HINTS TO LABOURERS.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 96, 30 June 1843, Page 4

HINTS TO LABOURERS.

(From the Nelson Examiner.) “ It is universally admitted that a piece of warden-ground attached to a laborer s cottage fs the greatest boon that can be afforded him, more especially if he has a young family to support. This object has always been recommended by the societies instituted for devising means for bettering the condition of the laboring poor of this kingdom ; Unci on the recommendation of these societies the present allot-

merit- system was founded. “ The produce of even a very limited spot of garden-ground, if well managed, not only adds o-reatly to the domestic comfort of a working man, hut is actually a means of improving his moral character, by giving him employment in his hours of leisure, and is an amusing and profitable occupation, and on a spot which ho enn truly and with pride call his own. “ But the occupation of a piece of ground is 'not sufficient unless accompanied with plain directions for the guidance of the labourer in his management tlierereof; ror although a majority of our rural population are pretty good rardeners in their own homely wav, many theie are who need advice, and almost all are ignorant of the most economical methods of culture. It k therefore necessary, especially at this time, when the allotment system appears to he extending, and when there is such a general feeling in favour of the labouring classes, that a brief and plain tract be published, to aflord to cottagers general instruction on the subject. Then follows instructions for draining and trenching, both of which processes aie absolutely necessary m many instances. These, however, we pass over, to extract what is said on the important subjects of manuring and cropping. “ Whatever the nature and character of the staple may be, it is certain all and every inscription may he improved. Manuring as requently as possible assists and betters eveiy rind of land. Clay is improved by any lighter rind of earth or decayed litter, or sand, ashes, ind the like ; because these break the tenacity >r toughness of the clay, and render it easier to jultivate, and allow the roots of plants greater scope, besides admitting a freer passage to both lir and rain-water. “ A light sandv soil is improved "by the heaviest manure, or by dressings of clay or loam, jecause manure laid upon sand sinks into the ground, and, being quickly absorbed, of course requires more frequent application. V Loam of any kind or colour is the best for gardening purposes ; it only requires to be well laboured by occasional trenching, dug at least once in the season, and hoed frequently to keep the surface loose. But as it is, like other kinds of soil, liable to be exhausted by cropping, it f inust be kept in heart by occasional dressings

}\ iof manure. 1 “ Obtaining sufficient supplies of manure is ' one of the greatest difficulties which the cottager has to encounter, especially if he keeps neither cow nor pig; and, unless he lives by the side of a free common, it is not in his power, nor is it worth his while, to trouble himself with either, except under circumstances heie- ; after alluded to. But an industrious man may collect as .many matters of one kind or othei as may be sufficient to dress one-third, or at least ene-fourth of his ground, once a year. For this special purpose he should have a hollow j pit or place between his house and garden, into r which every kind of drainage from the ioimei and refuse from the latter should be thrown. ! : i- ; i ; * As the success of a cottager's h garden depends solely on his ability to keep i his ground in heart, every exertion must be l made to secure this advantage. fj "Another means of keeping ground in. good heart is by following a judicious rotation of cropping. It is bad management to glow the same kind of crops repeatedly on the same spot, and therefore the crops must be made to change ( . places every year. “ The proportion of crops to the whole gar1, den and to each other is a material affaii for \ the consideration of the cottager. That crop 'j which remains longest in use, and which, consequently, is most serviceable in a family, will I of course command the greatest share of the / ground. In all cases the potato will have, undoubtedly, the preference, not only because they are a good substitute for bread, but because a safely-secured winter store of them is of the greatest importance to the labourer. Supposing, then, that the principal part of the gi ound is occupied with potatoes, the remainder will receive those that are the next yaluable : as eatables, namely, cabbage and their varieties, carrots, parsnips-, onions, turnips, common beans, and, above most of the latter, the useful ' rough-runner kidney bean, so extremely useful in a cottager’s family.” " Mixed crops are allowable in cottage gardening —for instance, a sprinkling of radish and coss lettuce seeds may be sown with the onions, and when the radish and lettuce are drawn, being ready for use, the onions suffer no injury.

Broad beans are sometimes planted at the same time and in the same drill with potatoes, and without any very visible damage to the lattei

Cl< “But, in order to keep the ground in full employment, all the crops, that is, standing crops, must be sowed or planted in di ills or rows, with the intention that, .before the first crop is off, another shall be put in the intermediate spaces to follow in' succession. This is quite practicable with all the cabbage tiibe, or with any other kind of vegetable which may be used in any stage of their growth, _Of this description are the cabbage, savoy, onion, lettuce, &c. ; and when such are planted alternately with others, which must stand to acquire full perfection, the first may be used out of the way as soon as they press injuriously upon the

second. . | “ In this way many more useful vegetables may.be raised on a given portion of land than by the old-fashioned custom of sowing broadcast, only one patch" of each of the common sorts occupying the ground for the whole summer. Even the onion ground may be planted with cabbages just before the former are fit to pull, which plants, whether savoys or common cabbage, become fine useful stuff before the middle of June.” We pass over much that is useful to come to what is of the first importance to a New Zealand labourer, the cultivation of the potato “ Much of this domestic comfort during winter will depend on his having from ten to fifteen bushels of good sound potatoes pitted near or well covered up in some safe corner within his

house. “ This is a fine store for a labourer to look forward to, saying nothing of his stores ol parsnips, carrots, and onions, all most useful additions ; but he may rest assured that, unless they are used with economy, twice the quantities would be of little use to him. We have been much among labourers who had gardens ; but, with all the authority of a mastei, and with all the best advice of a friend, we never could prevail with many ol them to make the best use of the advantages they possessed. To begin on the potatoes as soon .as they -were of the size ot walnuts, thus devouring bushels at a meal, was a common piece of extravagance ! Selling the whole crop for one-fourth of the value, to save the trouble of taking up and storing, was a frequent occurrence ; and great waste in the cooking was in many cases too visible. But, on the other hand, some, who husbanded their resources, lived comfortably, and showed the manifold advantages they and their families derived from possessing a small piece of garden. « The ground reserved for potatoes will hold ten rows at two feet apart, and will require about a bushel and a-half cut into sets to plant the same, placing the sets about eight inches asunder in the drill, covering full eight inches deep. The sets should be as large as the size of the potatoes will allow, each having at least one eye, rejecting or not counting that at the bottom, as no shoot springs from it. The best way of cutting’ the sets is first to split the potato down the middle ; each half may be divided into two or three sets, according to the number of good eyes, taking as much of the substance of the potato with each eye as possible. Some curious growers make sets of the ciowns, which they keep and plant by themselves, foi the purpose of being first used, as the tubeis from these sets always come earlier than those of the other sets ; but this’ is a refinement in the culture with which a cottager need not trouble himself. “ There are a great many varieties of the potato ; some are very early ready for use, such is the frame ; ethers finely-flavoured and i handsome in shape, as the lady s finger kidney. These, however, from their scanty yield, are unfit for the provident cottager. The best for his purpose, as uniting quality with quantity, are the champion and the early Shaw ; these ai e best for immediate use as soon as their tops decay; but, for long-keeping and storing, the Devonshire apple and Yorkshire reds should certainly be preferred. Two-thirds of the whole piece should be planted with reds, and the other third with the Shaws and champions; and as soon as the tops of these last decay, they should all be taken up, and the ground immediately replanted with cabbage, savoys, or any other I winter greens. , " When the tops have risen five or sis inches high, they should be earthed up for good, for once earthing up is enough; but the vacant spaces between the rows should always be kept well broken up and loose, by a heavy hoe, fork, or mattock, taking care not to go too near the roots to disturb the runners. When the flowers appear, let them be picked off, foi this adds as well to the size as to the number of the tubers. . ** In choosing the kind or kinds for planting, procure, if possible, those which have been named above, and which have been grown on a different kind of soil and in some distant place, for no kind of potato succeeds long together in the same garden or district. “ Much has been said and written as tc whether potatoes should be planted whole or cul into sets; but it is now settled that a bushe cut into sets yields a much greater return that

if they were planted whole. The yield, however, depends greatly on the quantity of manure bestowed: if dressed as thickly as a farmer dungs for wheat or turnips, it may he dug in before planting; but, if manure is scarce, the next best plan is strewing it along the bottom of open trenches, on which the sets are placed, and covered with loose earth. (To be continued.) The Duke of Richmond. —The claims of the Duke of Richmond to the Estate of Aubigny in France, which have been so long under the ponsideration of the French Courts, having been lately decided against the Duke, his Grace has appealed to the highest tribunal, the King in Council of State. The facts of the case are of a rather extraordinary nature : —“ In the year 1422, Charles the Seventh of France granted the estate of Aubigny to John Stuart, a Scotch lord, for services rendered to the state in the wars against England. This happened in the reign ot James the First of Scotland and of Henry the Fifth of England. The grant dates but seven years after the battle of Agincourt; and we may reasonably suppose that the services rendered by the first grantee were of no small importance. In conformity with the conditions of the original grant, the estate escheated to the Crown on failure of heirs male in 1672 ; and in the following year was regranted on the same conditions, by Louis the Fourteenth, to a French lady then in England —the celebrated Mademoiselle De Queroel, one of the kept mistresses of Charles the Second, afterwards created Duchess of Portsmouth, and who eventually became mother of the first Duke of Richmond. Louis the Fourteenth, in his capacitv of pander, had furnished his brother of England with a mistress; and not content with this, had made a very handsome provision for herself, or for any bastard children she might bear to the King of England. The party actually named was Charles Lennox, often called Prince Charles Lennox; who in due course succeeded his mother, and was also the first Duke of Richmond. The succession has been as follows : —The first Duke was succeeded

by his son ; and he by his son, the third Dulce, the friend of Pitt, and of national-fortification memory; who died in 1806. The lattei was succeeded in title and estates by the son of his only brother, the late Duke—the same individual who as Colonel Lennox fought a duel with the late Duke of York, and who, being Governor-General of Canada, died at Quebec, of hydrophobia, produced by the bite of a tame fox. The present Duke came to his title in the year 1820; and lately inherited some 20,000/. a year by the death of 'his maternal uncle the Duke of Gordon. In the course of more than a century and a half, the Dukes of Richmond have not furnished one man of distinguished talent or public eminence; and such is the family whose private interests have been made twice over the subject of articles in treaties of peace. The vague words of the secret article of the treaty of 1814 direct, that the sequestration on the duchy and lands of Aubigny shall be taken off, and the lands as they existed in 1673 and 1684, shall be restored to him as heir male. If in respect to the estate of Aubigny the treaty of 1814 re-established every other feudal right, such as vassalage, game-laws, &c., which belonged to the property when it was conferred on the original grantee, King Charles s mistress. Even the Duke will not pretend to this. “ I fear not to asseit,” says M. Dupin, before the Court of Cassation, “ that the inteipretation of the treaty presented to us under the name of the Duke of Richmond would be disgraceful to him, to England, and to France. “It would be disgraceful to the Duke,” says the Procureur-General, with, feigned simplicity, “because, in order to procure the insertion of a secret clause, wholly of a personal character, and derogatory to the fourth clause of the public treaty, lie would have apparently dissembled the existence of the rights, of his co-heiitors, and would have taken advantage of his personal influence to seize upon their shares. No ! the noble character of the Duke of Richmond repels the supposition. It is better to suppose that he was ignorant of our laws; but it must be added, that it was out of his power to alter them.” “ The land of Aubigny,” he adds. “is the land of France; it has always been governed by our laws, and it cannot be withdrawn from their empire.” “If the French Government had the. intention ascribed to it by the Duke of Richmond, it would have been necessary that an express clause of the treaty should have said so, in order to make it creditable: it would have been necessary previously to promulgate such article, so that parties interested might state their objections. In a word, to remake a duchy and a Duke of Aubigny, something else than silence was requisite. Two conditions at least were indispensable fii st, that the State was the bond fide owner of the lands it was about to dispose of; and next, that the King should grant new letters of creation, duly registered in the Court Royal, after a verification which would not be exempt from difficulties. Without all this, without the observation of all these conditions, it is impossible to conceive the lawful re-erection of a ducliy of Aubigny in France for the benefit i of an Englishman.”