert Peel has ever _directly_

retracted these opinions, although many passages might be

quoted from his speeches to show that he considered increased

cheapness--the necessary result of his free-trade measures--some

sort of compensation for the probable decline in the value of

agricultural produce. But the income-tax and increased public

burdens may fairly be set against any saving on the ground of

cheapness, and the question remains precisely where it was before.

The averages of sixteen years, excluding extraordinary impulses to

an unnatural rise or fall, entitle us to assume that the British

farmer cannot raise wheat profitably at lower prices than 56s.

per quarter; and Sir Robert Peel, whatever may be the effect of

his subsequent measures, once gave his solemn guarantee that,

when prices should fall below 51s., there should be no foreign

competition.

We have no desire to rake up old matters of discussion, or to

reflect upon pledges which may either have lapsed or been broken.

Our present business with Sir Robert is simply to have his evidence

as to the remunerating prices of corn, and that evidence we have

stated above. We are, therefore, entitled to assume that any great

and permanent decline of prices, following upon increased foreign

imports, must have a most deleterious effect upon the agriculture

of the country, unless some remedy can be found which shall lessen

the cost of production. As usual, there is no lack of volunteers

to suggest remedies. Dr Buckland, of iguanodon and icthyosaurus

celebrity, discourses learnedly of subsoils and manures, and offers

to show how acres of wheat may be raised upon soils hitherto

yielding no other crop than rushes, ling, or heather. It is the

misfortune of scientific men that they live in a world of their

own; for, had the learned fossilist been aware of what has been

passing around for the last twenty years, he would have known that

no sane person ever questioned the truth of his assertions. With

the aid of draining, manure, and other artificial appliances, corn

may be grown almost anywhere within the compass of the British

islands. No man disputes that. The simple question is: Will the

corn, when grown, yield a fair return for the expenses attendant

upon its growth? Until the geologists and chemists have acquired

so much real practical knowledge as to be able to answer this

query satisfactorily, they will best consult the public interest

by confining themselves to their quarries and their laboratories.

That agriculturist who should deny the advantages which his own

science has derived from the aid of chemistry, would not only be

an ungrateful, but an exceedingly unreasonable man; nevertheless,

he cannot be charged with either ingratitude or folly if, after

calculating the cost of the productive agent, and the value of the

produce, he declines to expend his capital in forced improvements,

which at the end of the year, and with diminished prices, must leave

him a considerable loser. If high farming could be shown to be

productive, high farming would be the rule and not the exception. In

Scotland we have farmed so high, that we are quoted at all hands as

an example to the rest of the world. If we mistake not, Dr Buckland

himself, in some of his stimulating addresses, has referred to the

agricultural system of the Lothians as a specimen, or rather _the_

specimen, of what may be achieved by science combined with energy.

We accept the compliment; and in the course of the following pages

we shall endeavour to show him, and his friends, how the pattern

farmer is likely to fare, and how he has fared already, under the

operation of the new code which modern liberalism has introduced for

the encouragement of British enterprise.

Next to the chemists, and moving closely in their wake, come the

free-trading landlords who assented to the great experiment. If

we select Lords Ducie and Kinnaird as fair specimens of this

class in England and in Scotland, we shall do no more than give

that prominence to their names which is challenged by their

late assertions. Our occupancy of the Scottish field, from which

we are unwilling to depart, precludes us from entering into any

investigation of the views promulgated by the English earl. But we

have no scruple at all in dealing with the Scottish baron, who,

in the letter of advice addressed to his tenantry of the Carse

of Gowrie, has taken infinite pains to show that the superior

husbandry of Scotland has been stimulated, if not created, by the

exaction of high rents; and, by an easy corollary, that future

improvement depends mainly upon the maintenance of these rents,

irrespective altogether of the decline in the value of produce!

This, we are bound to admit, is a comfortable landlord's theory;

and, if the agricultural tenants who frequent the reading-room

at Inchture are convinced of its practical soundness, we should

be extremely sorry to utter a single word which might tend to

unsettle their faith. But we fear that Lord Kinnaird, like many

other inconsiderate individuals, has committed a serious mistake in

rushing precipitately into print. We agree with him, on the whole,

that rent is a desirable thing, which ought not, under ordinary

circumstances, to be violently diminished; still we must adhere to

our deliberate opinion, that, if a great organic change, affecting

the interests of agriculture to a serious degree, is consequent

upon any measures of the legislature, both landlord and tenant must

be prepared to suffer in a certain ratio. It is all very well to

recommend the aid of chemistry, provided, at the same time, that

adequate capital is forthcoming. Even with capital, to be drawn from

the tenant's, and not the landlord's pocket, it will require more

than mere assertion to persuade the former that, by an enormously

increased outlay in phosphate of lime, sulphuric acid, magnesia,

manganese, gypsum, guano, and what not, he may raise crops the

abundance of which shall compensate him for a direct loss of 16s.

or 20s. on the quarter of wheat, with a corresponding diminution in

the value of every other kind of agricultural produce. Some of those

who, according to Lord Kinnaird, have shown themselves "the best and

most successful farmers," men who have heretofore been engaged in

business--that is, commercial business--may be induced to try the

experiment; but if there be any truth in the reply which Mr Thomas

Ross of Wardheads, a farmer in the Carse of Gowrie, has made to his

lordship's pamphlet, the result of the trials hitherto attempted

by such enterprising persons, upon the Kinnaird estates and in the

immediate neighbourhood, may be best estimated by a perusal of the

_Gazette_, wherein the names of divers unfortunate speculators are

recorded. But, to speak plainly, the time has gone by for any such

absurd trifling. What we want are facts, not theories; least of all,

theories so palpably preposterous as to carry their refutation on

their face.

We do not, by any means, intend to insinuate that Lord Kinnaird

is to be taken as a type of the Scottish or British landlords.

On the contrary, we believe that he forms one of a minority so

infinitesimally small, that the number of them would hardly be

worth the reckoning. The position of the landlord and the tenant

is, on the clearest of all grounds, inseparable; and it is in

vain to suppose that the one class can, by possibility, have a

distinct interest from the other. No doubt, during the currency

of existing leases, entered into before the rapid conversion of

the two great political rivals to the doctrines of free trade,

the landlord may insist upon having the full penalty of his bond,

and may wring the last farthing from the hand of the despairing

farmer. We are living in times when vested interests have lost

their character of sanctity: the legislature, while forcing down

prices, provided no remedy for the relief of those who were tied

up by bargains, reasonable when contracted, but ruinous under the

altered circumstances; and the tenant, though forced to struggle

against the might of foreign importation, has no legal claim on

the proprietor of the soil for a corresponding deduction from his

rent. But the good feeling which has always existed between the

landlords and the tenantry of this country, if we assume no higher

motive, will doubtless operate, in the majority of instances, to

temper the rigour of the bargain, should the pressure continue

to increase; and year after year, as leases expire, and as the

results of practical experience become more generally understood,

competition will disappear, and rents fall to a point exactly

corresponding to the expectation of future prices. It is a bad sign

of the times, though certainly an instructive one, when we find a

wealthy peer, in a letter addressed to his tenantry, expressing

his opinion that retired tradesmen and others--men who have never

handled a plough in their lives, and who are far better versed in

the mysteries of long-stitch than in those of draining--make much

better farmers than those who have been reared to agriculture from

their infancy. According to this view, the farmer is a mere booby

compared to the man whose intellects have been sharpened in the

shop, the counting-house, or the manufactory; and the experience

which he has gained positively unfits him for the actual exercise

of his profession! Such views must be corroborated by the testimony

of deeper sages than Lord Kinnaird, before they pass into general

acceptation; and we cannot help thinking that the noble author

would have used a wise discretion had he been less explicit in his

reasons for preferring the novice to the practised farmer. Besides

their habits of accurate accounting, and their total freedom from

prejudice, retired tradesmen appear valuable, in the eyes of Lord

Kinnaird, for two especial reasons:--"In the first place, that

they have capital; secondly, that they are not afraid to expend

it, knowing that thus alone can their land be made productive." To

such persons we would address a word of warning, cautioning them to

use their acquired powers of accounting rather before than after

they enter into any agricultural bargain; and in particular, we

would advise them to look narrowly to the figures of their noble

encourager, detailing the results of his own experience in the farm

of Mill-hill, brought down, with great show of accuracy, to the

close of 1847--_before_ protection ceased, or prices fell--_but

no later_. In the course of such investigations, they may light

upon an anomaly or so which no arithmetician can explain, and be

rather chary of receiving his lordship's dogmas, that remuneration

from farming is "_not dependent on high prices_," and that "no one

possessing capital need be afraid of investing it in a farm."

The last champion of increased production as an antidote

against free trade, is not the type of a class, but a single

individual--whose testimony, however, being in some respects

practical, is worth more than that of all the chemical doctors and

interested landlords put together. We allude to Mr James Caird,

whose pamphlet, entitled "High Farming under Liberal Covenants,

the best Substitute for Protection," has already excited so much

attention, that, if rumour does not err, its author has been

deputed by government, at the recommendation of Sir Robert Peel,

to visit Ireland with the view of reporting upon the agricultural

capabilities of that country. We shall presently have occasion

to examine the details of that pamphlet, as minutely as their

importance deserves; at present we shall merely note, in passing,

that it does not profess to set forth the results of the author's

_own_ practical experience, although Mr Caird is well known to be

a farmer of great intelligence and ability; and, further, that it

directly points to _liberal covenants_ on the part of the landlord

as an indispensable basis of the arrangement. In fact, therefore,

we find that Lord Kinnaird and Mr Caird, though both writing on the

same side, entertain views widely differing from each other, as to

the future terms of adjustment between the two great agricultural

classes. Lord Kinnaird is for "high rents;" Mr Caird for "liberal

covenants." It is impossible that both of them can be right; and

were we to join issue solely upon the facts which each of them has

adduced, we should have no hesitation in deciding in favour of

the practical farmer. But we apprehend that, even with the aid of

liberal covenants, Mr Caird has failed in making out his case, as we

shall shortly prove, when we proceed to analyse his statements.

We have already made an approximation to the price which, in

ordinary seasons, and under existing burdens and covenants,

grain ought to bear, in order to yield a fair remuneration to the

British grower. That price, as we have already said, has been

held to range from 54s. to 58s. per quarter. This we hold to be a

moderate computation; but if a further limit be desired, we shall

admit--though for argument's sake only--that with great retrenchment

and economy, curtailing his own comforts, but not materially

reducing the wages of the labourer, the farmer may continue to grow

wheat at an average of 50s., and nevertheless pay up his annual

rent as before. A glance at former averages will show that this is

a remarkably low figure; and, _being taken as an average_, it of

course implies the supposition that in some years the price will be

higher, in order to compensate for others in which it may be lower.

Our primary business, therefore, is to ascertain whether, under the

operation of the new system, prices can ever rise, supposing the

present breadth of land to remain in tillage, above this average

amount; or whether they must not permanently diminish so much as to

destroy the vestige of an independent average in this country, and

substitute foreign growing prices for our own. The question is a

very momentous one, for it involves the existence of our national

agriculture, and not only that, but the existence of the larger

portion of the home market for our manufactures, compared with which

our exports are comparatively as nothing. It is our earnest desire

to approach it with all candour, temper, and moderation; and we

shall not, if possible, allow ourselves to be betrayed into a single

angry word, or discourteous expression, towards those who have

differed from us hitherto in opinion. Neither shall we advance or

reiterate opinions upon grounds purely theoretical. Ever since this

contest began, we have taken a decided and consistent part, and have

not scrupled to expose, by argument, what we held to be the glaring

fallacies of free trade. That argument, necessarily inferential at

first, has since been borne out and corroborated by every fact which

has emerged; and, on that account alone, we think we are entitled

to demand a serious consideration of the matter which we now lay

before the public, as the result of an investigation, in the course

of which no pains or trouble have been spared, and which may help to

guide us all, be our politics what they may, to a true sense of the

danger which must immediately arrive, if we remain but a few months

longer in a state of fancied security. Our warning may be derided by

some, but the day of reckoning is at hand.

The first point, therefore, to which we shall entreat attention

is, the prospect of future prices; regarding which we possess some

information that may possibly take the reader by surprise.

The adoption of free-trade principles, as regards the trade in corn,

proceeded upon a false estimate of the precise quantities available

for the supply of this country. Those who, from various motives,

combined for the purpose of allowing the foreigner an unrestrained

competition in the British market, had no idea of the strength

of the power which they had thus evoked; while the fearful and

doubting protectionist, who yielded too soon to the clamour, was

little aware of the extent of the evils which his supineness was

to bring upon him. The statistics of the question were altogether

overlooked--at least no proper means were taken to obtain them in

a faithful manner. The returns made by the foreign consuls, and

the evidence collected as to the ordinary available supplies at

foreign ports, were, in nearly every instance, the mere reflex of

the views of interested parties, furnished to men unable, from their

habits or education, to judge of their approach to accuracy. The

voluminous report of Mr Jacob, which might have been of use as a

warning, at any rate, that cheap food does not always make a happy

and comfortable people, seems to have been forgotten in these latter

days. Hence the theories of those who had some experience in trade,

and whose published opinions on mercantile matters had obtained

credit and celebrity, came to be mainly relied upon. Among these,

the ideas of Mr Tooke, whose authority stands pre-eminently high in

such matters, as to prices, and the quantity of foreign grain which

might, in the event of free trade, find its way to our shores, were

much insisted on. But how far these are erroneous and delusive has

been sadly proved by our experience of the effects of free trade in

corn since 1846.

Mr Tooke says, in the third volume of his work on the _History of

Prices_, in the section entitled, "Conjectures as to the Prices at

which Wheat would range, in the event of Free Trade"--which, under

ordinary circumstances, he assumes to be 45s. per quarter,--"The

quantity which we might look to import, at an average of the price

I have named, might approach to from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 of

quarters." He goes on to say, "If there were to be a fixed duty of

8s. the quarter, I very much doubt whether the annual importation

would reach that quantity;" and afterwards adds, "Before quitting

this point, however, I must observe that my estimate of the price at

which a foreign supply might be expected, of the extent supposed,

may be considered by some of the opponents of the corn laws as

strengthening the ground for the supporters of them, inasmuch as

such statements may be made to work upon the minds of the farmers,

in frightening them with the prospect of cheap foreign corn."

What wonder, then, if the panic has materially increased, since

the history of free trade, for the last three years, has revealed

such a fearful addition to this estimate: for how stands the fact?

In place of 2,000,000 quarters of wheat annually, from the passing

of the Corn-Law Repeal Act (26th June 1846) until the 5th November

1847, a period of little more than sixteen months, we imported

7,229,916 quarters of wheat--while the total of all kinds of grain

entered for consumption amounted to 16,331,282 quarters! Some idea

may be formed of the effects of such an augmented importation, if we

bear in mind that, from 5th July 1828 to 1st Jan. 1841, a period of

nearly thirteen years, the whole quantity of foreign wheat and flour

entered for home consumption was 13,475,000 quarters.

But lest it should be argued that this was a supply produced by

extraordinary circumstances, and which could only be furnished

from accumulations of former seasons--as was, indeed, said at the

time--the further history of the trade has shown us that our foreign

supplies continue to pour in at precisely the same rate. The total

of all kinds of grain and flour entered for consumption in the last

nine months, ending 5th September 1849, as exhibited by the Board of

Trade returns, shows an amount of 9,870,823 quarters, the quantity

of wheat being for this period 3,821,292 quarters; and of wheaten

flour--besides frightening the farmers, bearing ruin to our own

millers--3,236,993 cwt.--together equivalent to quarters of wheat,

4,746,147. And all this, be it observed, has been imported while the

average price per quarter has been _one sixpence only_ above that

named as likely to exclude the approach of more than 1,500,000 or

2,000,000 quarters from our shores! Formerly--in the first years of

the century, up to 1842--the farmer had to contend against a foreign

supply of grain amounting to little more than 1,000,000 quarters

_per annum_--now, in some cases, under obligations contracted on the

faith of protection to native industry, he is called upon to make

the vain struggle against an inundation of foreign corn amounting to

upwards of 1,000,000 quarters _per month_! He cannot, it is evident,

maintain the contest long.

Such were the facts assumed as the basis of our legislation, and

already they stand forth to the public eye as gross and palpable

blunders. The British agriculturist has, beyond all question, been

injured to an extent infinitely greater than was anticipated by any

one--an extent so vast, that, could it have been predicted as a

certainty, the rashest theorist would have recoiled from the danger

of such an experiment.

But we have by no means, as yet, attained the lowest point of

depression. At the close of the year 1849, we take the general

average price of wheat as at 40s. per quarter, and we shall probably

have a breathing time of two or three months, until the Continental

ports are again available for navigation. We shall hereafter

consider whether, under any circumstances, the price which we have

just quoted can remunerate the farmer: in the mean time, let us

see whether it is likely that, in future, even this price can be

maintained.

It is no easy matter to ascertain the rates at which corn may be

grown on the Continent. The current prices at foreign ports, such

as Hamburg, have, in reality, little bearing upon this most vital

point, though they have been eagerly assumed by the free-traders

as a sure index of future prices. Very little consideration will

show every one that the true way towards forming a fair conclusion

on the subject, is to ascertain, as nearly as may be, the cost

of grain, _not at the ports from whence it issues_, but in the

inland countries where the greater proportion of it is grown. The

reason for this is obvious. Under the old system, when protective

duties were the rule, the demand for foreign corn was exceedingly

fluctuating and uncertain. We never dealt directly with the foreign

grower; but, between him and the British consumer, at least three

profits intervened. There were middlemen, principally Jews, who made

it their regular business to purchase up the superfluity of the

Polish crops on speculation, and to sell it to the Dantzic dealers.

Then came the profit of the latter, and also that of the British

corn-merchant; and, as the trade was notoriously a precarious one,

these profits were of considerable amount. The demand, however,

may now be considered as fixed and steady. Henceforward, under the

operation of free trade, the two considerations of quality and

cheapness must alone regulate the market. Not only the superfluity

of Continental harvests will be available, but new land, of which

there are immense tracts of the finest description, hitherto

untilled, will be put under cultivation, and the produce regularly

transmitted to this country, where a ready market can at all times

be found. The first symptom of this new regular trade will be the

disappearance of one of the intermediate profits. This is not

subject of prophecy; it has already taken place. The foreigners

have now taken the whole of the foreign grain trade exclusively

into their own hands. We are informed by the first corn-merchants

of Leith, that there is not a single order sent for grain from this

country. "The finest Dantzic wheat, free on board," writes one of

our correspondents, "will not be sold to a British merchant for less

than 38s. the quarter; and as no more than 40s. or 41s. could be got

for it here, there is no margin for a profit, and the risk is not

run. But the foreigner will send it on his own account, and sell it

_here_ at 38s. and realise a profit. You thus see that the entire

trade is out of British hands, for the prices of our own grain must

entirely be ruled by those of the foreigner; and the consequence is,

that every bushel sent to this country is on consignment and not to

order."

There still remains another profit, that of the middleman, to be

reduced. The creation of a constant and steady demand from the

foreign ports--which demand cannot be otherwise unless a protective

law is reimposed--will naturally excite the dealers to purchase

directly from the Polish grower. In this way they will have double

profits, without enhancing materially, if at all, the original cost

of the grain; for, in other Continental corn-growing countries,

untilled land may be had to any extent for next to nothing, and no

farming capital, as we understand the word, is required. Here a

remark or two, founded upon past history, may be useful. About a

century and a half ago, or rather about the time of the Revolution

of 1688, the average price of wheat, as stated by Adam Smith,

amounted to 28s. in England. Public burdens were at that time

moderate, and so were poor-rates; still they were of such an amount

as to be felt by the farmer. The wages of the agricultural labourer

were at least seven shillings per week, equal to about 10s. 6d. of

our present money, and the rent of arable land might be estimated

over-head at 5s. 6d. per acre. All these items are enormously

above the rates at present known in the Continental corn-growing

countries, and some of them have no existence there. It is difficult

to get at Polish charges, especially since the late change in our

policy, for we have invariably found that foreign proprietors are

most jealous of disclosing their true domestic position. Nor can

we wonder at this, for the truth, were it broadly told, might tend

materially to check that liberal sympathy, which of late years has

been so abundantly shown to the insurgents of central Europe. We

are, however, fortunately enabled to throw some useful light upon

this matter. Our informant is a Scottish agriculturist, who, some

years ago, was engaged as land-steward on the estates of a Polish

nobleman in Gallicia, and who, therefore, had ample opportunity of

witnessing the foreign system. If the reader glances at the map of

Europe, tracing the course of the Vistula from Dantzic, and then

following the upward line of its tributary, the Bug, he will find

laid down in close proximity the extensive districts of Volhynia,

Podolia, Kiow, Gallicia, and others, formerly Palatinates, which

together constitute the largest, richest, and most productive

corn-field of Europe. Here there are no farmers, and--what is more

strange to us--no free labourers who receive a weekly wage. The land

is tilled for the profit of the owner; a superintendant presides

over it as taskmaster; and the workers of the soil are serfs in the

actual position of slaves, who toil late and early without other

remuneration than the coarse rye bread, and similar fare, which

is necessary to support existence. The manufactures of Manchester

and Sheffield have not found their way into this region, and never

will; because the population, being utterly without means, could

not purchase them, and probably would not were the means within

their power. Their dress is of the most primitive kind, and differs

in no respect from that of tribes utterly barbarous--being chiefly

constructed of the skins of animals. They are hardy, docile,

and exceedingly sensitive to kindness, but as far removed from

civilisation as the tribes of Tartary; and their owners--for that

is the proper term--take especial care that no doctrine shall reach

them which in any way may interfere with the exercise of despotic

rule. In short, they are like so many cattle cultivating the land

for their masters at the bare expense of their keep. To demonstrate

more clearly the difference of the value of labour, we may here

state, on the best authority, that in that district where the finest

wheat, distinctively known as "high-mixed Dantzic," is grown, the

ordinary price of a quarter of wheat will defray the expense of

from forty to forty-five days' work, whilst here it can procure

only from twenty to twenty-five days. The climate is excellent, and

the yield of the soil considerable. Wheat may be grown for several

years successively without manure, and always with comparatively

little work. The produce is floated down the numerous rivers which

intersect the district, to Dantzic and other coast towns on the

Baltic, where it is stored; and these will in future form the

great depots of the grain furnished by central Europe for British

consumption. Contrast this state of matters in modern Poland with

that of England in 1688, when land yielded a considerable rent, when

poor-rates and public burdens were levied, and when the labouring

man received a reasonable wage; and we must arrive at the conclusion

that the remunerating price of wheat in the former country must be

something greatly lower than 28s. per quarter. We are almost afraid

to state our conviction, lest it should appear exaggerated; but

we do not doubt that Polish wheat could be delivered at Dantzic

at 16s., and yet leave a considerable profit to the grower. We

must also note that the variableness of our climate, and the

comparative poorness of our soil, places us at a vast disadvantage

in point of quality, as compared with the southern grower. It can

be established, by consulting the prices-current of Mark Lane

for a series of years, that it would require a differential duty

of 6s. per quarter on wheat, on this account alone, to put the

British farmer on a fair footing with the great bulk of his foreign

competitors. Last season, the difference between the best foreign

and English wheat throughout the year, as proved by the same

authority, was upwards of 10s. per quarter.

We beg it will be distinctly understood, that, in estimating the

remunerative prices of foreign grain, we do not profess to arrive

at more than general conclusions. It matters nothing for or against

our argument whether wheat can be delivered at Dantzic a little

cheaper, or a little dearer, than the above sum. We leave room on

either side for a considerable margin. This much, however, we know

for a fact, that an eminent corn-merchant in Leith has, in former

years, purchased fine wheat, free on board, at Dantzic for 18s.,

with the offer of a constant supply, and that no circumstances have

since then emerged to enhance the cost of production. Besides this,

as Mr Sandars well remarks in one of his published letters, we have

had plain and evident experience of foreign production under the

working of the corn law of 1842. We had a fixed duty of 20s. per

quarter in actual operation for four years; and in 1844 and 1845,

such duty was paid, week after week, and in the latter year for

six months consecutively, at a time when our general averages were

only 46s. to 47s. a quarter. Was the foreigner at that time selling

at a loss? His price, then, adapting itself to ours, was 26s. and

27s., deducting the duty, and at that time, be it remembered, _he

was unprepared for competition_. So that, from experience not five

years old, we may gather what kind of future competition awaits

us, and also what we are annually sacrificing in revenue, by madly

abandoning protection. Does any one believe that, in 1845, had there

been no duty on foreign corn, wheat would have fallen to 26s.,

or the foreigner have sold his crop at that price? The remitted

duty goes into the pocket of the foreigner, who is selling in the

dearest market, and underselling our farmers, as he will be able to

do--for he has tested that ability already--down to a point which

must extinguish British agriculture. We know also from Mr Meek's

report, quoted by Sir Robert Peel in 1842, that "the prices of corn

in Denmark have, during the last twenty-five years, averaged, for

wheat, 28s. 10d., rye, 19s. 9d., barley, 14s., and oats, 10s. 6d.

per quarter," and it is obviously ridiculous to suppose that the

cost of production in Poland is nearly so high as in Denmark and

Schleswig-Holstein. Last year Denmark sent us upwards of a million

quarters of grain. These are facts which have distinctly emerged,

and they are all-important at the present time, when the tenantry

are urged to expend further capital on the chance of future rise

of prices. It is now perfectly clear that the returns, which were

assumed as the basis for the great experiment, are worthy of no

confidence. On the other hand, we do not wish that our opinions,

which point to a totally different result, should influence any one

in his future line of conduct; but, beyond our opinions, there are

certain facts, which we have just stated, and the import of which

cannot be misunderstood, and these may serve as warnings for the

future. Of the capability of the foreigner to supply us with any

given amount of grain, we think no reasonable man can doubt. There

is a breadth of soil open sufficient to supply more than twenty

times the most exorbitant demand. It is his power to undersell us,

and the extent of that power, which have been questioned; and on

the solution of that question depends the utility of high farming,

in this country, on a grand and comprehensive scale. We shall show

that, at present prices, high farming is so far from remunerative,

that those who practise it are actually incurring an immense loss;

and that, unless rents come down to zero, or at least to a point

which would utterly ruin the landlords, high farming cannot be

proceeded with. We have shown that, within the last five years, we

have been supplied, and that regularly, from abroad, when wheat

was at 46s. per quarter, and a duty of 20s. existed; and, at such

rates, it is quite evident that all attempt at competition would

be hopeless. Wheat could not be grown remuneratively at 26s. or

27s. in England before a single shilling of the national debt was

incurred; and no man is mad enough to insist upon its possibility

now. When, therefore, the Free-traders tell us that the present is a

mere temporary depreciation, we ask them--and we demand a distinct

reply--for an explanation of the imports in 1845. How was it that,

for a long period, foreign corn came in plentifully, paying the

duty of 20s., when our home averages were at 46s. and 47s.? Can

they assign any special reason for it? If not, the conclusion is

plain, that the foreign growers can and will undersell us down to

that point, if we possibly could compete with them so far, and all

the while add to their profit, while they also abstract from our

revenue.

Our belief, as we have said already, is, that the foreigner could

afford to go much lower, and that he could furnish us with wheat

at little more than 18s. We have stated above an instance of this

kind, and, if necessary, we could furnish more. Nor will the

statement appear exaggerated to those who will take the trouble

of comparing English prices and English burdens, as they existed

before the Revolution of 1688, with the prices and rates of the

great corn-growing countries of central Europe at the present

moment, making due allowance for climate and the difference of

social institutions. At the same time, let it be understood that

we do not aver, that all the foreign grain which way find its way

here can be grown at such low prices. Pomeranian and Bohemian wheat

is more expensive in culture than that of Poland; and we know that

there is some difference between Hamburg and Dantzic prices. Still

our conviction is most decided, that henceforward the foreigner has

the game entirely in his hands; that he may prescribe what price

he pleases to this country; and that every year, in spite of all

efforts, all home harvests, all variety of seasons, prices must

inevitably decline. If it were possible that, by high farming, or

any other means, we could produce wheat remuneratively at 30s.,

or 25s., the foreigner would be ready to sell in competition at

25s. or 18s., even supposing he received hardly any profit. His

business is _to get hold of the British market_, and that once

accomplished, he may elevate or depress prices as he pleases. The

declension will be gradual, but it will be perfectly steady. This

year wheat has been brought down to 40s., not in consequence of an

exuberant harvest, as in 1835, but through competition. A million

of quarters per month have been poured in to sink prices, and we

are now debating at home whether British agriculture can go on

under such circumstances. Tenants are mourning over their losses;

labourers are feeling the pinch of lowered wages; some landlords, in

apprehension of diminished rents, are exhorting to further outlay of

capital; statesmen are consulting with chemists; and agitators, who

have made all the ruin, are shouting for financial reductions. In

the mean time, the winter is crawling on apace. The price of grain

in Britain has been beat down by competition _with a poor foreign

crop_, for such unquestionably was the yield of 1848. That of 1849

was a splendid one, and, the moment the ports are opened in spring,

its influence will be felt. The question will not then be of 40s,

but of a price still lower; and we apprehend that, in that event,

the argument will be nearly closed. We do not, however, anticipate

that the reduction will be rapid. The dealers at the different

foreign ports will best consult their own interest by keeping, as

nearly as possible, just below the quotations current in the British

market. In this way large profits will be secured during the whole

maintenance of the struggle, which must end by the British farmer,

overloaded with rent, taxes, and public burdens, giving way to

his competitors, who, with no such impediments, and with a better

climate and richer soil, will monopolise his proper function. We

shall then experience in corn, what our West Indian colonists, under

the same kind of legislation, have experienced in sugar. The greater

part of the soil of Britain will be diverted from cereal growth;

and, as the earth does not yield her produce without long wooing, we

shall be at the mercy of the foreigner for our supplies of food, at

any rates which he may choose to impose.

As to the matter of freights, about which so much was at one time

said and written, we need not complicate the question by entering

into minute details. From information upon which we can rely, we

learn that, at this moment, steamers are constructing for the sole

purpose of effecting rapid and continual transit between foreign

and British ports, for the conveyance of grain--a circumstance

which speaks volumes as to the anticipations of the Continental

traders. We may also observe that ordinary freights form no bar

to importation, since they are now hardly greater from the Baltic

to this country than from Ross-shire to Leith, or from many parts

of England to London. One fact, communicated by a correspondent

connected with the shipping trade, has peculiarly impressed us. We

give it in his own words: "I enclose you a price-current, which will

give you the prices of all grain. Grain from America has lately come

home, both in American and British ships, at 4d. per bushel freight,

and flour at 6d. per barrel--but much more frequently shipped on the

condition _that, if it leaves a profit, the one half goes to the

shipper, and the other half to the owner of the ship for freight_."

He adds, "The freights from Quebec and Montreal are higher--say 2s.

6d. or 3s. for flour; but as British shipping ceases being protected

after 1st January, they will be equally low there." So much for

pulling down one interest by way of compensation to another!

The reader--or rather the critical economist--may treat the

foregoing remarks as speculative or not, according to the colour

of his opinions. All the discussion upon free-trade has been

speculative, and so was the legislation also. We take credit for

having anticipated what we now see realised; but beyond that, and

beyond the facts which the experience of former years has given us,

and which we have just laid before our readers, we are, as a matter

of course, open to objection, and also liable to error. We have not

been arguing, however, without sound data--such as, we suspect,

never were brought fully under the eye of our statesmen--and they

all tend manifestly and clearly to the same conclusion. That

conclusion is, that, without the reimposition of a protective duty,

prices cannot rise above the present level. Our argument goes

further; for we hold it to be clear that, without some extraordinary

combination of circumstances which we cannot conceive, prices must

decline, and decline greatly. We look for nothing else; but having

had our say as to the future, and pointed out the prospect before

us, we shall now confine ourselves to present circumstances, and

endeavour to ascertain whether, with a continuance of _present

prices_, and under existing burdens, agriculture can be carried on

in Britain at a reasonable profit to the farmer.

Mr Caird's pamphlet, though it has attracted a good deal of

attention, contains no hints or information which are new to the

practical farmer. Its high-sounding title would lead us to suppose

that he had discovered some improved system of agriculture, which

might be applicable throughout the kingdom. We read the pamphlet;

and we find that it contains nothing beyond the description of a

very low-rented and peculiarly-situated farm, the occupant of which

appears to have realised considerable profits from an extensive

cultivation of the potato. It is not necessary that we should

do more than allude to the general tone of the pamphlet, which

seems to us rather more arrogant than the occasion demanded. Mr

Caird, we doubt not, is a good practical farmer; but we should

very much have preferred a distinct and detailed statement of

his own experiences at Baldoon, to an incomplete and unattested

account of his neighbour's doings at Auchness. A man is fairly

entitled to lecture to his class when he can show that, in his own

person, he is a thorough master of his subject. A farmer who has

devised improvements, tested them, and found them to answer his

expectations, and to repay him, has a right to take high ground,

and to twit his brother tenants with their want of skill or energy.

But Mr Caird is not in this position. He is occupier of a farm of

considerable extent, but he does not venture to give us the results

of his own experience. It is possible that he may himself pursue

the system which he advocates, but he does not tell us so; he

points to Mr M'Culloch as the model. This is at best but secondary

evidence; howbeit we shall take it as it comes; and as this is

strictly a farmer's question, it may be best to allow one practical

agriculturist to reply to the views of another. We might, indeed,

have abstained altogether from doing so, for Mr Monro of Allan,

in a very able pamphlet, entitled _Landlords' Rents and Tenants'

Profits_, has distinctly and unanswerably exposed the fallacies of

Mr Caird. Still, lest it should be said that we are disposed to

reject, too lightly, any evidence which has been adduced on the

opposite side, we have requested Mr Stephens, author of _The Book of

the Farm_, to favour us with his views as to Auchness cultivation.

We subjoin them, for the benefit of all concerned.

"On perusing Mr Caird's pamphlet, every practical man must be struck

with astonishment at the inordinate quantity of potatoes cultivated

at Auchness.

"The entire thirty acres of dried moss, (p. 7,) and twenty-five

acres of lea, (p. 15,) were in potatoes in 1848; and the county Down

farmer, whose statement is reprinted at the close of Lord Kinnaird's

pamphlet, reports that the number of acres occupied by potatoes in

1849 was ninety. This is more than one-third of the whole area of

the land. I have considered attentively the calculation made by the

farmer; and I think that, in order to meet present prices, it should

be modified as below. You will also observe that, in my opinion, the

outlay on the farm has been too highly estimated.[21]

"90 acres potatoes, at 7-1/2 tons each, £2 per ton, £1350 0 0

60 acres wheat, at 36 bushels each, £2 per quarter, 540 0 0

Profit on 130 cattle, at £6 each, 780 0 0

Profit on 150 sheep, at 10s. each, 75 0 0

Profit of 5 milk cows, at £12 each, 60 0 0

-------- £2805 0 0

_Deduct_--

Rent, £262 0 0

Labour, 40s. per acre, 520 0 0

Manure purchased, (p. 23, Caird,) 256 0 0

Food for cattle purchased, (do.,) 270 0 0

Seed potatoes, 108 tons, at £2, for 90 acres, 216 0 0

Seed wheat, 120 bushels, at 5s., 30 0 0

Tradesmen's bills, at £7 per pair horses each half-year, 70 0 0

Incidental expenses, 50 0 0

Interest on £2000 capital, at 10 per cent, 200 0 0

-------- 1874 0 0

--------

£931 0 0

[21] It will be seen, by referring to the statement in question,

that Mr Stephens' calculation is more favourable to the tenant than

the other. According to him, the excess of produce over expenditure

would be £931. The county Down farmer estimates it at £888.

"This balance sheet shows a profit of £931; but as the potatoes

are worth £1350, which is no less than £419 more than all the

profit, it is evident that it is the potato _alone_ that affords

any profit under this instance of high farming. Indeed Mr Caird

admits as much when he says, 'The _great_ value of a sound potato

crop induces the tenant to adopt such means as will not interfere

with the _continued_ cultivation of this root.' The admission is,

that the profit rests entirely on the precarious potato. The potato

has hitherto been safe in the moss of Auchness, and it is safe

there in no other class of soil. In Ireland, even the moss does

not save it. There is no high farming in the matter, in so far as

manures are concerned, for as much and richer manure is used in

the neighbourhood of large towns; and as on the moss at Auchness

too much manure may be applied, at least after a certain time, so

there may be on other soils; and thus high farming, in reference to

soils, just means heavy manuring. Mr Caird says, 'The potato has

been grown on the moss land successively, year after year; but the

entire reclaimed portions, _from being so frequently manured_, are

becoming too rich, and the crop beginning to show signs of disease,

and a tendency to grow to tops rather than roots, which makes it

necessary to adopt some plan of reducing its fertility.' It is known

to every farmer, that it is quite possible to overmanure any crop,

and the effects of overmanuring are, the breaking down of the straw

of the grain crops, and the hollowing of the core of the tubers

and bulbs of the green crops. The inference then is, that a profit

which depends entirely on potatoes is uncertain in any year; and

the particular case of Auchness, in which that profit is derived

from moss, is not generally applicable to the country, and cannot,

therefore, be held up as an example to farmers.

"The farm of Auchness contains nothing remarkable: for although the

peculiar culture of the potato in moss is generally inapplicable,

there are many farms in Scotland which have moss attached to them.

The sea-ware may also be got on most farms on the coast, and where

this is the case, it is commonly used. The soil is not good, and is

certainly below the average quality; but I cannot understand what

is meant by Mr Caird, when he asserts, on p. 7, that the '125 acres

of light sandy soil is better adapted for _wheat_ than for barley

or oats when in a high state of cultivation,' for, in other parts

of the country, such a soil would be eminently suited for barley.

The steading is large for the size of the farm, but every steading

ought to be made conformable to the farm by the landlord. The system

of farming followed by Mr M'Culloch, of having 'no fixed rotation

of crops,' is highly objectionable, and Mr Caird, with great

propriety, does not commend it; since the farmer who manages so, has

no dependence on the amount of crop he may receive any year, and

must work according to circumstances, and not on principle, as the

unhappy Irish hitherto have done. In this respect, also, Auchness is

no example for the country; and, were a regular rotation followed on

it, so many potatoes could not be grown, and the profits would be

proportionally reduced.

"On the whole, then, I would say that Auchness farming is not

generally applicable; and therefore it is useless to proclaim it as

an antidote to free competition. For although it is probably true,

as Mr Caird says, 'that _green_ crops are likely henceforth to be

the main stay of the agriculturists of this country,' yet he must be

conscious that he is wrong in recommending, as an example, and as a

substitute for protection, the _enlarged_ cultivation of _potatoes_

as a green crop, seeing that their growth has, of late years, been

attended with great uncertainty. Is it not a mockery, then, to tell

us that our main stay against foreign competition should depend upon

a peculiarly uncertain crop? Will his pointing to a moss of 30 acres

in Wigtonshire, convince the farmers of this great kingdom, that

their future safety, as a class, must entirely depend upon their

cultivating such a root on such a soil, in preference to wheat on

the fertile loams of glorious old England? I apprehend that such a

result is beyond the power of argument."

The non-agricultural reader must pardon us for the insertion of

these details. They are necessary for our case, because, if high

farming can be made an efficient substitute for protection, we are

bound to adopt it, and we should owe a deep debt of gratitude to any

one who could point out the way. We are fully alive to the necessity

of agricultural enterprise; and, if we thought that our farmers

were standing beside their mired waggon, clamorously invoking the

assistance of Jupiter, when they should be clapping their own

shoulders to the wheel, we would be the first to remonstrate on

the heinous folly of their conduct. It is because _no amount_ of

personal exertion has been spared, that we seek to enforce their

claim according to the utmost of our ability; and, in doing so, we

are bound to prove, that no ordinary means which have been suggested

for their extrication can be of the smallest avail. Mr Caird has

come forward in the character of adviser, and we have stated the

opinion of practical men as to the feasibility of his scheme. We

have yet more to state, for nature has already denounced his plan

far more effectually than opinion. When the county Down farmer

visited Auchness in July last, he found more than one-third of the

whole farm under potato culture. Upon that crop depended not only

the whole profits, but a great deal more. Without the potatoes,

there would have been a loss, at a more favourable calculation than

his, of £419, on a farm paying only £262 of rent. _Since then_,

we are informed on the best authority, _that disease has attacked

the potatoes_. The highly-manured moss could not preserve from

decay, if it did not accelerate it, the uncertain and precarious

root. Mr Caird must not quarrel with the penalty he has incurred

for having totally misunderstood the nature of the question which

is now agitating the public mind. Whilst all others were directing

their attention to cereal produce, he kept his eyes obstinately

fixed on a little patch of ground which seemed to give unusual

facilities for the growth of the doubtful potato. He never attempted

to show that, without potatoes, and an exorbitant growth of that

vegetable, high farming could pay at Auchness, even with the

important elements of very low rent, and singular liberality on

the part of an enthusiastic landlord. He perilled his whole case

upon the probable returns of a root which every farmer views with

suspicion; and--more than that--his statistics, which he wished to

be inferred were of universal application, were only applicable to

a few remote and isolated spots in Scotland. The result is, that,

with all these advantages, the experiment has failed; and that all

the liquid manures, economy of dung, guano stimulants, and so forth,

as practised at Auchness, cannot, at present prices of produce,

force up so much grain, or feed so much stock, as will nearly pay

for the required and inevitable expenses. We pass over all possible

mistakes. It may have been matter of delicacy for Mr Caird to have

exposed the balance-sheet of his neighbour, or he may have assumed,

rather hastily, statistics for which he had meagre warrant. We can

allow him a large margin. _Without_ potatoes, and such an extent of

potato as would be plainly ludicrous if adopted as a general rule,

Auchness never could have paid. _With_ potatoes, it has failed

in the very year wherein Mr Caird has chosen to exhibit it as a

universal model.

So much for the only instance of high farming which has been

adduced, as an example of its efficacy in superseding the protective

system. In justice to Mr M'Culloch, whom we believe to be a most

intelligent farmer, let it not be thought that we presume to call

it empirical. On the contrary, we are convinced that that gentleman

has acted with great judgment, suiting his management to the nature

of the ground with which he had to deal; and that he has made as

much of it as any man could do under similar circumstances. He was

compelled to deal with a precarious crop, and few men could have

dealt with it better: still, his method is no example to others

differently situated, nor are his results to be taken by them either

as matter of warning or of triumph. It is sufficient for us that

Auchness farming, successful or not, is peculiar, and cannot be

dragged in as a rule or example for the English or the Scottish

farmer. We have enough of high farming statistics to lay before our

readers, and, therefore, without any further apology, we dismiss the

matter of Auchness, as totally inapplicable to the great question at

issue.

In order to arrive as nearly as possible at the true state of the

case, in so far as Scottish farming is concerned, we put ourselves

into communication with two gentlemen, of the highest eminence in

their profession. We need scarcely tell our countrymen on this side

of the Border, that it would be difficult to find better testimony

on such a subject than that of Messrs Watson of Keillor, and

Dudgeon of Spylaw; and we apprehend, moreover, that many English

agriculturists are fully acquainted with their character and high

reputation. Through their kindness we have been furnished with the

statistics of farms situated in the fertile grain-growing districts

of Forfar and Roxburgh; and the calculations as to the yield,

prices, and expenses, were made from their own books. The rent set

down is that which is usual in the district for land of the best

description, and the tenant's capital is named at an amount which

might enable him to develop the full capabilities of the soil. The

estimates have been most carefully framed, with the view of avoiding

every kind of exaggeration; and they have been gone over by Mr

Stephens, who attests their general accuracy. They are as follows:--

No. I.

RETURNS of PRODUCE from a 500 acre farm in Strathmore, county

of Forfar, on a five-shift rotation of crops, with an improved

stock of cattle and sheep, on an average of years previous to

free trade in corn, cattle, &c.; and

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT of what may be calculated upon as the

returns from the same farm under the present legislative

measures affecting British agriculture.

Rent of the farm, as fixed for 19 years, assuming former average

price of corn and cattle, &c., £800 0 0

Invested capital of £6 per acre at entry, £3000. Interest upon

this sum, at rate of 10 per cent, 300 0 0

Floating capital of £4 per acre, £2000. Interest thereon, 5 per cent, 100 0 0

Expenses of management, wages, tradesmen's accounts, insurances,

grass seeds, &c., at the rate of 20s. per acre per annum, 500 0 0

Annual loss by casualties on live stock by disease and accidents, 100 0 0

Public burdens leviable upon the farmer, including poor-rates, 50 0 0

---------

Sum chargeable against the farm annually, £1850 0 0

To meet this sum there is the produce of 200 acres of corn crop,

and the profits on live stock, (the whole grass and green crop

being consumed on the farm.)

Bushels.

100 acres of oats, producing 48 bushels per acre, 4800

Off for servants, horses, seed, &c. 2400

----

Leaves disposable oats, 2400 at 3s.£360 0 0

40 acres of spring wheat, producing 32 bushels

per acre, 1280

Off for seed, 160

----

Disposable wheat, 1120 at 7s. 392 0 0

60 acres of barley, producing 42 bush. per acre, 2520

Off for seed and horses, &c., 500

----

Disposable barley, 2020 at 4s. 404 0 0

---------

£1156 0 0

Profits from live stock, fed upon 200 acres grass,

and 100 acres green crop, 800 0 0

---------

Total returns, £1956 0 0

1956 0 0

---------

Leaving annually to the farmer, for his skill and industry, over

interest of capital employed, a sum of £106 0 0

Convert the above disposable produce into money, at the present

prices, or rather at what may be fairly calculated upon for

future seasons, under a system of free trade, and the following

is the result:--

2400 bushels of oats, at 2s. per bushel, £240 0 0

1120 bushels of wheat, at 5s. per ditto, 280 0 0

2020 bushels of barley, at 2s. 9d. per ditto, 277 15 0

---------

£797 15 0

Live stock, (as above, £800,) less 20 per cent on

former prices, leaves 640 0 0

---------

Net return, £1437 15 0

Sum chargeable as above against the farm, 1850 0 0

--------

Leaving the farmer _minus_, for rent, capital,

and expenses of management, £412 5 0

412 5 0

--------

Total loss annually incurred by difference in

price occasioned by free trade, £518 5 0

--------

HUGH WATSON,

KEILLOR, _1st December 1849_.

No. II.

STATEMENT of the average PRODUCE of a farm in a full state of

productiveness, managed agreeably to the five-shift course, as

usually adopted in the south-eastern Borders of Scotland, where

the returns of stock form a very considerable means of

remuneration, and the price of which, of course, is a material

element in the calculation as to the rent to be given.

Thus, then, assuming the rent of 500 acres of useful land for this

purpose--upon the estimate of the price of grain and stock, as

warranted by their value previous to the introduction of the new

corn law and tariff--to be, £800 0 0

This farm has been put into good productive condition by means

of the tenant's capital, at a cost in draining and lime, (sunk,) of

£2500. It is well known that nearly twice this amount has in many

instances been thus expended; but we assume this as a fair average

on a farm so rented.

Interest upon which sum, to enable him to recover the same during

an ordinary lease of from nineteen to twenty-one

years, at 10 per cent, £250 0 0

Interest on capital invested in stock, &c., yielding an

annual return of £1500, at 5 per cent, 75 0 0

Expenses of management--wages, tradesmen's accounts,

extra manures, &c., 550 0 0

Casualties, loss on stock, &c., 50 0 0

Public and Parish Burdens, 45 0 0

-------- £970 0 0

---------

£1770 0 0

To meet this sum, there is the produce of 200 acres of grain, in each

year, distributed as follows:--

Acres. Bushels. Bushels. Bushels.

100 Oats, at 48 per acre--4800. Off seed, horses, and servants, 2420

60 Wheat, 33 1980. Off seed, 180

40 Barley, 40 1600. Off seed, servants, 210

Remain disposable, at the prices on which his calculations were

founded and warranted by the rates, as is proved, under protection:--

Bushels.

2380 Oats, at 3s., £357 0 0

1800 Wheat, at 7s., 630 0 0

1390 Barley, at 4s., 278 0 0

-------- £1265 0 0

Returns upon stock estimated, at prices then current,

to yield, 750 0 0

-------- £2015 0 0

---------

Profit--remuneration for tenant's industry and skill, £245 0 0

The above grain produce yields, at the highest average I feel warranted

in assuming, under free trade--

Bushels.

2380 Oats, at 2s., £238 0 0

1800 Wheat, at 5s., 450 0 0

1390 Barley, at 2s. 9d., 191 0 0

--------

£879 0 0

In place of, as above, 1265 0 0

-------- £386 0 0

Thus the difference of proceeds of _grain crop alone_, more than absorbs

all the tenant's remuneration, by £141 0 0

JOHN DUDGEON, SPYLAW, _3d December 1849_.[22]

[22] Since the above statement was drawn up and submitted by us to

the consideration of various farmers throughout the country, Mr

Dudgeon has requested us to state, that after consultation with

several of these gentlemen in his own neighbourhood, (who, he was

gratified to find, entirely concurred in the essential particulars

of the statement,) he is of opinion that he had deducted rather

too small a quantity of oats and barley for seed, according to the

average usual in the district. Any alteration which this involves

would be a deduction from the tenant's original profit, and an

addition to the amount of loss already brought out.

Mr Dudgeon also says--"I omit at present adding to this deficit

the depreciation which it may be further estimated will result

permanently from the open trade in live stock and cured provisions.

But it may be stated that the recent depression in the value of

stock from that of late seasons, amounting to _at least_ 15 per

cent, shows a farther present loss on the calculated profits of this

farm to the extent of £112, 10s."

We addressed the following circular letter to some of the most

eminent agriculturists in Scotland, enclosing copies of the above

statements:--

"EDINBURGH, _8th December 1849_.

"SIR,--Wishing to publish in our Magazine as accurate a

statement as we could obtain of the real condition and prospects

of agriculture in Scotland at present, we have for some time

been engaged in correspondence on the subject with various

gentlemen connected with agricultural pursuits.

"The enclosed statements of the working of a farm, and the

quantity and value at present prices of the produce, have been

drawn out by Mr Watson, Keillor, Forfarshire, and Mr Dudgeon,

Spylaw, near Kelso, assisted by Mr Stephens, author of the "Book

of the Farm."

"At the suggestion of Mr ---- we write to ask whether you will

consent to allow us to affix your name to these statements,

as attesting their accuracy, to the best of your experience,

in farming. If it strikes you that in any of these statements

the profits are either over or under estimated, we shall feel

greatly obliged by your pointing out where you think the error

lies. Any correction you may make we shall submit to the

consideration of one or all of the above-mentioned gentlemen,

with whose names, as competent judges of the working of a farm,

you are probably acquainted.

"We shall feel further obliged by your making any remarks that

may occur to you, and stating any facts that have come within

your own observation, our only wish being to get as near the

truth as may be. The article in the Magazine, into which this

attested statement will be introduced, is founded upon the facts

that we have been able to gather in the course of somewhat

extended inquiries by ourselves, or rather by friends on whose

knowledge of agriculture we could safely rely.

"Will you be so good as to send any answer you may think proper

to this application, within a week from this date, or sooner

if you can, as we have very little time to get everything into

order for publication in the January number of our Magazine.--We

are," &c.

The following gentlemen have given us permission to use their names,

as attesting the accuracy of these statements, to the best of their

experience, in farming:--

_Mid-Lothian_--[23]

THOMAS SADLER, Norton Mains, Ratho.

_East-Lothian_--

JOHN BRODIE, Abbey Mains, Haddington.

ANDREW HOWDEN, Lawhead, Prestonkirk.

PETER RONALDSON, Moreham Mains, Haddington.

WM. TOD, Elphinstone Tower, Prestonkirk.

_Berwickshire_--

ROBT. HUNTER, Swinton Quarter, Coldstream.

WM. DOVE, Wark, Coldstream, attests Mr Dudgeon's only.

ROBT. NISBET, Lambden, Greenlaw.

_Roxburghshire_--

R. B. BOYD, of Cherrytrees, Yetholm.

NICOL MILNE, Faldonside.

WM. BROAD, Clifton Hill, Kelso.

FRED. L. ROY, of Nenthorn, Kelso.

JAMES ROBERTON, Ladyrig, Kelso.

_Fifeshire_--

JAMES B. FERNIE, of Kilmux.

JOHN THOMSON, Craigie, Leuchars.

_Forfarshire_--

ALEXANDER GEEKIE, Baldowrie, Coupar-Angus.

DAVID HOOD, Hatton, Glammis.

JAMES ADAMSON, Middle Drums, Brechin.

WM. RUXTON, Farnell, Brechin.

_Aberdeenshire_--

ROBERT WALKER, Portleithen Mains, Aberdeen.

JOHN HUTCHISON, Monyruy, Peterhead.

ROBT. SIMPSON, Cobairdy, Huntly.

WILLIAM HAY, Tillydesk, Ellon.

WILLIAM M'COMBIE, Tillyfour, Aberdeen.

_Elginshire_--

PETER BROWN, Linkwood, Elgin.

_Kincardineshire_--

J. GARLAND, Cairnton.

R. BARCLAY ALLARDYCE, of Ury, Stonehaven.

JAMES FALCONER, Balnakettle, Fettercairn.

[23] The statistics of Mid-Lothian appear in another page. They are

attested by several of the first farmers in the county.

We further subjoin extracts from the letters of several of these

gentlemen, containing remarks or suggestions about the statements:--